Aldabra Atoll - Seychelles Review And Info

Aldabra Atoll - Seychelles Review And Info

Aldabra, the second largest coral atoll in the world, located in the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that forms part of the Seychelles. Uninhabited and very isolated, Aldabra almost untouched by humans, have a distinctive fauna of the island including the Aldabra Giant Tortoise, and designated a World Heritage Site.





Aldabra was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. The islands are well known by the Arabs, from whom they get their name. In the mid-18th century, they became dependencies of the French colony of Réunion, from where the expedition was made to capture a giant tortoise.

In 1810 with Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles and other islands, Aldabra passed into UK property. Réunion returned to France, and Mauritius to obtain ownership of Aldabra and the rest of the Seychelles. Previous inhabitants of the Seychelles emigrants. Sailors landed on the atoll in the 19th century and attempted to attack the island of turtles as food, in 1842, two ships reported to have taken 1200 of them. In 1900, the turtle is almost extinct, and the crew often had to hunt for three days to find one.


Aldabra Atoll, along with Des Roches and Farquhar, was part of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 until the independence of Seychelles in 1976. In 1960, the UK considered allowing the United States to use this island as home to a military air base. After international protests with ecology, however, abandoned military plans and wildlife habitat in return receive full protection. Aldabra designated as a World Heritage Site on 19 November 1982, and managed from Mahé Seychelles Island Foundation.
The Picard settlements left on the southwestern tip of West Island is now home to the Research Officer, Manager of Island and carers and staff. No other permanent residents.

Read More

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia

Great Barrier Reef Queensland in north-east Australia

Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) above the surrounding area of 344,400 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi). Coral is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia.

Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms is composed of reef structure and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. Reef supports a diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labeled as one of the world's seven natural wonders of the Queensland National Trust. icon named it the state of Queensland.

Most of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fisheries and tourism. Other environmental pressures on reefs and their ecosystems, including runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of crown-thorns-starfish.

 
Great Barrier Reef has long been known and used by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and is an important part of the culture of local groups and spirituality. Coral is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, producing a AU $ 1 billion per year.

Read More

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Raja Ampat, Papua Indonesia

Indonesia has a very beautiful natural beauty, one of which is the Raja Ampat in Papua. This tourist area is the best in the world, either from natural beauty, cultural richness and a wide assortment of marine life that are here

Located at the northwestern tip of the Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia, West Papua, Raja Ampat, or King Four, an archipelago of more than 1,500 small islands, cays and shelves around the four main islands Misool, Salawati , Batanta and Waigeo, and small island Kofiau. It covers more than 40,000 km ² of land and sea, which also contains Cendrawasih, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. This is part of the newly named West Papua (province) of Indonesia formerly Irian Jaya. The islands are the northernmost piece of land on the continent of Australia.

According to Conservation International, marine survey showed that the diversity of marine life in the area of Raja Ampat is the highest recorded on Earth this diversity. much larger than other regions such as the Coral Triangle of Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's biodiversity of coral reefs, making Raja Ampat is probably the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.

Regional large coral colonies along with sea surface temperature is relatively high, also showed that the coral reefs which may be relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of coral reef ecosystems around the world. Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.

The diversity of the high seas in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, as the coral and fish larvae more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience, and its role as a source of spread of the larvae makes it a global priority for marine protection.

1309 species of fish, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur on islands), and 699 species of mollusks, a surprising variety of marine life. Some areas boast a large school of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs.

Raja Ampat islands are the only inter-island transportation and support activities of the Raja Ampat is the ocean freight. Similarly to reach Waisai, the district capital. When using the aircraft, first to the city of Sorong. After that, the trip from Sorong to Waisai followed by sea transport. Facilities available are a fast ship with a capacity of 10, 15, or 30 people. At a cost of about Rp. 2 million, Waisai can be reached within 1.5 to two hours.

Raja Ampat tourists can suck as much as five thousand people per year in 2009. The target, tourist arrivals reached 6 thousand in the year 2010.  

