Handpicked experience · Jakarta
Jakarta, Indonesia
A ticket to a collection representing the richest marine region on earth, a few kilometres from a bay whose own reef was smothered by the runoff of ten million people.
Species from the richest marine region on the planet
Tanks built around what lives on a reef, not around size
Land animals and an aviary on the same route
Scheduled talks in a dedicated show space
A short, cooled indoor circuit that works in any weather
Animals close enough to watch properly
A dated ticket to the Jakarta Aquarium, a mixed marine and animal collection inside a shopping complex in the west of the city, arranged as a walk-through route rather than a hall of tanks.
Indonesia sits inside what biologists call the Coral Triangle, a stretch of ocean between here, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands that holds more reef-building coral species than anywhere else on earth — around three-quarters of every kind known.
The reason is geological. This is where several tectonic plates meet, which has produced an extraordinarily complicated coastline of islands, straits and basins, and complicated coastlines make small isolated populations that turn into separate species over time. Add warm water and strong currents to move larvae between them, and you get the richest marine region on the planet.
That is what the displays here represent, and it explains why the emphasis falls on reef fish and shallow-water species rather than on the big open-ocean animals a European aquarium leads with.
Jakarta Bay is a few kilometres from the entrance and it is not where you would go to see any of it.
Thirteen rivers empty into that bay carrying the runoff of a city of ten million, and the sediment and nutrient load has smothered most of the reef that used to lie offshore. The islands an hour out are recovering in places, but the near-shore reef is essentially gone.
So an aquarium in this city is doing something slightly odd: displaying, indoors and under controlled water, the ecosystem that the sea immediately outside no longer supports. That is worth holding in mind rather than treating the tanks as a substitute for a boat trip.
The collection mixes marine displays with land animals and a walk-through aviary, and it runs presentations in a theatre space through the day.
Whether that reads as a strength or a muddle depends on what you came for. Families generally get more out of it than someone hoping for a serious aquarium; the routes are short, the animals are close, and the show timings shape the visit more than the exhibits do.
Weekends and school holidays fill the walkways, and the show space is where the crowding is felt.
Presentation times are posted at the entrance rather than fixed in advance, and building a visit around one or two of them works better than trying to catch them all.
The complex is cooled throughout and the lighting is low in the marine sections, so a camera that copes with dim conditions matters more than reach. Flash against the glass is not permitted, and the animals are close enough that it would be noticed.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
A stretch of ocean between Indonesia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands holding around three-quarters of all known reef-building coral species.
Several tectonic plates meet here, producing a maze of islands and straits; isolated populations become separate species, and warm water and currents spread their larvae.
The emphasis falls on reef and shallow-water species rather than the large open-ocean animals that lead in aquariums elsewhere.
Not really. Thirteen rivers discharge into the bay beside the city, and the sediment and nutrients have smothered most of the near-shore reef.
In places. Reefs an hour out are recovering, but the water immediately outside the city is not where any of this survives.
No. Land animals and a walk-through aviary are part of the same route, along with presentations in a theatre space.
Families, generally. The routes are short and the animals close, which suits children better than it suits someone wanting a serious marine collection.
Weekends and school holidays, and the show space is where that is felt most.