In the United States, national parks are the best place to start. For viewing sea animals, the best places include the Channel Islands off the coast of California. The islands are surrounded by sea lions, seals, gray whales and humpback whales. There are also numerous tide pools that house creatures such as sea urchins and anemones. Another area great for water animals is Glacier Bay in Alaska. Humpback whales and sea lions are in abundance off shore and on land bears and moose are often times available for viewing. For a different spin on water creatures, visit the Florida Everglades, the last remaining everglades on the planet. There you will see crocodiles and alligators co-exists along with turtles, dear, manatees and bobcats. The everglades contain large viewing towers that are devoted especially to wildlife watching or you can be a bit more daring and take a canoe ride in croc-infested waters.

Other national parks that make the list for best wildlife viewing are Denali National Park in Alaska, Glacier National park in Montana, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Denali, Glacier and Rocky Mountain offer animals such as dall sheep, grizzlies, caribou, wolves, mountain goats, elk, dear, bighorn sheep and marmots. Theodore Roosevelt is a less well known park and therefore offers great viewing of bison, wild horses, deer and elk without all the crowds.

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Outside of the US, there are more exotic animals available for viewing at places such as Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica, the Komodo Islands in Indonesia, Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Polar Bear Observation in Canada, and of course a Kenyan Safari.

The Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica is a brilliant rain forest that contains over 100,000 acres of land and 5,000 acres of marine habitat. The park is home to 116 species of amphibians and reptiles, 139 species of mammals and more than 400 species of birds. There are no roads into the park, only hiking trails. Unless you are an avid hiker and have excellent map-reading skills, a guide is recommended. In addition to the trails, there are also viewing platforms built atop massive ajo trees.

The Komodo Islands in Indonesia house the world’s largest population of Komodo dragons. These animals can grow to be over 300 pounds and up to nine feet in length. These islands are now an Indonesian national park and permits and tour guides are required, but they make the experience much more user-friendly (Komodo dragons aren’t in petting zoos for a reason). In addition to land tours, you can also take a sea kayak around the park and see coral reefs, fish, dolphins, whales and sea turtles.

Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo is one of the last places to see orangutans in their own natural habitat. Through an elaborate network of hiking trails, you can see the orangutans up close, swinging from branch to branch, suckling their young, or building nests to sleep. There are also orangutans in captivity which can be viewed. They are being rehabilitated before being returned to the wild. There are other jungle species as well that can be viewed in the orangutan jungle, including clouded leopards, civets, Malaysian sun bears, deer, numerous species of birds, and butterflies.

Nowhere can you see polar bears so up-close and personal as you can in Churchill, Manitoba. When Hudson Bay freezes, between October and November, this town is overrun with polar bears as they travel their migration path. In early winter, they even stop to dine on the region’s seal population. For more up close views, you can take a tundra buggy (a converted school bus) into the migratory packs for a quick day-trip. For longer exposure, there are tundra lodges that provide all day exposure to the bears in their native environment.

One of the most famous places to view wildlife is Kenya, and what better way to see it than on a safari. Safari’s can take you through the likes of Masai Mara National Park, Amboseli Game Reserve and Mt. Kilimanjaro to view lions, leopards, cheetahs, wildebeests, zebras, flamingos, black rhinos, giraffes and elephants. Safari’s range from less expensive options starting around 0.00 for an 8 day excursion to very luxurious safaris costing up to ,000. Either way, you get to see what you like most…animals.

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Bali is just one island in the enormous archipelago of Indonesia, but it is arguably one of the loveliest and most appropriate for a honeymoon destination.  Bali’s natural beauty is simply breathtaking and soaking it in will be an essential component of any holiday there.  The majority of Balinese people practice Dharma Hindu which is one important component of the peaceful atmosphere you will find there.  Bali’s northern retreats are the most secluded and its beaches most untouched.

For example, Waka Shorea, Bali’s first eco resort, is on its own island in the midst of a Balinese national park.  All its villas are situated in the jungle, though still just a five minute walk from the ocean.  Due to its eco stance, the resort is decorated simply and sustainably, perfect for those who want to experience nature and peace without the fuss and bother of civilization.  For a quiet honeymoon getaway, those destinations would be ideal.

If you’re not after peace, though, Bali also has a fairly active social and cultural scene.  Recently Bali has become a retreat of sorts for the artistically minded, many choosing to settle by the beach for a boutique lifestyle inspired by the brightly coloured flowers and misty mountains of Bali.  This has lent Seminyak a lively and artistic atmosphere with plenty of small shops selling handmade goods, busy art galleries, and a hip restaurant scene.

Browsing about isn’t the only thing you can do in Bali, and in fact it would be a shame to let the fantastic island scenery go to waste.  Snorkelling is a very popular choice for visitors to Bali due to the beauty of the underwater scenery.  There are many reefs around the island home to thousands of diverse underwater species that you may never have the chance to see again.  It would truly be a shame to miss out.

