Manusela National Park

Manusela covers about a hundred and eighty-nine thousand hectares across the middle of Seram, from the southern coast over the central range to the north, and it is the main protected area in Maluku. Gunung Binaiya at just over three thousand metres is the highest point in the Maluku islands and is climbed as a serious multi-day trek. The forest holds birds that exist only on Seram and its neighbours: the salmon-crested cockatoo, heavily trapped for the cage-bird trade and endangered because of it, the purple-naped lory, and a set of endemic parrots and honeyeaters. The Nuaulu and other communities live in and around the park, and the name Manusela - bird of freedom in local usage - attaches to a village and a mountain area treated as sacred. Infrastructure is minimal.

What you actually see

• A coast-to-coast park - crossing Seram over the central range.
• Gunung Binaiya - the highest peak in Maluku, a multi-day trek.
• Salmon-crested cockatoos - endemic and endangered from the cage-bird trade.
• Nuaulu communities - villages in and around the park with their own customs.

When to go

September to March; Seram's seasons are the reverse of western Indonesia. A week.

Honest expectations

Access is slow and needs permits, guides and arrangement. The Binaiya trek is genuinely hard and long. Malaria is present. There is no visitor infrastructure to speak of.

Nearby

Masohi and Wahai are the road access towns; Ambon is across the strait.