by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia
Traveling and scuba diving in Bunaken of Manado city North Sulawesi has been a standard tour package offered by many tour and travel agencies in Indonesia. Bunaken National Marine Park is considered world class coral reef of the South East Asia.
Every dry season, travelers and scuba divers from Asian, Australian, European and American countries come to scuba dive in Bunaken. The increasing number of tourists coming to Bunaken should be accompanied by the seriousness of the city dwellers of Manado to protect the coral reefs in the region.
It seems that the public awareness among the Manadonese is still low. This can be seen from the increasing number of coastal reclamation which continues to cover the coral reef site along the beach of Manado city and the garbage thrown to the sea by the city dwellers.
The municipality of Manado city should enforce strict law to their citizen if they are really serious in developing and maintaining the Bunaken national marine park as world class diving center.
The beauty of the underwater is also balanced by the beauty of the mountainous region of Minahasa. Minahasa has a number of active volcanoes which make the land very fertile. Along the roads of the mountainous region, we can see how the farmers work on their farms, plowing their lands with cows. A tour to Bunaken National Marine Park is not complete if you don't add it with a tour across the beautiful mountainous region of Minahasa.