Bali’s heritage lends itself to wonderful days out as well.  The island is full of hidden and sometimes forgotten temples and ancient ruins.  The largest known Buddhist monument complex in the world is located just a short flight from Bali on another Indonesian island and is a perfect example of a once-forgotten ruin rediscovered.  There are a variety of smaller archaeological sites and ruins for exploration nearby and the adventurous couple could spend a few days simply soaking in ancient evidence of Bali’s peaceful Buddhist culture.

Bali has something to satisfy everyone’s tastes for a honeymoon and can even cater to someone who wants everything – shopping, swimming, exploring, and ultimate relaxation.  With a choice of intimate villas or luxury hotels, every couple will find something for them in this island paradise.

Bali – immerse yourself in Indonesian culture and food, with amazing customer service and a stunning backdrop. Relax on the beach and enjoy some of the world’s finest villas and hotels.
Boracay – A Philippine island located in the Asian Pacific, Boracay offers beautiful climbing trails, biking and horseback riding, not to mention snorkelling, scuba diving and water sports.
Bora Bora – nestled in French Polynesia, it used to be a landing points for the military in the USA. Its a really popular camping destination and you can fish in the clear blue, tropical waters.
Maui – the second largest island of Hawaii, its a great honeymoon destination. Its really popular with surfers as the warm water and light breezes makes great waves, but you can immerse yourself during the day with hula lessons, bamboo fishing or sunbathing if the surf doesn’t take your fancy.
Anguilla – steeped in rich heritage, Anguilla is a melting pot of cultures and cuisines all brought together in a tiny place. The locals are welcoming, anf its a picturesque and relaxing destination.
Jamaica – this is a really affordable holiday destination and can be tailored to your needs, whether you choose to camp or stay in a really lavish hotel. Experience Reggae or hike in the Blue Mountains.
The Seychelles – these are old islands, but largely developed, and comprise of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. The Seychelles are great if you are looking for something authentic as they steer clear from the built up resorts that have plagued many of the other beautiful islands in the world.
Hvar – situated off the Croatian coast, it’s a bit of a trek to get to, but the scenery, history and culture makes it well worth the trip.
The Galapagos islands – people are drawn to the Galapagos islands for the nature and botany. Now a national park, there are strict rules here on your activities, but if nature appeals to you it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Aruba – off Venezuela, this is an amazing location for education and art, and appeals to families, couples and people by themselves.

What are you waiting for? It’s often heard around the office after a busy day at work that people wish they were on an island, away from all the hype and business of the working week. So grab your passport, get your Travel Insurance and make the flight to one of the most beautiful destinations in the world.

There are nine possible cataclysmic events for 2012 that would create disaster conditions of a scale that humanity has never experienced before. We’re talking millions, maybe billions of dead worldwide, and a breakdown of society that may take a thousand years to recover from If it ever recovers at all. But if you’re properly prepared all these scenarios are survivable. So as every good soldier knows, we need to get acquainted with the enemy, so we can figure out the best way to beat him.

Here they are in no particular order

Unrestricted Global Nuclear War There are a lot of bad guys out there these days with nuclear capability. From a survival point of view it doesn’t matter who starts it or why, because the end result is the same – global cataclysm straight from hell. So given your family survives the initial atomic blasts and their immediate effects, there are a couple of other major things to worry about – Radiation and the Nuclear Winter.

Radiation.
Atomic reactions create radio-active particles which spread out from ground zero, and when they reach high altitude are fanned out by high-level winds. The radio-active particles eventually make their way back down to earth as ‘Fall-Out’. ‘Fall-Out can cause burns and terminal radiation sickness, kill livestock and contaminate soil and the crops that are grown in it. A massive region around the Chernobyl Reactor in Russia is essentially dead ground forever, and that was just an itty-bitty reactor melt-down, not a multi-megaton airburst.

Nuclear winter.
When you’ve got a lot of massive atomic explosions at ground level, an incredible amount of dirt and debris is going to be thrown up into the atmosphere – we’re talking millions of tons of black radio-active dust swirling around ten miles high, blocking the sun from reaching the Earth’s surface. We might not see the sun again for two or three years, and without it, it’s going to get real cold and nothing’s going to grow. Huge areas of the planet will turn into dust-bowls and sand storms will blast across Europe and North America.
However there will be places mostly in the southern Hemisphere and in the North that are far enough from blast zones to escape most of the radiation and fall-out, and are protected from most of the effects of the nuclear winter. That’s where you want to you and your family want to be to maximize your chance of staying alive in 2012.

Impact from Space This is the very worst of all worst case scenarios. Whether it’s the mystery planet Nibiru, a comet or a monster asteroid, having a massive Near Earth Object (NEO) smash into the Earth is all bad. So if you’re ready to survive this you’re ready for anything! Earth has experienced major NEO strikes many times before, and the biggest of all 65 million years ago made the dinosaurs extinct, overnight. If a NEO hits land we’ll get a situation like the nuclear winter we talked about above, plus a devastating shock-wave, molten lava showers, earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions.

