Indonesia Traveling Guide

Festival and Travel Mart 2011 was being held on last week at Raja Ampat Waisai Tercinta Beach (WTC), Raja Ampat, West Papua. This event was Opened with traditional dance and performance on last Thursday. Festival Committee Chairman & Travel Mart 2011 Ferdinand Dimara said that the maritime festival was intended to promote maritime tourism Raja Ampat. Besides bringing the existing tourism operators in Raja Ampat with a number of travel agents.

Raja Ampat, the beauty of the region which is rich with coral and marine life are very well known to the world. Therefore the Raja Ampat could become a major destination of foreign and domestic tourists. Especially diving and underwater tourism lovers. Raja Ampat consists of four large islands, namely Pulau Wageo, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifMisol, Batanta, and Salawati, as well as over 1,000 small islands to save the diversity of flora and fauna is also a cultural tradition.

In the maritime festival, visitors enjoyed package tours, traditional art performance and also some culinary. Meanwhile, according to Head of Culture and Tourism Raja Ampat Yusdi N Lamatenggo, festival was intended to introduce and promote the fascinating of Raja Ampat underwater panorama, also to increase tourist visits from 7,000 people (2010) to 10,000 this year.

There was also a photo contest focusing on underwater and panoramic views of the community life of Raja Ampat. Also, some seminars on nature diving. For more information about Raja Ampat visit this LINK.

Sail Bunaken in Manado North Sulawesi held last year was a huge success. Following that event, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has finally decided to organize a similar international event in Banda, Central Maluku this year.

Sail Banda 2010 is the name of this up coming event, which will be running from July 24th – August 17th 2010. Banda Islands are very popular among tourist, local and international, for their historical significance and undersea natural beauty, and therefore Maluku will host Sail Banda 2010.

Banda is made up of eleven small volcanic islands namely Neira, Gunung Api, Banda Besar, Rhun, Ai, Hatta, Karaka, Manukan, Nailaka, Syahrir and Batu Kapal.

This remarkable event will feature twelve main events:

1. Rally and Yacht Race,
2. Sport KEJURNAS waters, game fishing,
3. Diving International Tournament,
4. ARAFURA games,
5. International Conference on Small Island,
6. Cooperation Conference Indonesia – Australia (G to G and P to P),
7. International Seminar on “Sago Spices and Food for Safety”
8. Seafood and Fish Product Expo,
9. Cross Nusantara Adolescent Bahari,
10. Warning Independence R.I. the Island Outer,
11. Operation Bhakri “Baskara Surya Jaya”,
12. Navy Navy to Talk and Port Visit.

Sail Banda 2010 is a perfect place to share new experience and explore the marine beauty along with the marine lovers from all over the world in a spirit of adventure, graced by the marine paradise of Banda Sea. Prepare and be part of this magnificent event.

Once they are extinct they will never appear on this earth again and you will lose this world`s rarest species, the komodo dragon, Indonesia`s giant lizard. So, if you care about it, vote for it. Your vote will safeguard it and usher it into one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

"Therefore, we request the people at home and the international community to vote for the Komodo National Park so that it will win the contest as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature," Director for Culture and Tourism Development Marketing Development, Syamsul Lussa, said.

Indeed, the Indonesian government is doing its best to help promote one of the world`s ancient heritage so that it would become one of the winners in the New Seven Wonders of Nature that would be announced in 2011.

The Komodo National Park was built in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon (veranus Komodoensis) which is a venomous species of lizards that inhabit the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Padar, as well as numerous other smaller islands in Indonesia`s East Nusa Tenggara province.

It covers a total surface area (marine and land) of 1,817 km (proposed extensions would bring the total surface area to 2,321 km2). As well as home to the komodo dragon, the park provides refuge for many other notable terrestrial species such as the orange-footed scrub fowl, an endemic rat, and the Timor deer.

According to the official website of the Komodo National Park, the goals for the park have expanded to protecting its entire biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine. In 1986, the park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which is an indication of the park`s biological importance.

The voting is organized on-line on the web (http://www.new7wonders.com) or by phone (phone number: +41 77 312 4041, with code 7717 for voting for Komodo National park.

Come and join in the international event Sail Bunaken 2009 for sharing new experience and exploring the marine beauty along with the marine lovers from all over the world in a spirit of adventure, graced by the marine paradise of Bunaken Sea. Sail Bunaken 2009 is jointly organized by the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Affairs, Provincial Administration of North Sulawesi, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Navy Force of Indonesia, supported by the the Directorate General of Immigration and other government institutions.

Sail Bunaken 2009 is the largest event of the year 2009 offers strategic business opportunities for various products and services. More than 3,000 divers set a world record today for the largest group dive by plunging into the famed waters of Bunaken, North Sulawesi. The information center of the Sail Bunaken 2009 committee said 2,818 people participated in the event, but only 2,805 people stayed underwater for at least 25 minutes. That is the minimum length of time required by the Guinness Book of Records, whose representatives were on hand to witness the new record.

