Bantimurung Bulusaraung

Bantimurung Bulusarawung National Park (or abbreviated as Babul National Park), is located in South Sulawesi, an area of 43.750 hectares. Government administration of the park area is situated in Maros regency and Pangkajene islands (Pangkep) district. Geographically, this area lies between 119o34'17" - 119o55'13" East longitude and 4o42;49" - 5o06'42" South latitude.

In zoning, boundaries Babul National Park are as follows : North side bordering Pangkep, Barru and Bone, bordering the East the Maros regency and Bone County, bordering the South and West Maros district and bordered by pangkep. It contains the limestone hill of Maros Pangkep, the second largest karst area in the world after the one in South-eastern China.

The karst area has 286 caves which includes 16 pre-historic caves in Maros regency and 17 pre-historic caves in Pangkep, Bone regency.

 Besides waterfall with 2 caves, Dream cave (one kilometer long), on the left side and Stone cave on the right side of the waterfall, (inner) tubing is also can be done.

Located in the transition area of Asia and Australia zone, the National Park has many unique animal collection, such as Sulawesi Moor Macaque (Macaca maura), Red-knobbed Hornbill (Aceros cassidix, Penelopides exarhatus), Cuscus (Strigocuscus celebensis), Sulawesi Palm Civet (Macrogalidia musschenbroekii), Bat, and P0t-bellied existance of Tarsius fuscus (the smallest mammalian), and the also found its nest inside the area. Among crustacean biodiversity in the karst area, there is the one unique species called 'Spider crab' (Cancrocaeca xenomorpha) which is only found in Maros karst cave.

Beside insectarium, butterfly breeding centers, managed by both the reserve administrator and residents serve complete the metamorphosis process of the butterflies. There are many butterflies around the waterfalls, such as Troides helena Linne, Troides hypolitus Cramer, Troides haliphron Boisduval, Papilio peranthus adamantius and Cethosia myrana.

Alfred Russel Wallace dubbed the place as the 'Butterfly Kingdom'. During his exploration in 1957, Wallace found 256 butterfly species inside the National Park with some endemic species are Papilio blumei, Papilio polytes, Papilio sataspes, and Graphium androcles.

Since 1970s, butterflies already became export commodity from Bantimuring area. Not only sell to foreign countries, the local market also use this animals as materials to souvenirs, such as a raw specimen, butterfly frame, key chain, and many other accessories. In 2001, about 600.000 tourist came to this conservatory site and the management of this National Park changed the purpose of this butterfly conservatory from extraction and exploitation into natural ecosystem for tourist attraction. However, some sellers still catch and use butterflies form its original habitat, not from breeding or farming production. To preserve this animal, Indonesia government through National Species Conservation Strategic Direction 2008 - 2018, included wide variety of butterfly as one of priority in insect group.

The Conservation of Herpetofauna in Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park, South Sulawesi was conducted from Juli to September 2007. The project consisted of three main programs : herpetofauna surveys, conservation education for elementary to high school students and herp methods training.

A herpetofauna survey was conducted at six sites in Maros and Pangkep district representing forest and non-forest habitats. We recorded 37 reptile and amphibian species,  consisting of 24 reptiles and 13 frog species. Endemic species included the Celebes Toad (Bufo celebensis), Celebes Frog (Rana celebensis), Pipe Snake (Cylindrophis melanotus), Mueller's Reed Snake (Calamana muelleri), and the bow-fingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus jellesmae). A complete species account is still in process.

Six schools around the national park were visited as part of our herpetofauna conservation education program. Student were given presentations on reptiles and amphibians and their general ecology and significance and learned about common species in the area. Several school were very interested in the program because this was the first time this kind of activity took place in their school and it changed their misconceptions of reptiles and amphibians and provide them with new knowledge and understanding.

Finally, the team presented gave training on Herpetofauna Observation Methods. The training was attended by 17 participants, including national park staff. Hasanudin University students, teachers from local school visited during our conservation educacation program and staff from several local NGOs. The four-day training took place in SKB Maros and Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park.


Declared by Minister of Forestry No. 398/Menhut-II/2004. October 18, 2004.