Not even all the atom bombs in the world going off all at once would have a millionth of the power of a NEO impacting our planet. The NEO Impact winter could last decades and plunge the Earth into a new ice-age. If a NEO lands in the ocean we’ll get multiple tsunamis many hundreds of feet high, plus giant earthquakes caused by displacement of tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust. Low-lying counties will be turned into fetid swamps, ravaged by disease.We’re likely to get very little warning of an asteroid strike – maybe only hours or even minutes because they travel so fast and are almost invisible against the blackness of space.

On the other hand we may have several months to prepare for an impact by Nibiru or a comet. Unfortunately they are the least likely objects to hit us. So what will it be like in the aftermath of a NEO impact?

Arriving at the speed several thousand miles per hour a giant SEO will have enough power on impact to fracture the Earth’s crust and splash molten lava from the core high into the atmosphere. A massive thousand degree shock-wave will also radiate outwards from Ground-Zero completely levelling trees and buildings for a hundreds of miles in every direction. In an ocean impact, seawater will combine with the lava to cause a super-heated steam blast, plus acid rain. This burning rain would continue falling for years, scouring away every living plant and contaminating all water sources (other than artesian springs in the mountains). To survive a massive NEO strike you’ll need to be far underground, and far from the point of impact to stand any chance at all. However there is still a good chance that the NEO that hits Earth will not be a giant, and that increases your chances of survival massively – as long as you’re prepared that is. Otherwise, no matter where you are, it’s time to kiss your ass goodbye.

Solar Flares The sun is an enormous atomic reactor in the sky. Every now and then extra intense reactions in the sun’s atmosphere occur and solar energy spears out into space. That’s a Solar Flare. Small Solar Flares are detected by astronomers all the time and usually don’t affect us, because our atmosphere safely absorbs and deflects the extra radiation. But, if 2012 means a giant Solar Flare, the Earth’s surface and everything on it could be barbequed in minutes by radiation spread across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. We’d have enough warning to get into bunkers, but only if they were very close by. How bad it will be for your family also depends whether it occurs in the night or day – you definitely don’t want to be outside at noon when a doomsday flare bursts overhead.
The good news is it’s relatively easy to build a shelter that will absorb almost all the energy of a Solar Flare, even a giant one, so surviving the event isn’t necessarily the hard part. The real challenge will be staying alive afterwards in what’s left of the world outside your shelter.

Super Volcano Eruption Mount St Helens or Pinatubo are nothing compared to the dormant super volcano that forms Yellowstone National Park. An eruption there would kill millions and render a large portion of central North America uninhabitable. The rest of the world would suffer too from the enormous cloud of volcanic ash thrown up into the atmosphere, creating yet another nuclear winter scenario. However Yellowstone is just one location where super volcanoes are lurking ready to erupt, on land and under the ocean.
A monster undersea eruption would be even more deadly, triggering a super tsunami that would travel all around the world, wiping out entire countries as it goes, drowning millions and millions of people within hours. For most people in coastal areas, even low lying places inland, there would be no escape. However those families smart enough or just plain lucky enough to be in non-volcanic areas, on solid ground at over 1000 feet in elevation, will be in better shape – but for how long?

Earthquake It’s not a question of when ‘the big one’ will happen, but where and when. Major displacements of many of the world’s biggest tectonic plates are well overdue – including California’s mighty San Andreas Fault, which would kill millions in LA and along the West Coast.
The very worst place to be in an earthquake is a city, especially in a high-rise building, or in the streets below. Damage from most earthquakes on land, even massive ones are usually quite localised, but if we get one under the sea we get a Tsunami.
The Indonesian Tsunami of Christmas 2005 killed over one hundred thousand people – drowned or crushed by falling buildings and tumbling debris, or dying later of disease and starvation. If you saw the footage of the FBI carpark during the Samoa Tsunami in 2009 you’ll take Tsunamis very seriously – and that was only 3 feet high!
I guess it’s pretty obvious where you want to be to avoid a giant Tsunami? Up very high, far away from the sea. The trouble is, with this scenario like most of the others, the disaster itself is not the only threat – you need to be prepared to deal with other people who’ve survived, but haven’t prepared for it like you have. Most of them will be desperate, and will want what you’ve got.

Super Virus or Bacteria The biggest killers in recorded history have been diseases. The Black Plague of the 14th Century was an incurable bacteria spread by fleas living on rats. In some European towns up to 90% of the population was wiped out. Overall in the 100 years of the Black Plague, 30% of the population of Europe died. And much more recently, within living memory in fact, the Influenza Pandemic of 1919 killed tens of millions all over the world.
New disease threats are arising all the time. We’ve handled Bird Flu and Swine Flu pretty well, but will 2012 be the year when the next real plague arrives. International air travel virtually guarantees its almost instant global spread, especially to people living in big, overcrowded cities.

