Wakatobi Marine National Park

Wakatobi Marine National Park, also known as Kepulauan Tukangbesi, is located in the extreme south-east of Sulawesi and comprises an area of 1,390,000 ha. The Wakatobi archipelago consists of four major islands (Wangiwangi, Kalidupa, Tomia, Binongka), several little islands and the surrounding coral reefs. Pulau Moromaho is important for seabirds.

Wakatobi is an acronym for the four main islands of Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko that, together with smaller islands, comprise the Tukang Besi Archipelago at the southeastern tip of Sulawesi. Renowned by divers for its spectacular coral gardens,
Wakatobi’s 3.4 million acres of islands and waters were declared a national park in 1996. Wakatobi ranks as one of the highest priorities for marine conservation in Indonesia in terms of diversity, scale, and reef condition.

Like many of Indonesia’s marine areas, Wakatobi’s diverse coral habitats are threatened by overfishing and destructive fishing practices.

To address these issues, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are working with the Wakatobi National Park Authority to
redesign the park’s management plan and zoning system. We are consulting with a broad range of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Ministry of Forestry, the district government,communities, and resource users.

Taman Nasional Wakatobi location map

Geographical Information for Taman Nasional Wakatobi

Place name: Taman Nasional Wakatobi
Latitude: 5° 38' 24" S
Longitude: 123° 53' 28" E
Feature description: national park
Area/state: Sulawesi Tenggara
Other alternative names: Tukangbesi Marine National Park, Wakatobi Marine National Park
Country: Indonesia

Monumen "Yesus Memberkati'' tertinggi kedua se-Asia tenggara

Monumen "Yesus Memberkati'' yang menjulang di kawasan perumahan elit, CitraLand Manado (Winangun), Minggu (02 November 2008), diresmikan Gubernur Sulut, Drs SH Sarundajang. Acara peresmian yang turut dirangkaikan dengan peng-ucapan syukur satu tahun CitraLand, dilaksanakan di Kawasan Royal Park–Royal Boulevard, pada pukul 10.00 WITA.
Gubernur Sarundajang mem-beri respons positif atas keha-diran monumen religius ter-sebut. Dalam sambutannya, ia mengatakan, Monumen "Yesus Memberkati'' ini akan dijadikan ikon religius, seka-ligus memberi dampak positif, sebagai daya tarik tersendiri untuk pelaksanaan WOC 2009 nanti. Gubernur tak lupa pula menghaturkan rasa terima kasih kepada Direksi Citra-Land, dalam hal ini Ir Ciputra yang terinspirasi untuk mem-bangun monumen tersebut.
"Monumen ini sangat indah, dan menjadi daya tarik baru Kota Manado. Apalagi Sulut akan melaksanakan iven internasional WOC pada 2009 nanti. Ini juga menjadi simbol religius daerah ini," kata Sa-rundajang. Monumen Yesus Memberkati, yang 'mengang-kasa' dengan ukuran 30x20 meter dan berada pada ke-tinggian 150 meter dari per-mukaan laut ini, diklaim se-bagai patung tertinggi di Asia.
Sedangkan untuk level dunia, monumen ini berada pada urutan dua, setelah Pa-tung Kristus Penebus di Rio de Janeiro, Brasil dengan panjang 38 meter. Proses pembuatan monumen ini dilakukan selama dua tahun oleh seniman-seniman asal Yogyakarta , dan dilakukan langsung di halaman rumah Ir Ciputra di Jakarta. Se-dangkan proses perakitannya di Manado , dikerjakan selama delapan bulan.
Monumen dengan kemiring-an 20 derajat ini terbuat dari fiber dan memiliki rangka baja pada bagian dalamnya dan berdiri pada tanah seluas 500 meter persegi. Menurut General Manager CitraLand, Davis Su-manti, monumen ini akan di-masukkan dalam Guinness Book of World Record, sebagai patung melayang tertinggi dunia. "Patung di Rio de Janeiro Brasil memang lebih tinggi sedikit dari patung ini. Tapi patung di Brasil itu dibangun dengan posisi tegak, sedangkan kita di sini berada dalam kemiringan 20 derajat. Untuk itu, mo-numen 'Yesus Memberkati'' ini akan diusulkan dalam Guin-ness Book of World Record se-bagai patung melayang ter-tinggi dunia," kata Sumanti.
Bos Ciputra Group, Ir Ci-putra ketika dimintai kete-rangannya mengaku sangat bersyukur dengan kehadiran monumen ini. Apalagi, kata-nya, monumen ini dapat di-terima oleh seluruh masyara-kat daerah ini dan mendapat respons positif dari pemerin-tah. "Sebenarnya saya tak memiliki inspirasi khusus untuk menghadirkan patung ini di Manado . Semuanya jadi dengan begitu saja. Ini terjadi atas arahan dan petunjuk dari Tuhan," ucap Pak Ci, sa-paan akrab pengusaha nasio-nal yang dulunya mengecap bangku sekolah di Manado .
Awalnya, tanah lokasi ber-dirinya monumen tersebut akan diberikan Ciputra untuk sang istri untuk dibangun sebuah rumah. Namun, kare-na Ciputra ingin menghadir-kan sesuatu yang baru dan unik di kota ini, maka berdiri-lah Monumen Yesus Member-kati yang berbandrol Rp 5 miliar tersebut. Acara peres-mian monumen itu sendiri baru berakhir pada pukul 14.30 WITA di Kawasan Royal Park CitraLand Manado.(yha)

