Monday, June 22, 2009

Bali Barat National Park


Bali Barat National Park is located on the north western side of Bali, Indonesia. The park covers around 770 km, which is approximately 10% of Balis total land area. To the north, it includes 1,000 m long beach, reef and islets. A seaport at Gilimanuk is west of the park and a village named Goris is to the east. The Bali Barat National Park can be reached by roads from Gilimanuk and Singaraja, or by using ferries from Ketapang, Java.

There are several habitats in Bali Barat National Park, a savanna, mangroves, montane and mixed-monsoon forests, and coral islands. The center of the park is dominated by remnants of four volcanic mountains from Pleistocene era, with gunung Patas (1,412 m) as its highest elevation.

Some 160 species can be found inside the park, including the Banteng, Barn Swallow,
Black-naped Oriole, Black Racket-tailed Treepie, Crested Serpent-eagle, Crested Treeswift, Dollarbird, Hawksbill Turtle, Indian Muntjac, Java Sparrow, Javan Lutung, Large Flying Fox, Leopard Cat, Lesser Adjutant, Long-tailed Shrike, Milky Stork, Pacific Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Rusa Deer, Sacred Kingfisher, Savanna Nightjar, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Water Monitor, Wild Boar, Yellow-vented Bulbul and the critically endangered Bali Starling.

There are also several endangered flora species in this national park, such as: Pterospermum diversifolium, Antidesma bunius, Langerstroemia speciosa, Steleochocarpus burahol, Santalum album, Aleuritas moluccana, Sterculia foetida, Schleichera oleosa, Dipterocarpus hasseltii, Garcinia dulcis, Alstonia scolaris, Manilkara kauki, Dalbergia latifolia and Cassia fistula.