South Korea’s Ministry of Forestry has granted a budget of Rp 20 billion for ecotourism development at Gunung Tunak Nature Park and Jeju Islands as a role-model.
South Korea’s Ministry of Forestry has granted a budget of Rp 20 billion for ecotourism development at Gunung Tunak Nature Park and Jeju Islands as a role-model.
The nature reserve of TWA Gunung Tunak is located on the south coast In the village of Mertak, around 3 km east of Bumbang Beach in South Lombok.
The Gunung Tunak conservation area spans over 1,200 hectares and is well known locally for its stunning beauty and majestic views of the ocean from towering limestone cliffs.
The nature reserve encompasses jungle and cliffs, as well as six undeveloped beaches most notably Sari Goang Beach, a picturesque beach where the cliffs curve to form a beautiful lagoon.
Protected spec esn the park include deer, eagles, hawks, and turtles, which return to the same nesting places on the beaches each year to lay their eggs.
The park is also home to thousands of butterfles, with 50-60 species having been identified — making the area significant for having the most butterfly species in Indonesia. Visitors can enjoy seeing these beautful butterflies in flight all around the park, especally during rainy season.
The reserve Is also home to the rare Orange-footed Scrubfowl (Megapodus reinwartdth), a bird that has the unique habit of buryng its eggs in the soil and letting them hatch. The Head of Public Relations of Natural Resource Conservation Center (BKSDA) NTB, Ivan Juhandara said that the Korean funds would be used to finance the construction of facilities and infrastructure supporting ecotounsm in Gunung Tunak Facilities planned for construction in 2018 Include a visitor information centre, mat-purpose building, camping ground for up to 20 large tents, parking area, jungle track, and a butterfly leaming centre.
In making the grant, the South Korean government mandated that the funds must be used for the empowerment of the Mertak Village community. During construction of facifities, the Government of South Korea has financed 20 villagers from Mertak Village to travel to Korea for study and to learn about the utilisation of natural resources for tourism.
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“We are very pleased to be assisting the development of communiry-based ecotourism at TWA Gunung Tunak,” the Director General of International Affairs, Korea Forest Service, Ko Ki Yeon told reporters during the inauguration in the park on 6 March 2018. Ko Ki Yeon explained how community-based ecotourism activities in Korea have grown over the past decade, saying that Korea now has around 160 community-based ecotourism destinations that bring in up to 6 million visitors each year One of the most popular of these in Korea is Jeju Island. TWA Gunung Tunak, said Ko Ki Yeon, has all the potential to develop just like Jeju Island. ‘If managed properly, it will definitely grew,” he said.
Article source: http://www.thelombokguide.com/issue_273.html