Wakatobi National Park

A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Of 1.4 Million Hectares Holding Roughly 750 Of The World'S 850 Recorded Coral Species; Home Of The Bajau, The Sea Nomads · Wangi-Wangi, Southeast Sulawesi

WAKATOBI IS AN ACRONYM - WAngi-wangi, KAledupa, TOmia, BInongko, the four main islands - and it protects one point four million hectares of reef in south-east Sulawesi. THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS IS THIS: roughly SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY OF THE WORLD'S EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY RECORDED CORAL SPECIES are found here, against about fifty in the entire Caribbean. It is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, it holds one of the largest barrier reefs on earth after Australia's and Belize's, and the diving is walls and drop-offs in warm calm water. THE OTHER HALF OF WAKATOBI IS THE BAJAU, the sea nomads, who live in stilt villages built over water with no land at all and who free-dive to depths that prompted a 2018 study finding they have evolved enlarged spleens for it - one of the few documented cases of human genetic adaptation to a way of life. Two kinds of visitor come here and barely meet: guests of one of Indonesia's most expensive dive resorts, and backpackers in village homestays diving the same water for a tenth of it.

Wakatobi Islands, Gulf of Tomini approaches, Southeast Sulawesi, Wangi-Wangi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

REACHED BY AIR OR BOAT AND NEITHER IS QUICK. WANGI-WANGI HAS FLIGHTS via MAKASSAR OR KENDARI on a limited schedule; there is also a private airstrip on TOMIA used by the main dive resort, served by charter from Bali. FERRIES RUN FROM KENDARI AND BAU-BAU and take many hours. PARK ENTRY FEES ARE CHARGED and are usually handled by resorts and dive operators. ACCOMMODATION SPANS AN ENORMOUS RANGE - one of Indonesia's most expensive dive resorts sits on Tomia, and village homestays on Wangi-Wangi and Hoga cost a tiny fraction of it. DIVE OPERATORS RUN THEIR OWN SCHEDULES. The sea is calmest and clearest roughly March to December. Bring cash; banking outside Wangi-Wangi is minimal and cards are close to useless.

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