Maluku Tourism: Natural beauty

Sea Park

Since ancient times, Maluku has been renown for its spectacular sea gardens. No wonder the beauty of Maluku's underwater life has drawn so many domestic and international visitors!

The seas fringing the Maluku Islands are exceedingly rich in biodiversity. Some of the dazzling fish and sea animals include parrot fish, butterfly fish, clown fish, trumpet fish, damsel fish, pipefish, scorpion fish, lizard fish, puffer fish, eels, octopus, sea horses, sea snakes and sea turtles. Just to name a few! All these creatures can be directly enjoyed trough snorkeling or SCUBA diving.

But without even getting wet, many reef creatures can be enjoyed from the surface of Maluku's clear, blue waters. These other wordly life forms include colorful sponges and soft corals, plate corals, brain corals, mushroom corals, red and black corals, crinoids, gorgonians, and giant clams and sea stars.

All in all, the beauty of Maluku's sea gardens, bathed in warm sunshine, make for a truly enchanting natural experience.

Some locations of the famous sea gardens in Maluku are among others in Ambon island, Banda islands, Nusalaut island, Seram island, Kai islands, Aru islands and Tanimbar islands.

Sea Shore

The Maluku seashore is no less stunning than its underwater life. Maluku boasts a wide diversity of coastal settings. White sand beaches, black sand beaches, beaches with interesting coral reefs and flanked by scenic cliffs, rocky shores and stretches of mangrove teeming with wildlife...it's all here. Maluku's thousands of beautiful shores are sure to beckon you back time and time again.

Coral reef

It feels uncompleted if the beauty of various fish species are not followed with the attractive coral reef like Black coral reef, Sponges, Plate coral, Coral flower in the form of bowl, will truly hypnotize whoever sees them.

According to a number of researches in Maluku water, it consists of more than 738 species of sea fish. There are several of species i.e. Pelagis (sea surface fish) and Domorsal (deep sea fish) has made Maluku water becomes a fascinating sea park. From the hundreds of species of fish there are among others known as, Ornate ghost, Pipefish, Anemone fish, Trumpet fish, Scorpion fish, Juvenile damsel fish, Lizard fish, Black spotted puffer, Porcupine fish, and Juvenile catfish. The enchantment of those several of fish are really made the panorama of the scenery of Sea Park in Maluku islands looks so splendid.

Charming Creatures

There are numbers seemingly charm creature under the water besides creatures those make the life under water panorama beautiful. They leave together with fish and the coral too, which a few of them are Moral eel, Seahorse, Banded sea snake, Jellyfish, Featherstar, Nudibranch, Garden eel, Anemone hermit crab, Spinnenkrabbe, Hinge-beak shrimp, Tropical posy. Each one of them appears with each unique unveiling.

National Park

Wisely, the Indonesian government has realized the need to preserve Maluku's natural wealth and beauty for all time. With this goal, various national parks and reserves have been set aside.

By far, the most famous of the Maluku protected areas is Manusela National Park, occupying 189,000 acres, or about one-tenth of Seram Island. Manusela is rich in a wide variety of ecosystems: seashore habitats, lowland rainforests, montane forests, pygmy forests, and even subalpine scrub topping Gunung Binaya. Mount Binaya, at 3,027 meters, is Maluku's highest peak.

Manusela National Park is enriched with unique flora and fauna due to its wide range of habitats and its intermediate position between the Oriental and Australian biogeographic realms.

The native people that dwells around the national park adds an interesting cultural attraction to the region.

We invite you to enjoy Manusela, but please remember while visiting this and all national parks: "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints".

Cave

No one can question the beauty of Maluku's hidden underground treasures. Akohi Cave in Tamilouw village, 40 km east from Masohi in south Seram, for instance, is decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, draperies - even gypsum needles and angel's hairs.

In north Seram, Lusiala Cave, high in the cliffs behind Saleman village, features awe-inspiring biological attractions. Each evening the sky darkens with a river of millions of bats. The bats circle and circle above the village, singing an eerie song, as they congregrate then wind off towards the sea, for then to the Seram mountains. Mind these creatures carefully--by local belief, Saleman's little bats or lusiala, are the grandchildren of the ancestors.

Of historical interest, some of Maluku's caves have been used as hideaways during World War II and other battles.

Casual cave trekkers find Maluku's underground world alluring. But more dedicated cave explorers are drawn further by the lure of the unknown. Much of Seram's karst terrain, including the 3,027-meter Gunung Binaya, remains little-explored. Recent discoveries in north Seram have revealed Api Lima Cave behind Masihulan village (over a kilometer long) and Hatu Saka Cave, behind Saleman village (nearly 400 meters deep). What else awaits discovery?

Volcano

The Maluku Islands are the products of an on-going collision between the Pacific, Australian and Indian tectonic plates. As such, this region is very geologically active and complex. Some of the results of Maluku's geological activity are volcanoes, including a few that remain active into present times.

Banda's Gunung Api, for instance (the name literally means "Fire Mountain") was active as recently as 1989. The perfect conical symmetry of this volcano makes it irresistible to climb. Those who's summit its 600 meters are treated to stunning panoramic views of surrounding islands.

Other tectonic activity in Maluku gives rise to hot springs, such as the vast springs found in Tehoru south Seram, Tulehu village on Ambon island and in Oma village, Haruku island. These springs are sometimes likened to a nice heated swimming pool.