Mount Soputan

Soputan is a stratovolcano in the northern arm of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It sits on the southern rim of the Tondano caldera, constructed in the Quarternary period, and is one of the most active volcanoes in Sulawesi.

Mount Soputan is situated in Tombatu,North Sulawesi, about 60 km from Manado or 10 km walk from Toure village. Soputan, 1825 meters in height, is still active, often times steaming and spewing volcanic ash.

Trekers will pass through plantations, as well as areas overun with "Edelweys" flowers, usually called "Bunga Abadi" or "Eternal Flower". Often times people choose to camp overnight in the Casuarina Forest before making the final accent which begins at 4:00 AM.

The 1,783-meter volcano sent up ashes 1,000 to 1,500 meters into the sky at 09.15 a.m. on Thursday.

"A number of villages in Southeast Minahasa district on which ashes had fallen have been put in a state of red alert," a spokesman for the Southeast Minahasa district administration, Ronny Suwarno, said here Thursday.

Ronny said the government would evacuate residents living on the volcano`s western slopes if the ashes continued to move in westerly direction.

"The government will keep monitoring the emission of ashes. If they show signs of increased activity we will evacuate the affected residents," he said.

Bunaken Marine National Park, North Celebes

picture courtesy by goggle picture

What visit to North Sulawesi is complete without one day to view the spectacular coral gardens of the Bunaken Marine Reserve. Declared a Marine Park in 1991, it is acknowledged as one of the top dive sites in the world. It is about 40 minutes drive from the resort to one of the dive centers or to the central harbor, where a motorized outrigger canoe or dive boat will whisk you to Bunaken Island in about 45 minutes.

Bunaken National Park is Marine Park with the most various species in the world. The fascination under water life in water territory of this a real Bunaken national park varieties, specific, on unique, and exotic, make this area as the beautiful North Sulawesi tourism and grow as one of famous marine park tourism object in the world.

Lore Lindu National Park

Mengungkapkan Pesona INDONESIA!!!

The natural beauty of Lore Lindu National Park, one of a handful of flora and fauna conservation centers in Sulawesi, has for years been threatened by development initiatives.

However, if South Sulawesi Governor Bandjela Paliudju has his way, the park, located 60 kilometers to the south of South Sulawesi’s capital Palu, will be given a chance to flourish once again.

At the time, even the South Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a non-governmental organization, supported plans for development. Walhi representatives said they believed the Dongi-Dongi area could be developed because a forest concession holder once operated in the area.

The park sits between 200 meters and 2,610 meters above sea level. It serves as the water catchment area for Palu, Donggala and Poso. The Lariang, Gumbasa and Palu rivers pass through the park, which is rich in flora and fauna.

It is home to various types of native animals, such as deer hogs, ghost monkeys, kuskus, kera kakak tonkea, kuskus marsupial and the biggest carnivorous animal in Sulawesi — the civet cat.The park is also home to at least five species of squirrel, 31 species of rat, 55 species of bat and 230 types of birds.



.m.e.r.r.y.c.h.r.i.s.t.m.a.s.t.

HO HO HO
wishing you a marry marry christmas.......

Have A wonderfull Christmas 2007