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UJUNG KULON NATIONAL PARK
The park's 120.551 hectares are
divided into 76.214 ha of land and 44.337 ha of surrounding reef and sea. It
can roughly be separated into three areas: the triangular shaped Ujung kulon Peninsula, the Gunung Honje Range to the east of the peninsula's isthmus and the island of Panaitan to the northwest. The highest points in the park are the 620 meters Gunung
Honje, the Gunung Payung Range peaks of up to 500 meters and Panaitan Island 's Gunung Raksa at
320 meters. In the central section of the Peninsula is a large region of
wilderness known as the Talanca Plateau which reaches 140 meters above sea
level, however most consist of low rolling terrain seldom more than 50 meters
above sea level.
The
park surrounded by unusually warm water, seldom varying from between 29C to
30C. The coastlines of the park are molded by the sea around them, battered by
Indian Ocean; the long sandy beaches of the south coast are backed by dunes,
lagoons and forest broken by rocky outcrops a wild and wind swept shore
line.The west coast's reef-lined shore has cliffs, promontories and towering
sea-stacks along sand and boulder beaches overhung by forest, creating the most
spectacular coastline in the park.On the north coast, the sheltered tropical
straits lap upon beaches of white sands and coral banks with islands,
estuaries, swamps and forest lined shores.Along each coastline is variety of
seascape which in all their diversity, offer a wide range of absorbing
shoreline experiences.
GEOLOGY
The
even that led to formation of the land we as Ujung kulon began about 200 years
ago when what is now the Indian Continent broke away from the super-continent
Gondwanaland. It collided with the Asian continent creating huge ripples across
the earth's crust forming the snow-clad Himalaya along with Sumatra's
mountain range, Bukit Barisan. It believed that the Ujung kulon Peninsula and the Gunung Honje Range were at that time the southern
end of Bukit Barisan Range as Java and Sumatra were connected by a land-bridge. Then 20.000 to 15.000 years ago, the bridge collapsed
to eventually form the Sunda Strait about 9.500 years
ago.
How
ever, the period when the strait was formed is somewhat contradicted by an
intriguing account in an early Javanese chronicle The Book of Kings. It states
that in the year 416 AD the mountain Kapi (Krakatau) burst into peaces
and sunk into deepest of the earth and the sea flooded the land from Gunung
Gede near Bogor to mountain Raja Basa in Southern Sumatra. The chronicle concludes: After the
waters subsided the mountain Kapi and surrounding land became sea and the island of Java was divided into two parts.
It is a
curious fact that no sea straits between Sumatra and Java was known before
1.100's by the far ranging Chinese and Arabian traders and later European
explores.Beneath the mountains and forest of Ujung kulon, carved by the
thousands of centuries of rain, wind and sea, are foundation of the land - a
young mountain system formed over the older strata of the Sunda Shelf.
Geologically, the Ujung kulon Peninsula,
Gunung Honje Range and Panaitan Island are part of this young tertiary mountain system while the central part of
Ujungkulon is of older limestone formations which have been covered by alluvial
deposits in the north and sandstone in the south. Much of underlying rocks and
early soils of the park are covered by volcanic ash, in places up to 1 meter
deep, a legacy from the Krakatau eruptions.
The
mountain ranges were all formed by the same folding event in the Miocene period
creating beneath the forest of the Gunung Honje Range an eastward tilting mountain block. A reminder of this activity is a geological
fault line situated off the Tamanjaya coastline. It bisects the park beneath
the isthmus as it passes through the Sunda straits connecting the volcanic
islands of Krakatau to the major tectonic fault line to the south of Indonesia
CLIMATE
Ujung
kulon's tropical maritime climate, somewhat cooler than inland areas of Java,
produces an annual rainfall of approximately 3.250 mm. Temperatures range
between 25º and 30ºC, with a humidity level generally between 80% and 90%.
April to October are the drier months, particularly between July to October.
During these months there are long period of fine, calm weather with occasional
spells of overcast skies, rain and rougher seas. The wetter season usually
begins in November and finishes in March bringing an average of 400 mm of rain
per month. The heaviest rains of December and January are often accompanied by
squalls and strong winds, clearing the atmosphere and producing brilliant sunsets
and spectacular panoramas (Margareth Clarbrough/Ujungkulon National Park
Handbook)
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