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KOMODO ISLANDS TRAVEL GUIDES AND INFORMATION
Komodo National Park, the last
remaining habitat of the world’s largest lizard, is one of the most
unique and beautiful places on the planet. Consisting of island
groups and their surrounding waters, the Park is widely recognized
as an outstanding storehouse of globally significant terrestrial and
marine biodiversity and, in acknowledgment of its immense value, was
designated a Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1986 and a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1991.
The Park was established in 1980, originally to protect the Komodo
dragon, which occupies a unique position in the Park’s terrestrial
ecosystem and has a high tourism value. This charismatic species has
naturally become the flagship species for the Park. Today, the
Park’s conservation goals have expanded to include the entire
ecosystem, both marine and terrestrial.
However, there is much more to Komodo National Park than the
dragons. The Park lies at the heart of the Wallacea bio-region, a
transitional zone between the terrestrial flora and fauna of the
Asian and Australasian regions. This overlap between two distinct
evolutionary eco-regions results in high levels of species richness,
and the area is of immense importance for terrestrial conservation.
The oceans of Komodo National Park are equally important, and lie
within an area known to scientists and conservationists as the Coral
Triangle. This area, where the great Pacific and Indian Oceans
converge, is the only equatorial region in the world where there is
an exchange of flora and fauna between oceans. It is the heart of
the world’s marine biodiversity, containing the richest coral
diversity in the world and is home to many highly diverse and
threatened marine habitats including fringing and patch coral reefs,
mangrove forests, sea grass beds, sea mounts semi-enclosed bays and
deep-water habitats.
Considered one of the world's best dive destinations, the Park
boundary encloses 1214 km² of coral reefs and coastal marine waters,
which are home to more than 800 species of fish, and 385 species of
reef-building coral from 70 genera. To put this diversity in
perspective, the entire Caribbean Sea, which covers an area of
2,754,000 km² and encompasses the range of habitats from coastal
shallows to deep oceanic habitats, is home to only about 1500
species of fish and 30 coral genera.
The Park also provides an
important habitat and migratory corridor for a diverse assemblage of
whales and dolphins, green and hawksbill turtles, dugongs and
numerous species of shark and ray. Other spectacular features of
Komodo National Park are the resident spawning aggregations of
grouper and populations of manta ray, which feed in the strong
currents.
From some of the most vivid coral gardens in the world to surreal
savannah dotted with Lontar palms to monsoon forest, the Park
presents a uniquely primordial environment. The presence of the
world’s largest lizard on these islands, together with a rich marine
fauna, present opportunities for wildlife viewing that are not
possible anywhere else on earth.
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