And that’s the clue to survival in this scenario. Fit, healthy families who live in remote rural areas in clean, warm houses and have absolutely minimal contact with the outside world, should be feeling pretty good about their chances.

Polar Reversal Polar Reversal where the magnetic field of the Earth swaps ends is a fact. It happens every 400,000 years or so, but what causes it is still unknown. Polar Reversal could be due to the influence of an undiscovered Black Hole nearby in space, or a massive sudden upsurge in electro-magnetic activity on the sun.
Some 2012 experts believe a Polar Reversal will cause the Earth to start spinning in the opposite direction – a horrifying scenario resulting in massive electrical storms, tsunamis and earthquakes in every corner of the earth. Again the smart money is on surviving underground in the mountains. And preferably ancient mountains made of solid rock like the mighty Appalachians.

Black Hole in Space We touched on this scenario before, but now we’ll get more specific. A Black Hole is what’s left over when a giant dying star collapses into a very dense ball of Matter – a ball much smaller than our Moon.  This stuff is so dense that a matchbox full of Black Hole Matter would weigh countless thousands of tons. And the thing is that it still has the massive gravitational pull of the huge star whose death created it. In fact, its gravity is so strong that it can swallow up anything within millions of miles – it even pulls in light (which is why they are called Black Holes, because not even light can escape them).
A Black Hole suddenly appearing in space, even within several Light-Years of Earth would pull our entire solar system towards it, throwing the orbit of every planet out of kilter. We could collide with Venus, Mars or the Moon. Or the combined gravitational pull of the Black hole aligned with Jupiter and Saturn could rip us away from warmth of the sun, or send us plunging towards it. Either way, the surface of the Earth would quickly become uninhabitable. The only place to survive would be underground in caves or bunkers.

Global Flooding The Bible tells us that Noah had 100 years warning of the Great Flood and used his time to prepare for it, building the ark and collecting animals. We will not have the luxury of so much time to get ready if another great flood is going to engulf the world in 2012. Around 60% of the world’s population live in areas that would be totally submerged by a flood of only 20 feet high. That’s almost three billion people threatened with being drowned. The panic as they all try to get to higher ground simultaneously is almost unimaginable. And for most of them higher ground will be beyond their reach.
Already the threat of Global Warming and the gradually rising sea levels that will come with it has lead a lot of people to think about the consequences for them and their loved ones if this scenario comes to pass. However a flood in 2012 would come much more suddenly – accompanied by massive hurricanes with hundred mile per hour winds and days of unrelenting torrential rain. Roads will be made impassable within hours. Remember Hurricane Katrina? This will be 1000 times worse.
So what could cause the next Great Flood? The most likely scenario is a near miss by Planet Nibiru. If Nibiru passes between the Earth and the Sun, its gravitational pull could upset the Earth’s orbit pulling us closer to the sun, resulting in a rapid increase in air and sea temperatures. The warmer conditions would mean much faster evaporation of water into the atmosphere.
At the same time Nibiru’s near miss would accelerate the speed that the earth spins, causing the Jet Stream (high altitude winds) to speed up as well. And as anyone who knows their weather can tell you, when rapidly rising, hot moisture-laden air and the Jet Stream meet you get one thing – Super Storms. And here’s the thing, we won’t get just one Super Storm. We’ll get hundreds all over the world, with rain like no one has ever seen before, maybe not even Noah.
But that’s not all. Even folks living on a lot of the Earth’s higher ground won’t be safe. Widespread catastrophic landslides would come hand in hand with the 2012 Great Flood. Sodden hillsides would give way without warning and plunge to the valleys below, carrying with them whole cities. In recent years landslides have killed countless thousands in South America and China.
The Alaskan Tsunami of 1963 was caused by landslide triggered by an earthquake. The end wall of a fjord collapsed into the water, sending a wave over 1000 feet high towards the ocean, obliterating everything in its path.
Of course the survival solution to this final scenario is pretty clear. Be in mountain areas where the high slopes are primarily made from solid, stable rock, and make sure to stay out of the valleys, which due to the heavy rain will rapidly become raging torrents.

OK so that’s the bad news. Now let’s see what we can do about helping your family to survive the worst 2012 can throw at you.

The culture of Bali is in sharp contrast to what we are used to in the West. A large percentage of the population still dependent on farming for their living, people live on less money per day than what we would spend on petrol to get to work, and above all, most of the population is deeply spiritual as well as superstitious. If you want to feel that you’ve reconnected with your simpler side, a Bali vacation is the perfect way to do so. Today we look at some of the spiritual travel options in this tiny Indonesian island.

