Wasur Rawa Biru National Park

Wasur Rawa Biru National Park
Location:	Indonesia
Nearest town:	Merauke
Area:	4.138 km²
Foundation:	1990
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Wasur Rawa Biru is a national park on the island of New Guinea. It is located in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly called West Irian or Irian Jaya. The park is one of the newest reserves to be established and is immediately adjacent to the Tonda Reserve, with which it forms a huge protected area. In the course of the implementation of the Ramsar Convention, it became a Ramsar site.

Approximately 426,000 ha of marshland, mangrove forests, lakes, rivers and open savannah areas are covered. Scattered over this area are about 2500 tribesmen of the Marind-anim and “Kanum”. Attempts by the authorities to resettle them failed. Consequently, the right to hunt in the nature park was left to them. The tribes are also allowed to collect fruits for their own consumption.

Flora & Fauna

The national park measures 4138 km² and has in the animal and plant world just as Australoid features, as Papua New Guinea. You will find termite mounds, acacias, tumbleweeds and eucalyptus. Savannah landscape lines the marshy Rawa Biru (translated: blue bog lake)

The area is home to wallabies (a small species of kangaroo that also occurs naturally in Australia), cassowaries (a species of ratite) and various birds of paradise. Nearly 400 bird species are found here, including a large number of migratory birds from Australia, such as waders and waterfowl. Around 80 species of mammals are found in the park. Most are native, but there are also large populations of introduced red deer. Crocodiles live in the swamps. Lobster, crab and fishing along the coast is productive.

Since poaching is often the order of the day, WWF and ICBP representatives and other organizations have been working since the mid-1980s to develop management plans to protect the wildlife reserve.

Infrastructure

Access to the reserve is provided by two main road systems. On the one hand, the coastal road, starting from the town of Merauke, leads to the park. In addition, a 70-kilometre section of the Trans-Irian Highway passes through the reserve. During the dry season, a network of bushland roads makes it possible to drive into the park area.

Surroundings

60 km to the west is Merauke, the largest city in the region.

Web links

Conservation and development in Irian Jaya: a strategy for rational resource: Wasur Wildlife Reserve p.61
@1@2Template:Dead link/www.dephut.go.id(Page no longer available, search web archives: Wasur National Park)
Wasur National Park (page 927)