Abstract

            The purpose of this article is to present how some tourism objects in the island of Nusa Penida can be the strong support to ecotourism. According to the previous research conducted by sosiowati et.al. (2018), the ecotourism in this island is formed by the combination of beautiful scenery and the socio-cultural history. Thus this island has become a booming tourist’s destination although the road facility still needs to improve.

Introduction

            Nusa Penida island is one of the islands in the Province of Bali, in the district of Klungkung to be exact. This is a very exotic island visited by a lot of tourists, mainly Chinese who usually do one day trip. Around 2000 tourists visited this island everyday (before Covid-19) from which Klungkung expected to gain 50 million rupiah per day. Thus, this island can be functioned as money generator and at the same time the government can use it as natural conservation (Stronza et.al., 2019). This condition is very relevant to the ides of ecotourism stating that tourist travel to a place enjoying and admiring the scenery, wild plants and animals and culture without disturbing the environment (Mondino & Beery, 2019)

The natural beauty of this island is very interesting to talk about although to be able to enjoy it, visitors have to deal with unpleasant bumping roads and climbing down steep rocks to really arrive in the sites (Sosiowati et.al, 2018). This hard journey is caused by the fact that the most of the tourism sites are in the form of the beaches located down the rocky hill. The reason for writing this article is to present the information about some of tourism sites and what they can offer to the visitors. This is very important to avoid disappointment in the parts of visitors who after arriving there cannot enjoy the scenery. This island with its tourism sites are suitable for those who have strong interest to nature, have strong physical endurance and ready to do hard work. However, the hard work is paid off when the sites are right in front of our eyes.

Discussion

The island of Nusa Penida has many places that are usually visited by tourists. They can be temples, hills and beaches. Among those places, beaches are considered to be the most prominent sites that support tourism. As it has been previously mentioned, most tourist who visit Nusa Penida will do one day tour which is presented in packet tour. In this discussion, there will be one packet tour taken and the discussion will only about the tourism site included in that particular packet.

The one day packet tour selected in the one of which destinations are places in the west part of island called Kelingking Beach, Angel’s Billabong, Broken Beach and Crystal Bay (penidaparadisetour.net).  Angel Billabong and Broken Beach are located side by side, so that practically in one day tour visitors will only visit three different places. This limited numbers is caused by the fact that the condition of the road can slow down the trip and they also have to be in the harbor at 5pm to catch the last boat to the mainland where they usually stay over nights when visiting Bali. The price is around 1,300,000 rupiah for two persons that covers private car with air conditioner, return fast boat tickets, driver (local guide), lunch at local restaurant, mineral water and entrance fee parking. The followings are the descriptions about those four tourism sites mostly taken from sosiowati et.al (2019).

Kelingking Beach is located down the hill. From above, the rock looks like the head of a dinosaur. To get into this rock, the visitors have to climb down the stairs to enjoy the beautiful beach with white sand. This beach is called Kelingking Beach because there is a temple of the same name up the hill. It is told that the temple used to be located down at the beach but the god moved it up the hill to allow a pregnant woman pray there. Broken Beach is the beach in which there is a big hole on which there used to be a village. According to the legend (sosiowati et.al, 2018) the village was drowned into the sea by the Holy Spirit governing the area, because the villagers damaged the nature and lied about it. Next to the Broken Beach, there is a place called Angel Billabong. It is called as such because below the rock there is a pool-like which is filled by the clear sea water. Visitors can go down there but they have to be alert since a big wave can suddenly get in and wipe everything out to the sea. These places, the big pool of the Broken Beach and the Angel’s Billabong are very beautiful. Visitors can take wonderful pictures with these two pools as the background below them. Being beautiful and easy to reach, make these two places become the primary choice to visit including by non-packet visitors. The last tourism site in this packet tour is Crystal Bay. The local name of this beach is Penida Beach. Like implied by the name, this beach has water as clear as crystal and to make it more interesting this beach carries the heroic story as the last fortress of Nusa Penida that made this island unable to be occupied by the Balinese soldiers a long time ago. Like the Broken Beach and Angel’s Billabong, Crystal Bay is also easy to reach.

Conclusion

            Nusa Penida has now turned itself into an exotic tourist destination. The beauty of nature, backed up by the socio-historical information has successfully present beautiful ecotourism. Beautiful they are, those places that have been previously mentioned. However, to be able to visit them, the visitors have to cross the sea that sometimes rough by speed boat, and then drive on a car through a bumpy road, then walk down the steep stairs to reach Kelingking Beach. Even to reach the Broken Beach and Angel’s Billabong they have to walk up and down. Only Crystal Bay that is easy to reach. Nature as the main support of tourism can be endangered if it is over-exploited. Ecotourism which is not well managed can be dangerous; it can damage the environment (Holmes, 2018). Thus, ecotourism can become two sided, good and bad. Now it depends on the government and the society how to manage it to keep the sustainability of the nature including its flora and fauna.

References

Anonymous (2020). Penida Paradise Nusa Penida West Tour. www. Penidaparadisetour.net

Holmes, Bob (2018). “Dangers of ecotourism: Up close and infectious”. Knowable Magazine.

https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2018/dangers-ecotourism-close-and-infectious

Mondino,Elena; Beery, Thomas. (2019). Ecotourism as a Learning Tool for Sustainable Development. The case of Monviso Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Italy. Journal of Ecotourism Vol. 18 (2), 2019, pp. 107 - 121

Sosiowati, I Gusti Ayu Gde; Arka, I Wayan; Widiastuti, Ni Made Ayu; Putro, Bambang Dharwiyanto (2018). “Nama-Nama Tempat Wisata di Nusa Penida: dari Etnolinguistik-historis ke ekoturisme”. Laporan Penelitian LPPM Universitas Udayana.

Sosiowati, I Gusti Ayu Gde; Arka, I Wayan; Widiastuti, Ni Made Ayu; Putro, Bambang Dharwiyanto (2019). The Names of Tourism Sites in Nusa Penida: from Ethnolinguistic-History to Ecotourism. Denpasar: Swasta Nulus.

Stronza, Amanda; Lee A. Fitzgerald; Carter A Hunt. (2019). “Ecotourism for Conservation?”.  Annual Review of Environment and Resources 44(1) pp. 229 - 253·