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IDENTIFYING NATURAL AREAS AS POTENTIAL ECOTOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Introduction

The people of Kaledupa are looking to increase the income they derive from tourists visiting the island, who are currently almost exclusively Operation Wallacea volunteers from Pulau Hoga. The level of success in achieving this depends upon what Kaledupa has to offer in the way of environmental tourist attractions. This study aims to locate these areas and assess their viability as such. The study also aims to make recommendations for the future management of any sites identified. 

Aim

To Identify and Assess the Remaining Natural Areas on Kaledupa as potential Ecotourist destinations. 

Objectives

  1. To determine what the current ecotourists to Kaledupa expect or wish to experience during their stay.
  1. To determine the attitude of local officials toward the development of ecotourism on Kaledupa.
  1. To locate remaining natural areas on the island that are potentially suitable for ecotourist activity.
  1. To visit and assess these areas with respect to physical and social factors.
  1.  To make management recommendations for areas identified as future ecotourist destinations.

  

Methodology   

Since there was no existing map of the island illustrating its physical geography, it would have been impractical to try to identify sites via general exploration of the island. For this reason it was decided that a participatory approach (ie use of local knowledge) to identify potential sites would be a much preferred method and would yield more useful results.

In order to actually locate any potential sites described however, it was still necessary to have a map of Kaledupa. A basic outline map of the island was created by scaling up from a Dutch sea chart, political features such as villages and existing roads/tracks were added with the advice of the village head of Ambuea (the principle village on the island), a local ojek driver and another elder member of the local community.   

Objective one was addressed via a short questionnaire given to all Operation Wallacea volunteers staying on Kaledupa prior to their arrival on the island regarding their reasons for visiting, what they would like to see and do during their stay and what they were expecting to gain (if anything). 

Objective two was achieved through a series of interviews with the head men of five Kaledupan villages; Ambuea, Sombano, Buranga, Pajam and Laulua. The interview sought information firstly about their attitudes to tourism and secondly about places they could recommend to tourists, which contributed directly to the achievement of objective three. 

Objective three was achieved through the interviews conducted with the village heads and also through a separate series of interviews with five villagers in Ambuea and five villagers in Buranga. The original intention was to conduct a further ten interviews, with five villagers in Sombano and five villagers in Pajam, however due to the nature of the results I had obtained in Ambuea and Buranga and given time considerations it was decided that further interviews were not necessary at this stage. The interviews conducted were based on obtaining personal opinions about what they thought to be special about the island and what they believed would be attractive to tourists. Interviewees were also asked about native fauna and where it could be found.       

Objectives four and five. A list of possible tourist sites was created from the places pointed out on the map. of these sites eleven were visited. At each site information was taken in order that each can be assessed through Clarke and Stankey ‘s Recreational Opportunities Spectrum Framework. Factors in the assessment include both physical and social considerations such as; access, remoteness/naturalness, biodiversity and size, potential impacts of visitors, and potential visitor frequency.

Results from the ROS Framework analysis of sites can be used to build managerial recommendations for future use of the site.

 

Preliminary results

Information gathered revealed quite early in the process that remaining natural areas that may be of interest to environmental tourists are relatively limited, along with remaining native fauna. The potential attractions identified have therefore in fact been a combination of some natural features, some historical features and some cultural features. Of the eleven sites visited the following have been positively identified as potential ecotourist destinations.

  1. Salt Lake Lagoon (Sombano)             -Natural feature
  2. Bat Caves  (Lentea Island)                 -Natural feature
  3. Mangrove Lagoons (Lentea Islands)  -Natural feature
  4. Fortress (Pajam)                                -Historical feature
  5. Mosque (Pajam)                                 -Cultural feature

For all of these sites visitation should be subject to series of management recommendations.

 

Report

A dissertation entitled Identifying natural areas as ecotourist attractants on Kaledupa island will be produced by Kate Allen, University of Leeds by May 2003