"Divers began entering the water at 8 in the morning. By midday, all of them had returned to shore," Koesdiantoro of the Sail Bunaken 2009 committee said. The mass dive also marked Indonesia's Independence Day, August 17. An Indonesian flag will be unfurled underwater tomorrow as part of the independence celebrations.

Sail Bunaken is a government-sponsored festival designed to promote Manado, and the visually rich waters of Bunaken, as an international tourist hotspot. Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, who also heads the festival committee, said Manado had seen a spike in economic growth thanks to Sail Bunaken. For more information please visit the official website www.sailbunaken2009.com

Balikpapan, E. Kalimantan: The Kutai palace, together with the Kutai Kartanegara regency administration and tourism office, are launching the 2009 Erau Tempong Tawar festival, a Kutai community traditional event, in the regency capital Tenggarong, which will be held from July 26 until Aug. 3.

The local community, domestic and foreign visitors have always had a keen interest in the Erau festival, especially countries within the region. The event cost around Rp 1.5 billion (about US$150,000) to organize.

The Erau Festival will not be postponed despite the H1N1 pandemic and the recent bomb attacks in Jakarta. "The Erau Festival will take place as scheduled. We believe it will still be packed with locals as well as foreign tourists," said East Kalimantan tourism office head Firminus Kunum.

The eight-day festival will showcase a series of traditional art and cultural performances as well as a royal ritual to repel bad luck and disasters.

The event was reinstated in 2007 after years of hiatus. In the 1990s the festival was once added to the agenda of events of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN).

Friday, August 1 is a red-letter day for eclipse enthusiasts. On that date, the sun will be partially eclipsed over an immense area that includes western and central Asia, parts of northern and central Europe, all of Greenland and even a small slice of northeastern North America.

A total solar eclipse — the first in nearly two and a half years — will be visible along a narrow track that will start over the Northwest Passage of Canada, gives a glancing blow to northern Greenland, then shifts southeast through Siberia and western Mongolia and before ending near the famed Silk Route of China.

The path of totality for this upcoming eclipse is never more than 157 miles (252 km) wide.

Where it's visible

The total eclipse begins at sunrise over Northern Canada's Queen Maud Gulf, where the moon's umbra will first touch down on the Earth, resulting in Canada's hosting its first total solar eclipse since February 26, 1979.

As the sun comes into view over the north-northeast horizon its disk will become completely blocked by the moon. This is in the area of the famous Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic archipelago of Canada. The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwestern Passages. Politically, this region belongs to Nunavut, the largest and newest of the territories of Canada; it was separated officially from the vast Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999.

Although the umbral shadow narrowly misses the towns of Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island, and Resolute on Cornwallis Island, its northern edge just clips the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world: Canada's remote outpost of Alert, which lies just 508 miles (817 km) from the North Pole and has a population of just 5. Here, totality will last 43 seconds.

Crossing the open Arctic, the southern half of the totality path slides across the many fjords of northermost Greenland, coming to within 450 miles (720 km) of the North Pole at 9:38 UT over the Arctic Ocean before turning southeast. Totality sweeps over the Norwegian island group of Svalbard, while the northern edge of the umbra's path just grazes Russia's Franz Josef Land island group, then cuts across the crescent-shaped island of Novaya Zemlya on its way to central Asia. The umbra first touches the Russian coast on the Yamal Peninsula. Not far inland, greatest eclipse, producing 2 minutes 27 seconds of totality, is attained near the town of Nadym (pop. ~46,000), just inland from the boot-shaped Gulf of Obskaja.

Spending part of your summer in Siberia may sound a bit more appealing upon hearing that the central path passes almost directly over the city of Novosibirsk, Russia's third most populous city (pop. ~1.4 million) where totality begins at 10:44 UT and will last 2 minutes 18 seconds. The center of the path will then follow the Mongolia-China border for several hundred kilometers, with Olgij, Mongolia getting 1 min 36s of totality. Totality finally whisks into north-central China, crossing the west end of the Great Wall before leaving the Earth at a point northeast of the major city of Xi'an (pop. 3.9 million).

The northern half of Maine as well as the Canadian Maritime Provinces will experience a partial eclipse at sunrise.

Date: 14/06/2008 - 14/07/2008
The annual Jakarta Fair is held to celebrate the
anniversary of the Jakarta City with entertainment and
promotions of the Indonesia Products. The event also an
opportunity to promote Jakarta as one of the most
prefemed shopping destinations in Asia. Extensive
discounts and programs are offered in shopping malls,
departement stores, restaurants and hotels throughout
Jakarta
T; (62-21) 26645044 - 5209671

Date: 04/06/2008 - 08/06/2008
PEKAN PRODUK BUDAYA INDONESIA 2008
(The Season of Indonesian Cultural Heritage & Craft)

Tempat :
Assembly Hall 1,2,3, Cendrawasih Room 1/1, Exhibition Hall A, Lower Lobby Meeting Rooms & Plenary Hall,
BALAI SIDANG JAKARTA CONVENTION CENTER JL. Jend. Gatot Subroto, Jakarta 10270
Keterangan :
Acara berlangsung tanggal 4 - 8 Juni 2008
Info/keterangan, telp/fax: 62-21 830 9716 62-21 829 8004; 831 3073