Taka Bonerate National Park is a
marine park which includes the
Takabonerate atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...
islands, located in the
Flores Sea
The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa.
Geography
The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea (to the west), Java ...
, south of
Sulawesi island
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...
of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
The area, which consists of the atoll islands and surrounding marine area was granted
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
protection status in 1992.
In 2015 the Taka Bone Rate National Park has been included in the UNESCO
World Network of Biosphere Reserves
The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature (e.g. encourage sustainable de ...
.
Geography
Taka Bone Rate is administered as part of
Selayar Regency
The Selayar Islands Regency is a regency of Indonesia in South Sulawesi province that covers the Selayar Islands, which lie to the south of Sulawesi. The regency covers an area of 1,357.03 km2, and had a population of 103,596 at the 2000 Census, ...
,
South Sulawesi
South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
. The atoll is located in
Flores Sea
The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa.
Geography
The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea (to the west), Java ...
, southeast off the coast from the southern "arms" of
Sulawesi Island
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...
and to the east of
Selayar Island
Selayar is the main island of the Selayar Islands (''Kepulauan Selayar''). It lies off the coast of Cape Bira of South Sulawesi Province. The Selayar Straits separate it from the mainland of Sulawesi. Its main city is Benteng, towns to the so ...
. It is located west of
Wakatobi islands and far north of
Komodo island
Komodo ( id, Pulau Komodo) is one of the 17,508 islands that comprise the Republic of Indonesia. The island is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island. Komodo Island h ...
across the Flores Sea. The nearest large city is
Makassar
Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...
, from where it can be reached in about 16 hours by boat.
With an area of 530,765 hectares which has an atoll expanse of 220,000 hectares, Taka Bone Rate meaning 'coral islands over sand' is the biggest atoll in Indonesia,
and Southeast Asia, and the third biggest in the world after Kwajalein Atoll and Suvadiva.
The atoll consists of separate table reefs enclosing a lagoon filled with massive reefs. The atoll has 21 islands, eight of which are inhabited. There are 15 islands for diving and snorkeling. The main island is Tinabo Island with 1.500x500 meters square and white smooth sandy beach as baby powder. Tinabo Island is 4 hours sail by rental boat from Benteng in Selayar Island. The best month to visit is March till mid-May and mid-September till December.
Demography
The natives of the atoll are the Bonerate people. They traditionally trade for fishery sea products from the Bajau
The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...
in exchange for freshwater and other land supply. The Bonerate are predominantly Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, although with strong elements of traditional beliefs.
They speak the Bonerate language, a Celebic language
The Celebic languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken on the island of Sulawesi, formerly called ''Celebes.'' Almost all of the languages spoken in the provinces of Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi belong to the Celebi ...
, and like most languages of Indonesia
More than 700 living languages are spoken in Indonesia. These figures indicate that Indonesia has about 10% of the world's languages, establishing its reputation as the second most linguistically diverse nation in the world after Papua New Guin ...
part of the greater Austronesian languages. Their closest linguistic relations is with people in the neighbouring Buton
Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th largest island in the world and ...
, Wakatobi and Muna Island
Muna (Pulau Muna) is an island in the Southeast Sulawesi province of Indonesia with an area of and had a population of 316,293 at the 2010 Census and 368,654 at the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. It is just southeast of the i ...
in Southeast Sulawesi
Southeast Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Tenggara) is a province on the island of Sulawesi, forming the southeastern peninsula of that island, together with a number of substantial offshore islands such as Buton, Muna, Kabaena and Wawonii (formerly ...
. Most also speak Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
.
Ecology
The atoll is of major ecological importance, with rich marine and bird life. The national park is considered to contain some of the world's highest marine biodiversity. According to the Indonesian Department of Forestry the atoll has 261 species of coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
, 295 species of coral fish, 244 species of mollusc and other species such as hawksbill turtle
The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...
(''Eretmochelys imbricata''), Pacific ridley turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), and green turtle
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species
In biology, a spec ...
(''Chelonia mydas'').
References
{{authority control
National parks of Indonesia
Biosphere reserves of Indonesia
Sulawesi
Protected areas established in 1992
1992 establishments in Indonesia
Geography of South Sulawesi
Tourist attractions in South Sulawesi