Kepulauan Seribu National Park. Group of Heaven.

Kepulauan Seribu National Park is one of the representatives of the marine nature conservation area in Indonesia, which is located approximately 45 km north of Jakarta. There are 78 large-small island with a height of not more than three meters above sea level, and it is a group of islands reefs.

Hundreds of years ago, the coral islands were formed on the colonies of coral animals that are already dead. The colony was initially grown on the shallow seabed, and then the upper layer of the ocean surface then the experience of weathering. Then on top of rock plains, growing pioneer species such as shrubs, some species of trees and there was land. Mainland in the islands were not the same as mainland consisting of soil. And so, the plants and its animals are different too.

Generally, the plants contained in the Kepulauan Seribu National Park is dominated by coastal plants, such as 'Nyamplung' (Calophyllum inophyllum), 'Waru' (Hibicus tiliaceus), 'Pandan' (Pandanus sp.), Sea pine (Casuarina equisetifolia), 'Cangkudu' (Morinda citrifolia), Butun ( Barringtonia asiatica), Bogem (Bruguiera sp.), 'Sukun' (Artocarpus altilis), 'Ketapang' (Terminalia cattapa), and 'Kecundang (Cerbena adollam).

The wealth of marine life park is composed of hard and soft corals as much as 54 species, 144 species of fish, two kinds of clams, three groups of algae such as Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta and Phaeophyta, six types of seaweed such as Halodule sp., Halophila sp., and Enhalus sp ., and 17 kinds of shore birds.

Kepulauan Seribu National Park is a place of nesting for hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtle (Chelonia mydas). Hawksbill and green turtles are endangered species and rarely found in other waters, especially the northern coast of Java Island, breeding on the Semak Daun Island.

Captive breeding is aimed at restoring populations of endangered sea turtles. Breeding activities include semi-natural hatchery and turtle child care until it is ready to be released into the wild.

Most of the beaches in this national park is protected by mangrove forests, where the living monitor lizards, golden-ring snakes and pythons.

Behind the phenomenon and the secrets of the nature, the most captivating of The Kepulauan Seribu National Park is its natural beauty. Symphony of the green tiny islands, crashing waves, golden colored sunlight in the evening; will reassure those who are in the Kepulauan Seribu National Park.

Some Islands / Attractions to be Visited
Pramuka Island, Semak Daun Island, Kelapa Island and Panggang Island :
Seeing the turtle breeding, animal observation and marine tourism.

Pramuka Island, Opak Island, Karang Congkak Island :
Wreck diving ships that sank.

Panjang Island, Putri Island, Pelangi Island and Perak Island :
Nautical tourism which is managed by the private sector.

Semut Island, Karang Congkak Island, Karang Kroja Island, Kotok Besar Island, Kotok Kecil Island and Gosong Laga Island :
For diving and snorkeling activities.Source

Bunaken National Park. The exotic of underwater life.

Bunaken National Park is a marine park located in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. This park is located in the Coral Triangle, a habitat for 390 species of coral reef and also various species of fish, molluscs, reptiles and marine mammals. Bunaken National Park is very representative of Indonesia's marine ecosystems, including sea grass, coral reefs and coastal ecosystems.

This national park was established in 1991 and covers an area of 890.65 km ². 97% of this national park is the habitat of the sea, while the remaining 3% is land, consists of five islands: Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Naen and Siladen.

Bunaken National Park has a rich coral reef ecosystem. There are approximately 390 species of coral reefs in this region. Algal species that can be found in Bunaken National Park is Caulerpa, Halimeda and Padina, while a lot of seaweed species found were Thalassia hemprichii, Enhallus acoroides, and Thalassaodendron ciliatum. Bunaken National Park also has various species of fish, marine mammals, reptiles, birds, molluscs and mangroves. Approximately 90 species of fish living in waters of this region.

On the mainland, the island is rich in Arecaceae, sago, woka, silar and coconut. In addition, the Bunaken National Park also has an animal species that live on land, such as deer and possum. Mangrove forest in this park into a habitat for crabs, lobsters, molluscs and sea birds.

Bunaken National Park was formally established in 1991 and is one of Indonesia's first marine park. In 2005, Indonesia registered Bunaken National Park for input into UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite having the status of national park and get adequate financing, this park has a small degradation due to mining of coral reefs, anchor damage, the use of bombs and cyanide in fishing, diving and trash. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) provides conservation assistance as part of "the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Eco-region Action Plan". Conservation includes patrol, which managed to reduce the use of bombs in catching fish

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Ambarawa Railway Museum. Standing Strong Across Ages.