Temples in Bali

Bali, like many South East Asian countries, holds much of its art, culture and architecture in the temples of the region. Locals have believed for many years that the deities of the local area had a direct influence on the success of their lives, which is why there is such emphasis on inward-looking, on spirituality and on reverence. There are some truly beautiful temples to be accessed only minutes from a range of Bali hotels, including:

* Pura Besakih: This incorporates pre-Hindu beliefs into the temple complex, which consists of five compounds as well as the main temple. There are plenty of day-long Bali tours to Pura Besakih
* Taman Ayun Temple: This temple is around 18 km south of Denpasar, and is much quieter than the other famous and easily accessed temples. It is surrounded by a wide moat and beautifully kept gardens; visitors cannot enter the temple, but you can watch ceremonies being conducted inside.
* Temple of the Meeting of the Three: Intriguing name for an intriguing temple! This particular building has only been there since 1917, but there has always been a temple on this site for over a thousand years.
* Uluwatu temple: There is some controversy about whether the monkeys at Uluwatu temple are tamed or trained to be naughty. But the temple itself is a must-see for a Bali vacation.
* Yeh Pulu Temple: This is said to be a very quiet temple, although visitors are often ‘required’ to give an offering to the temple gods.

Spiritual Festivals

Much as we in the Western world take time off our usual work to be with our friends and family, people in Bali often take time out of their day to honour locally recognized gods and deities. These events are a great way to get insight into the minds and motivations of the Balinese people … simply a very special thing to be around! You can check out most of the temples at any time of year, so if you want to up the ‘heart factor’ of your trip, take your Bali vacation around the dates of the following spiritual festivals:

* January 2 Tumpek Kandang – Special day of thanks for the gift of livestock
* February 06 Tumpek Wayang – Special day of thanks for the gift of Art
* February 26 Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday – Moslem Holiday
* February 27 Saraswati – Special day of thanks for the gift of Knowledge
* March 03 Pagerwesi – Special day for meditation to enhance balance in the world
* March 13 Tumpek Landep – Special day of thanks for the gift of metal
* March 15 Tawur Agung Kesanga – Held to welcome Nyepi holiday at every family compound; followed by procession of Ogoh-Ogoh (huge monster / evil dolls)
* March 16 Nyepi – Balinese New Year; The I Saka New Year 1932, the day of absolute silence for Hindu followers
* April 17 Tumpek Uduh or Tumpek Pengatag – Special day of thanks for the gift of fruit-bearing plants
* May 22 Kuningan – Believed to be the ascendant day of ancestral holy spirits and deities, back to the eternity
* May 28 Vaishakha 2554 – Buddhist holiday to celebrate the birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism
* July 31 Tumpek Kandang – Special day of thanks for the gift of livestock
* September 29 Pagerwesi – Special day for meditation to enhance balance in the world
* October 09 Tumpek Landep – Special day of thanks for the gift of metal
* December 07 1 Muharram 1432 H – Moslem New Year
* December 08 Galungan – Praying for the victory of virtue (Dharma) upon evil (Adharma)
* December 18 Kuningan – Believed to be the ascendant day of ancestral holy spirits and deities, back to the eternity

Ancient Spiritual Sites

Bali is beautiful and quiet … unless you are in Denpasar or the other urban areas, there is usually nothing to hear but the wind in the leaves, the faint chattering of monkeys and the call of the ocean! Perfect for meditation and some private yoga sessions. Check out spiritual sites perfect for these practices on your Bali vacation, like the West Bali National Park and Bali Barat National Park.

This city down under has it all. From Victorian-era architecture, numerous cultural organizations, museums, galleries and theaters to public parks, gardens and a wide-range for shopping, Melbourne is a great place for a tourist. Visitors can also stopover at Grampians National Park, The Great Ocean Road and Philip Island. The heart of Melbourne is vibrant and features cultural heritage and futuristic aspects as well. The nightlife in Melbourne is globally renowned. The party atmosphere lasts all day and night with pulsating music, bright and wild ambiance, where travelers can expect excellent entertainment inside the night clubs and bars. Live music, local artists and wonderful people make up some of the features on offer in the city. Melbourne has something to offer everyone and also features famed historical landmarks such as the Gold Treasury Museum and the Federation Square. The cultural attractions are plentiful with museums dedicated to science, Jewish history and the world of sport.

Sports enthusiasts will love Melbourne. The Melbourne Cricket Ground, Albert Park which hosts the Formula One Grand Prix and the Telstra Dome are some of the attractions that a sports lover should not miss during their stay in Melbourne. The renowned University of Melbourne is worth a visit especially for young travelers for educational value. Much is offered by way of dining options in Melbourne of gastronomical delights from Italian to Japanese or Indonesian.

Public transport options like train, car and bus can be used to get around and explore the hot spots of this vibrant city. Visitors can stay in any one of the Langham Hotels like the Langham Brand for a pleasurable holiday in Melbourne.

