Jaco Island

Jaco (also sometimes written as Jako) is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands. It lies across from the easternmost point of the island of Timor, Kap Cutcha. Politically it is part of the district of Lautém, East Timor. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, suitable for passage by small vessels only. It is about 10 square kilometers in area and reaches about 100 meters in altitude. The island is uninhabited. It is considered holy by the indigenous population. It is designated as a „Wild Area“. It has beautiful sand beaches. Native birds include the Dusky Cuckoo-dove (Macropygia magna) and the Fawn-breasted Whistler, (Pachycephala orpheus).

Nino Konis Santana National Park

The island is also part of the Nino Konis Santana National Park, which is East Timor's first national park. It was declared on August 3, 2007 and includes over 1,236 square kilometres of land. It links three important bird areas; Lore, Monte Paitchau and Lake Iralalara, and Jaco Island. The park also includes 556 km2 of the Coral Triangle, an underwater area which supposedly contains the world's greatest diversity of both coral and coral reef fish. Some of the rare birds protected by this park are the critically endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoo, the endemic Timor Green-pigeon, the endangered Timor Imperial-pigeon, and the vulnerable Timor Sparrow. The park is named in honor of Nino Konis Santana, a former commander of FALANTIL, the armed forces of the independence movement who was born in Tutuala, a village within the borders of the national park. The park is already threatened by a proposed hydro-electric project which would both split the new park in half and disrupt the local forest.