West Papua is amazing due to its rich culture and natural wealth. This region owns large forests and rich marine wealth. As a result, many of the areas are turned into West Papua National Parks. The reason is that the government wants to preserve such valuable natural wealth along with its diverse flora and fauna.
Being a vast province in eastern Indonesia, Papua has breathtaking nature and rich biodiversity, so many people want to witness the beauty themselves. Thus, you should put Papua on your bucket list to visit so you can admire its nature in awe.
Let’s take a look at the following three national parks in Papua, Indonesia, as follows.
Lorentz National Park
Many Indonesian national parks have become UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Lorentz National Park. This park in Central Papua is huge because it has a 25,056 Km square area. This park is Southeast Asia’s largest national park due to its extensive area.
This national park is also the most diverse in the world regarding ecology due to its wide-ranging biodiversity. The park has different ecosystem arrays, such as freshwater swamp forests, mangrove forests, marine areas, and more.
No wonder this park hosts a huge range of flora and fauna due to its wide spans up to Puncak Jaya, Papua. This park also hosts several indigenous ethnic groups, such as Suku Asmat, Suku Dani, Suku Sampan, Suku Among, and Nduga. Thus, the government needs to collaborate with the locals to sustain and conserve the parks to reach a preservation goal.
West Papua Bird Conservation is one of its spotlights to consider because it hosts more than 600 documented bird species. Among other birds are cassowary, the kingfisher family, Snow Mountain, and its iconic paradise bird (Cendrawasih).
Cendrawasih Bay National Park
Cendrawasih National Park is a paradise because of its astonishing natural marine life and an excessive biodiversity ecosystem. This park is amazing due to the many regencies that surround it, like Wondana, Manokwari, Yapen, Nabira, and Yaropen regencies.
Cendrawasih bay park is Indonesia’s largest marine national park because it has a 1,453,500-hectare acre area. It is worth visiting due to its rich marine biodiversity and plenty of surrounding pristine islands.
Among other islands are Nuswori Island, Yoop nad Wondesai Waters, Roon Island, and Mioswaar Island. However, you will need a few days exploring and hopping from one island to another for your best benefit.
Make sure you meet the largest whale shark in the world, the Rhinocodon Typus, while exploring this park because it is one of the most attractions to enjoy. However, Cendrawasih Bay is even more gorgeous due to its rich ecosystem of coral reefs.
Thus, diving and snorkeling would be the best activities for visiting this amazing national park.
Wasur National Park
Unlike the two national parks in West Papua, Lorentz, and Cendrawasih Bay, the Wasur National Park is likely still unheard of. However, this vast park is also amazing due to its extensive biodiversity. The area has very breathtaking scenery due to its natural beauty.
This park is awesome because, from August to November, thousands of migratory birds will be arriving from New Zealand and Australia. The birds, among others, are pelicans, storks, ibis, Royal spoonbills, and many more.
The park also hosts sugar gliders, cassowaries, wallabies, freshwater and saltwater crocodiles, etc.
Conclusion
West Papua is among the beautiful places you should visit because of its rich and beautiful nature. Among the many Indonesian national parks, West Papua owns three phenomenal ones to preserve its nature and its animals and plants.
Thus, West Papua National Park is worth placing on your bucket list due to its breathtaking natural beauty and biodiversity.