The vintage red ‘Hotel Indonesia – Kempinski ‘ sign above Jakarta’s busiest traffic circle is nowadays nearly dwarfed by the gleaming skyscrapers all around it, but it’s a curious historical landmark. Known locally by its acronym ‘HI’ , the hotel is an eerie symbol of President Sukarno’s obsessive 1960s effort to create a ‘New Jakarta’ that would bring international respect to his nation and pride to his struggling people. Opened with great hoopla in 1962, Hotel Indonesia epitomized the era’s modernization drive, and as it declined over the years in a retro sort of way, it became the stuff of legends. The lobby displayed priceless evidence from that golden period, a photo of their very first guest, a visibly perspiring American named Allen Alwelt, who worked for the Rockefeller Foundation and is seen arriving in a becak and wearing what the caption describes as “an ordinary shirt with no jacket, and brown cotton trousers”, a 1972 photo of a Bee Gees appearance at the hotel’s Nirwana Supper Club, a snapshot of a visit by Senator Robert Kennedy.

Australian writer Christopher Koch described it thus In his colorful novel-turned-Hollywood film, The Year of Living Dangerously, set in 1965:

” The fourteen-story Hotel Indonesia (always with a capital H) rode like a luxury ship in mid-ocean, being at this time the only one of its kind in the whole country. It stood in New Jakarta, and like Friendship Square, and Jalan Thamrin, the six-lane highway that carried the traffic here from the Old City, it had recently been ordered into being by President Sukarno, who considered an international hotel necessary to the nation’s prestige. Paid for by the Japanese, managed by the Americans, it had its own power supply (since Jakarta’s was fast failing), its own purified water (since Jakarta’s now carried infections), its own frigid air, which no other hotel could offer. Food was flown in from San Francisco and Sydney, or grown on the hotel’s own farm. With its restaurants, night-clubs, bars, swimming pool, and shops, it was a world complete. It was also majestically expensive, but heat or gastritis usually broke the resolve of those transients who tried the decaying colonial hotels of the Old City”.

Until very recently, decaying actually described Hotel Indonesia itself, reduced through neglect to a sad echo of its former glory, overtaken on all sides by far more luxurious international-chain hotels. No longer a home-away-from-home for glamorous foreign dignitaries and celebrities, the hotel mainly hosted tired Indonesian civil servants and political party hacks attending seminars in the capital. Five red-and-white ceramic Indonesian flags stood stubbornly over the lobby, greeting visitors at what mostly felt like a theme park to Indonesian nationalism. But history (and globalization) recently came full circle when German hotel group Kempinski revived the fast-deteriorating landmark as one of the city’s premiere luxury properties once again.

Unity in Diversity, the national motto of Indonesia, is a term that strikes deep into the heart of this dynamic and attractive Southeast Asian nation. Few places offer such cultural variety and geographical complexity as Indonesia, and no two journeys here are ever alike. 

Indonesia is composed of seventeen thousand islands that stretch over five thousand miles along the equator. The Malay Peninsula and Indochina are situated to the north-west, and the continent of Australia lies due south. Northward lies the Philippines and Micronesia.

The most populous of the Indonesian islands by far is Java, home to the sprawling capital city of Jakarta. Other notable islands include the exotic, popular resort island of Bali, Lombok, Bintan, Catholic Flores, Sumatra and Komodo, home of dragons.

Bali, the Heaven…

Bali is an island where art and religion mingle in the daily lives of people in a way unlike anywhere else on earth. Its culture overflows from its temples and into the streets, where artisans of every kind continue traditional methods of handicraft that have been passed down for generations.

The most famous of the many Balinese cultural traditions are its poetic and ornate dances, which employ a graceful and highly-sophisticated gestural language to narrate traditional stories and legends.

Bali’s natural beauty is as startling as its cultural riches. The beaches of Bali are world famous. Many are ideal for surfing, and plenty of offshore reefs create good scuba diving environments. The famous one are: Kuta Beach, Legian Beach, and Seminyak Beach. 

Sumatra, the Natural…

Indonesia’s largest and least developed province, Sumatra rests along the equator, heavily forested and rich in rare wildlife. The island’s slow development has made it ideal for eco-tourism, and numerous large reserves and preservation areas have been set aside. Its most famous park, Mount Leuser National Park, is one of the last refuges of the Sumatra Orang-Utan.

Another distinguished park is the Berbak Wildlife Reserve, which has one of Indonesia’s largest tiger populations. In the far north of the island is Lake Toba, an enormous and extraordinarily beautiful crater lake.

A particularly enthralling adventure experience in Sumatra takes place on the Alas River, which winds itself across North Sumatra through jungle, limestone gorges, and native villages. The voyage begins in the Karo Highlands and culminates with the Indian Ocean: a descent ten times that of the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River.

Lombok, the Adventure Paradise…

Lombok is the most popular destination in Nusa Tenaggara – a province in South Central Indonesia.  Visitors head here for both underwater and on-land exploration.

Situated east of Bali, it can be accessed by plane or boat. The island consists of virginal sandy beaches and a hilly terrain, fringed by mesmerizing azure shores, making it a favorite destination for trekking, surfing and beach lounging.

Lombok is paradise mixed with a dash of adventure and a hint of exoticism, blessed with majestic waterfalls and a volcano – Mount Rijani. ‘Unspoiled Bali’, would be an apt description. 

