Manusela National Park (186,000 ha) is situated in one of the world's least known regions, Central Ceram in the Maluku Archipelago of East Indonesia. Maluku together with Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara Forms the biogeographic transition Zone between Asia and Australia, known as Wallacea, and on Ceram this transition becomes evident through the occurrence of both Asian and Australian biological spectra.
The Park includes examples of all Ceram's forest ecosytems, from sea level to the top of Mount Binaya at 3,027 m, the highest peak in Maluku, which gives a sense of real adventure to visitors with its impressive scenery, diversity, and abundance of flora, fauna and unique geological features.
The Manusela National Park pratects the watercathment area for the adjacent alluvial lowlands; conserves all Ceram's genetic resources and ecosystems, and provides an ideal area for education, scientific and tourism development.
In 1972 two areas in Central Ceram were declared as Nature Reserves, Wae Nua (20,000 ha) and Wae Mual (17,500 ha).
Wae Mual lies in the lowland forest in the nortern plain and Wae Nua encompasses most of the hill lowland forest in the Wae Kawa river valley. After a survey in 1978. a proposal was made to unite there two areas to form the Manusela National Park. This was finally declared in 1982 at the Third word National Park Congress, Denpasar, Bali Development and protection of the whole park area is still at a very early stage.
It's People
The area around the Manusela National Park has a long history og human inhabitation, both along the coast and inland. The Park is intimately connected with folklore and local traditions of Ceram. Inland the hill people still live in harmony with their natural environment in small villages along the east and west boundary of the Park and in four enclave villages Manusela, Ilela Maraina, Selumena and Kanike. Traditionally these people farm on a shifting cultivation basis and hunt or gather forest's food crops as sago palm
For them, the highest mountains (Binaya, Kobipoto and Manusela) are the resting places of the spirits of their deceased and such, remain sacred to the people, and the name of Manusela which means "bird of freedom"
Climate
The lowlands enjoy fine, sunny weather by day and moderate humidity. In the mountains early mornings and evenings are usually clear, but clouds build up by midday with some heavy afternoon showers. The clear starlit (often windy) nights are quite cold, necessitating the use of sleeping bagsRain falls throught the year with an annual total of more than 2,000 mm, but the pattern shows remarkable differences within the Park, due to influence of the mountains.The northen plains are wettest from November to April, but the south coast from May to October.
Topography
About half the Park area is very rugged with steep limestone terrain rising to an altitude of 3,027 m (Mount Binaya), and is hardly explored. This mountainous areas include the Merkele and Kabipoto ridges, other major topographical features are the Manusela valley in the centre of the Park, the northern Wae Mual alluvial plain and the southern Wae Kawa valley.To the north the Kabipoto ridge descends quite steeply to a coastal plain, which stretches 25 km the North Coast (Wae Mual Plain), in south east the Markele ridge descends steeply into the Taluti bay and in the south west into the narrow Wae Kawa valley.
Vegetation and Wildlife
Manusela's plant life is an impoverished derivative of the Asian (Western Malesia) flora with a few Australo-Papuan elements, which has evolved from an interaction of climates, geological history, and the evaluation processes. The result is a diverse, complex flora with several features. Many impressive and beautiful orchids occur, such as the lady's slipper orchid (Paphiopedillum) and many species of Bulbophyllum, Coloegyne, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis (P. amboinensis) and the terrestrial ones, the Phaius species.
Though the Ceram flora is poor in species diversity in comparison with the neighbouring islands, as well as Sulawesi (Celebes) and Irian Jaya (West Papua), but phytogeographically it is important, because Ceram and the adjoining island functionally forms a land bridge for the transition zone between West and East Malesian flora, for an example, in Manusela National Park can be found at least three genera of the Dipterocarps a family which dominates the West Malaesian region.
The northern lowland alluvial plains comprise a diversity of vegetation types such as the mangrove, fresh-water swamp forest, the dry land and the hill mixture Dipterocarp-Agathis forest, and along the river banks, the Eucalyptus trees, form a quasi pure stands, and it gives an impressive scenery with a canopy to 50 m high.
The sub montane and montane vegetations, occupies almost one third of the park area (manusela, Merkele and Kobipoto ridges). Here can be found the Damar forest (Agathis alba) and grows in association with meranti (Shorea sp.), and sporadically, the dense bamboo forest and the thorny rattans make venturing off the cut paths almost impossible.
Most fascinating plantlife is the mossy or cloud forest extending upward from 1,500 m. Here gnarled, often stunted trees are covered thickly by mosses, lichens or orchids, and in this zone, the unique flower of the lady's slipper orchid usually grows on the steep limestone walls along a deep valley of the river.
The park's fauna is much less specialized than its plantlife, and is more representative of Wallacean region, as a transitional zone between Asian and Australian faunas. Typically Australian are the oriental and spotted phalanger, megapodes, cassowaries and numerous parrot species. In addition Ceram has 14 endemic birds, 6 endemic mammals, and several endemic butterflies, including the giant birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera goliath procus) and the beautiful Delias (D. manuselensis)
The Trail
A trail of some 70 km follows the Wahai (Pasahari)-Manusela-Hatumeten traditional route along the eastern boundary of the Park. The trail itself is narrow but clearly marked, at first in the north following the Wae Isal river, often along the gravel banks, and in the south of kaloa, the lowland alluvial plains gives way to a series of small limestone ridges bisected by small stream. South of the Manusela valley the trail rises steeply to the ridge crests of the Merkele ridge (approx. 1,750 m) it is a one half day walk to Hatumeten, down very steep, slippery, narrow and rocky path, along the deep limestone valley that finally contours around 5 km before reaching Hatumeten on the south coast.
The whole trail length is approximately 70 km and takes a minimum of 6 days to walk from north to south, a one or two day rest in the manusela valley is recommended and on the whole a journey af about 7 days is preferable.
HOW TO GET THERE: