Teluk Cenderawasih National Park, The Beauty of Cenderawasih Bay Papua

Teluk Cenderawasih National Park is a marine national park located in Cenderawasih Bay south-east of Bird's Head Peninsula at Papua island, Indonesia. The park includes the islands of Mioswaar, Nusrowi, Roon, Rumberpon and Yoop. With a total area of 1.453.500 hectares, it is the largest marine national park of Indonesia. It combines coral reef ecosystems, coastal ecosystems, mangrove ecosystems and an island terrestrial tropical forest ecosystem.

About 46 species of plant have been recorded from the park dominated by Bruguiera and Avicennia species, Nypa fruticans, Metroxylon sago, Casuarina equisetifolia, and Terminalia catappa. The park protects a rich marine ecosystem, with over 150 recorded coral species consisting of 15 families and distributed on the shores of 18 large and small islands. The percentage of live coral coverage varies from between 30-40% to 64-65%. In general, the coral reef ecosystem is divided into two zones: the reef flat zone and the reef slope zone. Among these are colonies of Black coral, Blue coral, Mycedium elephantotus, Leptoseris species, and Alcyonacea or soft corals.

Parrotfish, one of over 200 fish species
recorded in the National Park. Source: wikipedia.org

The Park is famed for its wealth of fish species. Over 200 fish species inhabit the park, include: Parrotfish, Butterflyfish, Clownfish, Damselfish, Sharks and Rabbitfish. Species of mollusc include Lambis species, Cowry, Giant clam, Strombidae and Charonia tritonis. There are four species of turtle that are quite often seen in this Park. They are the hawksbill turtle, green turtle, olive ridley turtle, and leatherback turtle. Mammals include dolphins, dugong and blue whale.

There are some tourist attractions in the park. Rumberpon Island is suitable for observing birds and deer, marine tours, diving and snorkeling. The wreck of a sunken military aircraft lies on the sea bed. Nusrowi Island is suitable for diving and snorkeling, marine tours, and animal observation. At Mioswaar Island tourist can see thermal springs, waterfalls and sites of cultural interest, also diving and snorkeling, animal observation. At Yoop Island and Windesi waters tourist can see whale and dolphin. Roon Island is suitable for bird watching, diving, snorkeling and cultural tourism. The best time to visit this park is on May to October.

How to go to the Park?

From Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makasar, Jayapura, Honolulu and Darwin by direct flight to Biak, then from Biak to Manokwari by plane. Or from Jakarta, Surabaya, Ujung Pandang and Jayapura by plane directly to Manokwari.

From Manokwari to the Park (Rumberpon Island) by longboat, it takes about 5.5 hours. Or other route, from Manokwari to Ransiki subdistrict by car, it's about 3 hours, then take 2.5 hours trip by motor boat.

For more information please contact the office of the Park: Jl. Trikora Wosi Rendani, PO Box 229 Manokwari 98312, West Papua, Indonesia. Phone: +62-986-212212. (The contact info is retrieved from http://www.dephut.go.id/INFORMASI/TN%20INDO-ENGLISH/telukcendra_NP.htm at 11 May 2010)