Ultimately, Lombok is a place to chill. Popular with honeymooners, it offers a subdued alternative to the more mainstream Bali, while not compromising on beauty or comfort, just cost – it’s decidedly cheaper. Complete with quiet bays, white and grey sand beaches, a tranquil village style and half a dozen small islands, it retains an undiscovered tropical charm. 

Bintan, the Dream… 

Bintan Island is like a dream. With its pristine beaches and unspoiled natural beauty, it has everything you could ever wish for in a picture-perfect tropical holiday destination – and more. Virtually undiscovered until just a few years ago, this idyllic retreat has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years, particularly amongst Singaporeans who, due to the island’s close proximity, have made it their preferred spur-of-the-moment getaway.

With a population of less than quarter of a million, the island has an interesting, eclectic mix of different cultures and ethnicities, including Malay, Bugis, Chinese and a unique tribe called the Orang Laut (sea nomads).

A trip to Bintan’s two main towns, Tanjung Pinang and Tanjung Uban, is a great way to learn more about the island’s people and local culture. The island’s highest mountain, Bintan Besar, almost 400m in height, is also the highest peak in the archipelago. 

Java/Jakarta, the Capital city

Java is often referred to as the heart of Indonesia. It is the historical center of Buddhist and Hindu culture and home to the nation’s sprawling capital city, Jakarta.

Java’s three main regions are simply East, Central, and West Java, and the island’s many roads and public transports make it easy to navigate.

Though Jakarta is the most visited destination in the west, it is best described as a mixture of Bangkok and New Delhi. There are also major natural attractions, such as Mount Gede-Pangrango National Park. In Central Java, the seat of major dynasties throughout Indonesian history, are the cultural wonders of the Prambanan temple complex and the magnificent Borobudur Temple. Central Java is also the home of Indonesia’s famous shadow puppet dances, or Wayans Kulit, and the craftwork center of Yogyakarta.

Finally, there is East Java, where travelers encounter some of the Indonesia’s most extraordinary national parks, including the wildly spectacular Bromo-Tengger.

 Feel like been there?!!!

The archipelago around Sulawesi and Borneo has been described as an ecological ‘hot spot’. East of Indonesia Archipelago have much terrain varied, from walls and fringing reef to caverns, big Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas), whitetip, leopard and nurse sharks, schooling barracudas, napoleon wrasses, cuttle fish, spanish mackerel, jacks and batfishes, and ornamentalreef fishes hang out in record densities and diversity.

If the sea has a heart, it lies somewhere in the dynamic mosaic that is the Indonesian archipelago. In this biological hot zone, there are more coral and fish species than anywhere else on Earth. The numbers are staggering: for instance, Indonesia has 83 species of angelfish and butterflyfish, while the whole of the Caribbean supports just seven of each.

This diversity is celebrated in The Sulu-Sulawesi Seas, a new photo-book by German photo-journalist Jürgen Freund. Part of a conservation initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the book focuses on the area around Sulawesi, Borneo and the southern Philippines – the epicentre of the hot zone. This is a world where schools of jacks group into seething tornadoes over reef drop-offs, where tiny porcelain crabs seek refuge among the swaying tentacles of a host anemone. Stray from the reefs into a mangrove swamp and you are just as likely to run into a saltwater crocodile, the mightiest of the reptiles.

This region, referred to often as the ‘coral triangle’ or the ‘East-Indies Triangle’, encompasses three nations and an area of complex oceanography. All the islands have narrow continental shelves and many are separated from each other by relatively deep waters. Surface currents flow permanently eastwards along the north coast of Sulawesi and southwards along the west coast. To the south of the island there is a strong east-flowing current during the northeast monsoon, which is reversed during the southeast monsoon.

Conditions are ideal for reef development and there are fringing reefs along the shores of most of the smaller islands, and some continuous stretches running for hundreds of miles along the coastline. It doesn’t take an expert to see that this is a special place: if you were to do a dive on a Sulawesi reef, then jet off to anywhere in, say, the tropical western Atlantic, the difference would be immediately noticeable. For years, photographers have said that the reefs of the Caribbean are like English gardens compared with the marine jungles of Southeast Asia.

For divers, it’s down to the ease of finding certain exotic creatures. The highly cryptic leaf scorpionfish, for instance, can be found all over the Indo-Pacific, but in most places no one bothers to look over areas of exposed coral (their preferred habitat) for suspiciously leafy objects. When you’re in the coral triangle, it’s always worthwhile looking around for semi-disguised creatures. And if you’re observant enough to find one leaf scorpionfish, there are usually others nearby.

Local dive operators are only too aware of the region’s super-abundance of marine species. Log on to any website promoting diving in Borneo or Sulawesi and you will find phrases along the lines of ‘located in the middle of the ocean’s centre for biodiversity’ or ‘slap-bang in the middle of the ocean’s Eden’. It’s a strong selling-point, but can be misleading in terms of understanding the true nature of this magical place.

