Bunaken National
mainland islands national park is rich in
Park
By Ida Farida
Bunaken is an island, formerly part of
Manado bay, is norther part of Sulawesi
province, Indonesia. The visitors can reach
Bunaken by speed boat abour 30 minutes
from Manado sea port. Around the Bunaken
Island, there is Bunaken Sea Garden which is
part of Bunaken National Park. Overall,
Bunaken is covers an area of 75,265 hectares
with five islands within, which is the island of
Manado Tua, Bunaken Island, Siladen
Island, Mantehage Island and the branch of
it, Naen Island.
Bunaken marine park has 20 points dive spot
with varying depth of up to 1344 meters. From
those 20 diving points, the 12 points among
them are around is Bunaken Island. Those
twelve point dive are the most frequently
visited by the divers or tourist who want to
enjoy the beauty of the underwater scenery.
Most of the 12 points dive in Bunaken Island
is line from the southeast to the northwest of
the island. In this area, there are great
underwater walls, also called the hanging
walls, a giant rock walls that stand vertically
and curved upward. These rock walls are also
a source of food for fish in the waters around
Bunaken Island.
While on Bunaken National Park, Bunaken
National Park is a representative of
Indonesian tropical water ecosystems consist
of mangrove ecosystems, seagrass beds, coral
reefs, and land / coastal ecosystems. Potential
species of palm, sago, woka, silar and coconut.
Animal species that exist on the mainland and
the coast are, Sulawesi black macaques
(Macaca nigra nigra), deer (Cervus timorensis
russa), and polecat (Ailurops ursinus ursinus).
Mangrove plant species in the Bunaken
National Park is Rhizophora sp., Sonneratia
sp., Lumnitzera sp., And Bruguiera sp. This
forest is rich with various kinds of crab,
shrimp, mollusks and various types of sea
birds such as seagulls, storks, sea dove and
Heron.
Approximately there are 91 species of fish
found in the waters of Bunaken National
Park, including fish gusumi horse
(Hippocampus horse), white oci (Seriola
rivoliana), yellow tail lolosi (Lutjanus
kasmira), goropa (Ephinephelus spilotoceps
and Pseudanthias hypselosoma), ila trunk
(Scolopsis bilineatus) , and others.
Bunaken National Park can be reached
through the port of Manado, Marina Nusantara
Diving Centre (NDC) in the District of Molas
and Marina Blue Banter. From the Port of
Manado using a motorboat to the Siladen
island is about 20 minutes, Bunaken Island
about 30 minutes, Montehege island about 50
minutes, and Nian Island about 60 minutes. If
the visitors went from Blue Banter Marina
with a yacht that is available to the tourist
areas on the island of Bunaken, it will be
taken within 10-15 minutes, while to go the
diving spot from NDC using a speed boat can
be reach in 20 minutes.