Baluran National Park, National park in Situbondo, Indonesia

Baluran National Park is a protected area in Situbondo Regency, East Java, Indonesia, covering 25,000 hectares at the northeastern tip of Java. It is a rough circle with the extinct volcano Mount Baluran, 1,247 m high, at its centre. Savanna makes up about 40 percent of the land, alongside lowland, mangrove, coastal and swamp forests.

The area received forest reserve status in 1930 through Dutch naturalist K.W. Dammerman. After Indonesian independence, the government designated it a national park in 1980 with expanded protection measures.

Locals call it the Africa of Java because the open grasslands with free-roaming banteng cattle and rusa deer resemble East African savannas. Visitors experience a landscape rare for Java, quite different from the usual tropical rainforests found across the island.

Several marked trails lead through the savanna and along the coast to observation towers. The dry season from April to October offers the best conditions for spotting animals at waterholes.

Mount Baluran, an extinct volcano reaching 1,247 m, stands at the centre of the park, which forms a rough circle around it. The park's dry climate and savanna, about 40% of its 25,000 ha, contrast with Java's wetter forests. The thorny acacia, covering at least 6,000 ha of savanna, has made it harder for banteng to find food.