ETimor opens first national park

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

MEHARA, East Timor (AFP) — East Timor opened its first national park Friday, turning a remote former rebel stronghold into a conservation area of forests, mountains, pristine beaches and sea.

The 123,600 hectare (305,400 acre) Nino Konis Santana National Park incorporates the entire eastern tip of East Timor, previously home to pro-independence rebels fighting Indonesia's 24-year occupation.

The protected area comprises 68,000 hectares of land and 55,600 hectares of sea. It covers one of the largest remaining intact tropical lowland and monsoon rainforests in the region, as well as extensive coral reefs.

"The government and all of us should be joyful, because this is something that must be defended, something that our children and grandchildren will depend...