So, why are there so many different corals, fish and invertebrates in this region? Is it, as the websites suggest, some sort of underwater Eden? This has certainly been a popular theory, that the seas from Java to New Guinea represent an underwater ‘cradle of evolution’ from which all life in the shallow tropical seas originated. According to this approach, places such as Sulawesi have an abundance of species because it has been an evolutionary production line since since an early point in Earth’s history. It’s an attractive notion and has an appealing symmetry, not least because of parallel theories about the emergence of humans from Africa.

Unfortunately, the ‘marine Eden’ theory has a wealth of evidence stacked against it. If it is to be believed, all the coral in the world must have originated in and around Southeast Asia – but fossil research on Acropora corals shows that they originated around North Africa, Spain or even other parts of Europe, but not Indonesia. According to Dr Brian Rosen, a scientific associate in zoology at London’s Natural History Museum, simple fossil data clearly shows that Southeast Asia was not a long-term cradle of coral development. ‘If you look back 40 million years ago, Europe and the Caribbean were the major centres for coral reef diversity, and research in progress increasingly suggests that many reef organisms originated there,’ Rosen explained.

So, between about five and seven million years ago, Europe’s reef-building coral died out and the Caribbean’s managed to stagger along, but by then Southeast Asia had become the hot zone. Rosen maintains that this was not due to any single cataclysmic event, but a long-term series of events which had made it the most attractive option for marine life.

‘When environmental conditions change, organisms will go extinct if they cannot cope with the new conditions, stay where they are if they can cope, or if the change is not too drastic or too quick, they will gradually migrate into other regions where conditions are more suitable for them.’ Put simply, if life has time to get out, it will do so while the getting out’s good.

Most of the conditions and habitats that are found in present-day Indonesia also occur in the Caribbean – so why are there such differences in biodiversity? Dr Rosen – whose study of the issue amounts to a life’s work – points out that if the environments are so similar today, then there must be long-term historical issues behind the development of the East Indies triangle.

So, let’s look to history. It has been estimated that biodiversity may have accumulated in this region at the same time that extinctions were occurring in other parts of the world during the Pleistocene period (the time in our Earth’s history from approximately 1.8 million years ago until about 10,000 year ago). The region is a labyrinth of volcanoes and deep basins that survived the Ice Ages, possibly providing a refuge for numerous species.

At the same time, the massive fluctuations in sea level may have isolated pockets of reef diversity, allowing evolution to follow different paths. When the species were reunited as sea levels rose, they had changed in many subtle – and not so subtle – ways, further adding to their diversity. The tortuous geography of the area has helped to create what Dr Rosen describes as a ‘dynamic mosaic’ which acts with variations in sea level to create a sort of ‘diversity pump’.

Today, the triangle straddles an area in which two great oceans – the Pacific and the Indian – meet. That species from the two oceans come together and mix here is beyond contention. It is simply another of many factors that promoted diversity in the coral triangle. Ask any diver who has seen the currents ripping through Nusa Tenggara, the islands south of Sulawesi which include the famous Komodo Marine Park. It is here that the Pacific flows into the Indian Ocean, a vast movement of water impeded only by a few volcanic islands, around which some of the fastest currents on Earth occur.

Diverse as they may be, the reefs of the coral triangle face an uncertain future. Some 82 per cent of them are estimated to be threatened by human activities in the recent Reefs at Risk report. Human populations are over-using the resources in many areas, while rapid industrialisation and the continuing destruction of the forests on land are causing massive amounts of sediment and pollution to accumulate on reefs. The other major factor is global warming, widely believed to be underlying cause of coral bleaching.

Marine biologist Dr Alexander Mustard is another prominent diver and underwater photographer who has fallen in love with the coral triangle. He maintains that the preservation of Indonesia’s marine environment is crucial not just for the region, but for the entire world. ‘Anyone who has dived extensively in Indonesia will have seen the impact of dynamite fishing,’ he said. ‘If you’re underwater and an explosion takes place within a few miles, you will literally feel the impact, despite the fact that dynamite fishing has been illegal in Indonesia since 1985.

‘Even with the increasing population, there is more than enough protein in the sea to provide for human needs. But instead of harvesting it in a sustainable manner, they are destroying the very environment that supports the life. It’s like being an orange farmer and, instead of picking oranges, you chop down the whole tree.’

Yet Jürgen Freund, whose pictures illustrate this article, feels there is still hope for the coral triangle. ‘Some fishing communities now actively protect their fishing grounds and coral reefs, and others have mangrove reforestation programs,’ he said. ‘Once given a chance, the sea can replenish itself. In the Sulawesi Sea northwest of Manado, fishermen can pull a ton of tuna from the sea in two hours, using only simple bamboo fishing rods and small hooks. They could easily take more, but they have a simple philosophy – why take so much when we can keep some fish in the sea for tomorrow?’

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