Enjoy the Sand Hill and Bat Nest on Menipo Island, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

Enjoy the Sand Hill and Bat Nest on Menipo Island, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

POS-KUPANG.COM - Menipo Island is a Nature Tourism Park (Taman Wisata Alam/TWA), located in Enoraen Village, East Amarasi District, Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

Menipo park is managed by the East Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Center (Balai Besar Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam/BBKSDA).

Besides managed by BBKSDA, Menipo park is also considered by local residents, especially the Ebenhaezer Bikoen Congregation of East Amarasi.

Menipo park is now becoming one of the attractive tourism destination. There are a lot of extraordinary flora, fauna, and nature in this island. This area is 2,449.50 hectares.

The Attractivenes of Menipo Island

The visitors can enjoy some tourism option on Menipo Island: seeing bat nests or trekking to the Dunes (Sand Hill).

Visit the Menipo park, visitors have to report to the Menipo park officer and paying an entrance ticket Rp 5,000 per person on weekdays, and Rp 7,500 per person on holidays.

Entering the Menipo park, visitors should take the footbridge (jeti) before boarding the boat that has been provided by the officers of BBKSDA and village aparatus. The right time to see thousands to millions of bats in the nest is around 2:00 pm until the afternoon.

After seeing millions of bats that fly overhead and fullfilling the sky, visitors can continue the journey to the Dunes (Sand Hill). Visitors will trek for about 30 minutes before arriving at the Sand Hill. Along the way, you can enjoy the palm trees scattered everywhere.

Upon arriving at the Sand Hill, visitors are presented with a view of a stretch of fine white sand and very beautiful. Right in front of the Sand Hill, Menipo beach offers an extraordinary attraction. This place can be an interesting photo spot.

After taking a photo on the Sand Hill, visitors will enjoy a trip of about 1.5 kilometers along the coast of Menipo facing the southern sea to the halfway house or a place provided for relaxing while visiting the beach.

If lucky, visitors will see some of the animals on Menipo Island, including deer. According to inventory data, there are 17 deer herds per group.

Besides deer, visitors can also see some other animals such as crocodiles. According to a Menipo park officer, Roi Haumeni, crocodiles can be seen in jets around night, or early morning at 05.00.

Meanwhile, according to Reverend Kolmaleikol Manimabi, S.Th, crocodile data seen by the eye that has been inventoried as many as 17.

The potential of flora and fauna in Menipo park is quite diverse. Launching the official website of  BBKSDA of NTT, the dominance of flora on Menipo Island in the form of lontar (Borrassus flabelifer), acid (Tamarindus indica), kesambi (Schleichera oleosa), and colors (Hibiscua tiliacius), sea spruce (Borrassus flabelifer), acid (Tamarindus indica), porch (Schleichera oleosa), and colors (Hibiscua tiliacius), sea spruce (Borrassus flabelifer), acid (Tamarindus indica), porch (Schleichera oleosa), and colors (Hibiscua tiliacius), sea fir (Casuarina equisetifolia), Rhizophora mucronata, Rhopus Ceripos tagal, Bruguiera conyugata, and Bruguiera exaristata.

The potential of wildlife on Menipo Island are timor deer (Cervus timorensis), macaque (Macaca fascicularis), wild boar (Sus vitatus), monitor lizard (Varanus salvator), python timor (Phyton timorensis), seagull (Sterna sp) , perkici birds (Tricholosus haematodus), small yellow-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea),

Sea eagle (Haliaretus leucogaster), king prawn (Halcyon sp), cormorant snake (Anhinga melanogaster), sparrow bird (In orizyphora), white heron (Egretta sacra), bird's kneel (Geopelia striata), black cranium (Anhinga melanogaster), sparrow (In orizyphora), white heron (Egretta sacra), bird's kneel (Geopelia striata), black heron (Anhinga melanogaster), sparrow bird (In orizyphora), white heron (Egretta sacra), bird's kneel (Geopelia striata), black heron (Anhinga melanogaster), sparrow (In orizyphora) koakiu (Philemon inornatus), estuarine crocodiles (porous Crocodiles), leatherback turtle (Dermocheyis coriacea), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).

Access to Menipo Park

To arrive at Menipo park, visitors can use the DAMRI bus from Kupang by paying Rp 60,000 per person. DAMRI bus always enters the village of Enoraen every day, except on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, visitors can use a pickup car from Oesao by paying Rp25,000 per person. If want to rent a car to Menipo park, visitors have to spend around Rp 400,000 - Rp 500,000 per day.

The recommended route for visitors is the Kupang - Oesao - Oekabiti - Ponain - Tesbatan - Bikoen - Menipo park. The distance is about 119 kilometers, need about four hours.

(POS-KUPANG.COM/Intan Nuka)