Read More

Bunaken National Park, Indonesia

Bunaken National Park, Indonesia

Bunaken National Park is representative of Indonesia tropical aquatic ecosystem consisting of mangrove ecosystems, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and land / coastal ecosystems.

In the northern part of the island of Bunaken, Manado Tua island, island Montehage, Siladen island, the island of Nain, Nain Small islands, and some coastal areas of Cape Pisok. While in the Southern Cape coast includes some coconut.

Potential land islands national park is rich in species of palm, sago, woka, silar and coconut. Animal species that live on the mainland and coastal regions such as Sulawesi black macaques (Macaca nigra nigra), deer (Cervus russa timorensis), and fitch (Ailurops ursinus ursinus).

Plant species in the mangrove Bunaken National Park is Rhizophora sp, Sonneratia sp, Lumnitzera sp, and Bruguiera sp. This forest is rich with various kinds of crabs, shrimp, mollusks and various types of sea birds such as gulls, herons, sea virgin, and cangak sea.

Types of algae found in this park include the type of Caulerpa sp, Halimeda sp, and Padina sp. Seagrass Montehage dominated mainly on the island, and Nain island is Thalassia hemprichii, Enhallus acoroides, and Thalassodendron ciliatum.

Recorded 13 genera of corals living in waters of Bunaken National Park, dominated by fringing reefs and coral reef barrier. The most interesting is a vertical cliff as far as 25-50 meters.

Approximately 91 species of fish found in the waters of Bunaken National Park, including fish gusumi horse (Hippocampus horse), white OCI (Seriola rivoliana), lolosi yellow tail (Lutjanus kasmira), goropa (Ephinephelus spilotoceps hypselosoma), ila trunk (Scolopsis bilineatus) , and others.

Types of mollusks like giant clams (Tridacna gigas), head of the goat (Cassis cornuta), hollow nautilus (Nautilus pompillius), and tunikates / ascidian.

The best visiting season: May / August each year.

How to reach the location: Bunaken National Park can be achieved through the port of Manado, Marina Nusantara Diving Centre (NDC) at Molas subdistrict and Marina Blue Banter. From Port of Manado to use a motor boat to the island can be reached Siladen + 20 minutes + 30 minutes Bunaken island, island Montehage + 50 minutes and +60 minutes Nain island. From Blue Banter Marina with yacht that is available to the tourist area on Bunaken island can be reached within 10-15 minutes, while the NDC from the port to the dive sites in Bunaken island by speed boat to within + 20 minutes.

Read More

Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, Philippines

Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, Philippines

Tubbataha Reef is a coral atoll located in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. This is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef Marine National Park. This is a nomination in the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Tubbataha is located in the Sulu Sea, 98 nautical miles (181 km) southeast of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan Province. Coral is composed of two coral atolls divided by eight kilometers (5 miles) wide channel. South Atoll, the smaller of the two is five miles long and three miles wide, while the North Atoll, the larger of the two is 16 kilometers (10 miles) long and five kilometers (3 miles) wide (Knipp 22.) coral Each has single small island protruding from the water. The atolls are separated by miles 8 channel in (5 miles) wide.

There are no permanent inhabitants of the islands or reefs. Fishermen visit the area seasonally, establishing shelters on the island. The park is visited by tourists, especially divers. Travel to Tubbattaha from mid-March until mid-June all the ship-based, garden about twelve hours by boat from Puerto Princesa City. Tubbataha is considered as the best dive sites in the Philippines and especially the submarines that operate during the "Tubbataha Season" are usually booked a year earlier mainly on Asian holidays of Easter and the "Golden Week".

Tubbataha has become a popular site for experienced sports divers because of coral "walls" where the shallow coral reef abruptly ends giving way to great depths. This "wall" is not only a beautiful place to dive, but they are also wonderful habitats for many colonies of fish. There are giant jacks, hammerhead sharks, barracuda, manta rays, palm sized Moorish idols, [parrot fish], and eels that live in the sanctuary. Tubbataha even home to the hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are endangered. (Knipp 24).

Read More