Indonesia: Central Aceh develops wild elephant ecotourism

Antara 11 Apr 18;

Takengon, Aceh (ANTARA News) - Central Aceh District government has started to see the development of wild elephant ecotourism in Karang Ampar, Ketol Sub-district, due to its high population.

Head of Development of Tourism Destination at the Tourism of Youth and Sport Office of Central Aceh, Munawar Khalil, said here on Wednesday that his side has developed the ecotourism program plan by utilizing wild elephants in Karang Ampar region.

Ecotourism, which will be developed, is expected to be a reliable tourism activity to attract tourists to visit the area, he noted.

The program is a tourism activity which prioritizes environmental insights and aspects of nature conservation for learning and educational purposes, and incorporates them to empower the socioeconomic culture of local communities.

"The existence of a bunch of wild elephants in the Karang Ampar area is often a disturbance to the activities of local people. Hopefully, in the next year, the area will be used as ecotourism area," he asserted.

Khalil further remarked that it is a big challenge for tourist sites to utilize the presence of wild elephants as a great opportunity to lure visitors.

"It will be a great achievement if we can utilize what we have now," he added.

He believes the existence of wild elephants can make Karang Ampar region a popular tourist attraction.

In the near future, the officials will also conduct a review of Karang Ampar area in Ketol sub-district in order to prepare everything for planning the ecotourism program.

"We will bring the consultant to Karang Ampar to arrange Detailed Engineering Design (DED) of the area. Hopefully, we can start the construction of basic infrastructure there in 2019," he explained.

In addition, Karang Ampar area also has a beautiful natural landscape, with the river and various flora and fauna, which supports it to be developed into a mainstay tourist destination.

Reported by Mukhlis
(T.KR-TQA/INE)
(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/A/H-YH)
Editor: Heru Purwanto