Manusela

Manusela National Park occupies the interior of the island of Seram, in the Moluccas, and protects some 1,890 km². Its summit, Mount Binaiya, reaches 3,027 metres and is the highest mountain in the park and on the island.

The park crosses Seram from coast to coast and therefore protects the island's complete ecological gradient: mangroves and beaches on the shore, lowland tropical forest, montane forest and, at the highest altitudes, subalpine vegetation. That altitudinal continuity, uncommon on an island of this size, is its main value.

The Moluccas are a region of intense endemism, and Manusela concentrates much of that of Seram: some 117 bird species have been recorded in the park, of which fourteen are endemic to the island. Among them are the Moluccan or Seram cockatoo, with its pink crest and severely threatened by capture for the bird trade, the Ternate lory and the purple-naped lory, as well as several endemic kingfishers. The park's name comes from the village of Manusela, inside it; the territory is inhabited by local communities whose customary rights over the forest coexist with the protected designation.