Karimunjawa Island

Karimunjawa Island is upon the territory of Jepara district of Central Java; they lie upon 45 mile, south west of Jepara city within the coordinate of 5o40’ – 5o57’ SL and 110o40’ EL. Karimunjawa Island has been established as the conservation territory (Sea Natural Preservation) since 1986, and it has been stated as the Sea National Park since 1988 with the width of 111,625 hectare, consists of 1,505.4 hectare of land and 110,019.6 hectare of water. In 2001, Karimunjawa National Park territory, which had he the width of 110,117.30 hectare, was established as the Water Natural Preservation Territory. The total amount of the width of land and water of Karimunjawa National Park is 110,625 hectare.

According to its function, Karimunjawa National Park is divided into zone, based upon SK (Letter of Appointment) of Directorate General of Forest Preservation and Natural Conservation through the decision NO: SK.79/IV/Set-3/2005 upon the zone/mintakat revision of Karimunjawa National Park.

Within the decision, it is described that the zone of Karimunjawa National Park has the width of 111,625, which divided into 7 zones, they core zone with 444,625 hectare width, preservation zone with 2,857.111 hectares width, tourism zone with 1,226.525 hectares width settlement zone with 2,571.564 width, rehabilitation zone with 122.514 hectares width, marine culture zone with 788.218 hectares, traditional fishery zone with 103,883.862 hectares.

The Ecosystem

Coral Reef Ecosystem

At least 66 genera of corals have been identified; 353 species of reef fish; 7 species of giant clams and other marine organism such as mollusk, sponge, soft corals and sea worm. There are 16 species which are categorized as the endangered and rare species such as Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas), Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelis Imbricate), Giant Clam (Tridacna Maxima), Sand Clam (Hippopus Hippopus), Boring Clam (Tridacna Crocea), China Southern Clam (Tridacna Derasa)
Lamun and Seaweed Plain.

The identified Lamun are Thalassia Hempicrii), Cymodocea Rotundata, Thalassodendron Ciliatum, Enhalus Acorodes, Halophila Ovate, Halodule Uninervis, Halodule Pinifolia, Halophila Ovalis, Syringodium Isoetifoliu.

Mangrove Forest Ecosystem

There are 44 species of mangrove trees, one of the rare mangroves species in the world is Scyphyphora Hydrophyllaceae.

Coastal Forest Ecosystem

The ecosystem is characterized by Terminalia Cattapa, Casuarina Equisetifolia, Seaeta Frutescens, Pempis Acidula, and Hibiscus Tiliaceus.

Ecosystem of Lowland Tropical Rain Forest

It is the habitat of some endemic butterflies. Some species that have been identified in Karimunjawa are Euploea Crameri Karimondjawaensis and Idea Ieuconooe Karimondjawaensis. There is also Ular Edor, a poisonous snake (Calloselasma Rhodosthomd) and White-Bellied Sea Eagle (Heliaeetus Ieucogaster).

Accessibility

KMP Muria

KMP Muria, a regular ferry from Jepara to Karimunjawa serves twice in a week, wednesday and Saturday from Jepara to Karimunjawa and back from Karimunjawa to Jepara on Thursday and Monday. The average time of trip is 6 hours.

KMC Kartini I

KMC Kartini I, a faster boat that serves the route from Semarang to Karimunjawa on Saturday, and back from Karimunjawa to Semarang in Sunday. The average time taken is 3.5 hours. It also serves the route from Jepara to Karimunjawa on Monday and on Tuesday in reserve, taking about 2.5 hours.

The Flight

The flight to Karimunjawa is served by Kura-Kura Aviation. The plane leaves from Ahmad Yani Airport at Semarang and lands to Dewadaru Airport at Kemujan Karimunjawa.

Accommodation

There 3 hotels, 3 tourism resorts and 15 home stays (owned by local people) available. There are also public phones and two BTS of cellular phone reaching most of Karimunjawa Islands are.

Marine Tourism

Diving and Snorkeling

Scuba diving and snorkeling are recommended in that several sites around Karimunjawa islands, they are: Esdir Reef at Cemara Besar Island, Antonys Point at Tengah Island, Indonoor at Batu Lawang, Mylim Reef at Menjangan Kecil Island, Never Ending at Karang Kapal, etc.

Fishing

There some challenging sites to enjoy fishing covering diversity of cat fish such grouper, Baronang, Tongkol (small tuna), etc.

Beach Tourism

There are beautiful white sandy beach and rocky beach covering Karimunjawa Islands. Several sites such as Ujung Gelam beach, Legon Lele beach, Nirwana beach, and Hadirin beach are recommended for beach tourism activities.

The Tourism of Sea Turtle Conservation.

Enjoy Sea Turtle Conservation program bay watching laying eggs sea turtle at Sintok Island, visiting semi natural sea turtle eggs hatching at Menjangan Besar Island and releasing Tukik (young turtles) to their habitat.

Land Tourism

Tracking

There are several tracking bands offering beautiful view, they are: Tourism trail of Makam Sunan Nyamplungan, Tourism trail of Legon Lele, Tourism trail of Maming Hill, Tourism trail of Bendera Hill, Tourism trail of Gajah Hill, Tourism trail of Mangrove

Bird Watching

There is diversity of beautiful birds in Karimunjawa as bird watching objects; they are white chest sea eagle, toying, raja udang, etc.

Cultural Tourism

There are some ethnics living in Karimunjawa, such as Jawa, Madura, Bugis, Mandar, Buton, attracting their diversity of cultures.

Religion Tourism

There is the grave/mausoleum of Sunan Nyamplungan, a figure of Muslim spreading Islam in Karimunjawa. The late is a clan of Sunan Muria (of the nine most famous muslim figure in Java, known as Walisongo).

Camping

There are several sites recommended for camping, such as Camping Ground of Legon Lele and around some beaches.