Ambarawa Railway Museum is a railway station which is now converted into a museum in Ambarawa, Central Java, which has the completeness of the train that had triumphed in it day. One of the steam railway locomotive number B 2502 and B 2503 Esslingen Maschinenfabriek made until now still can run the activity as a tourist railway. Serrated steam train is unique and is one of three remaining in the world. Two of them exist in Switzerland and India. Apart from this unique collection, it still can be witnessed various types of steam locomotives of the series B, C, D up to the largest type of CC (CC 5029, Schweizerische Lokomotiv und Maschinenfabrik) in the museum yard.


Ambarawa originally a military town during the Dutch colonial administration. King William I ordered to build a new railway station that allows the government to transport troops to Semarang. On May 21, 1873, the railway station was built on land Ambarawa 127 500 m². The station was originally known as William I.

Willem I Railway Station was originally the point of transportation between the 4ft 8 ½ in (1435 mm) rail branch from Kedungjati in the northeast and the 3ft 6in (1067 mm) rail line further towards Yogyakarta via Magelang from the south. This still can be seen that the two sides built railway station to accommodate different sizes.

Ambarawa railway museum and then established on October 6, 1976 at Station Ambarawa to preserve steam locomotives which later came to the end of the recovery when the 3ft 6in (1067 mm) railway line from the State Railways closed. This is an open museum located next to the original station.

The museum collected 21 steam locomotives. Currently four locomotives are operational. Other collections of the museum include old telephones, telegraph morse Equipments, Equipments old bells and signals, and Some antique furnitures. B2502 Steam locomotive, one of the four locomotives that are still active and is one of three left in the world.

Some of the steam locomotive is a two-B25-B2502 0-4 2T / 3, which from the original fleet of five supplied to the line of about 100 years ago (the third locomotive (B2501) are stored in a park in a nearby town) that E1060 E10 00-10 - 0T which was originally delivered to West Sumatra in 1960 to work in the coal train, but then was brought to Java, and a conventional locomotive-0T 2-6 C1218 returned to be used again in the year 2006.

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GedongSongo Temple. Fusion of Two Ancient Tradition.

Gedongsongo Temple on the slopes of Mount Ungaran built in the 8th century AD. Gedongsongo name given by locals for the temple complex. Gedongsongo derived from the Javanese language, "Gedong" means house or building, "Songo" means nine. So the meaning of the word Gedongsongo is nine (groups of) buildings. Gedongsongo Temple complex built from the bottom row up to the top of the hills at Mount Ungaran. This shows the character of a very specific Gedongsongo Temple is a fusion between the two religions that are local and global.Mount is a place of sacrifice to ancestor spirits. This belief is a pre-Hindu traditions of local communities. While the mountain is also a place of residence of the gods according to Hindu tradition, who was then developing globally affects nearly half of the world. Local traditions are usually reduced it role by global traditions, but both are able to standing equal in Gedongsongo.

In 1740, Løten found Gedongsongo Temple complex. Year 1804, the Raffles recorded the complex by name Gedong Pitoe because only found seven groups of buildings. Van Braam makes the publication in 1925, Friederich and Hoopermans make writing about Gedongsongo in 1865. In 1908 Van Stein Callenfels do research on the temple complex and Knebel taking inventory in the year 1910-1911.

In Gedongsongo Temple Complex, the foot can be recognizable through a profile that consists of hand bells and the seam is straight. On the outside of the body of the temple there are niches that once contained statues Parswadewata, but now mostly in empty condition, so the first temple-filled phallus and yoni niche in the stall. Recesses of the outer body are decorated with floral motifs and sometimes there are ornaments in the form Kala.

Parswadewata in Java is interpreted as offerings to ancestral spirits who have been united with Shiva and the temple symbolized by the Linga-Yoni who escorted the god of accompaniment, namely: Durga (the wife of Shiva), Ganesh (Shiva's son), and Agastya (a hermit who has the spiritual ability equivalent to god).

Three-tiered roof of the temple is decorated with miniature temples and antefix either plain or decorated. Plan of the temple is almost entirely a square but there is also a temple with a rectangular plan, is the size of the temple is very varied, ranging in width 4.5 m -9.5 m, 4.8 m length - 9m with different height from 3m - 8.9 m.

Temple on the sidelines between Gedong III with IV Gedong there is a mountain kepunden as hot springs. The tourists can take a shower and warm baths disebuah kepunden built near them. The smell of sulfur is strong enough and pretty thick clouds of smoke as he approached the hot springs.

According to the story surrounding people, supposedly the source of hot water is guarded by a creature named Nyai Gayatri, spirits of women from the island of Bali. Nyai Gayatri is one of ladies from King Sima. After death, Nyai Gayatri's spirits inhabit this spring. Nyai Gayatri is someone who loves to help others. Until died too, Nyai Gayatri still helpful. One way is to help cure diseases for people who bathe in these springs.

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