Tourism has now become an important sector for Papua. Many citizens of Indonesia and the world are flocking to explore Papua. One area that has also made it easy for tourists to travel is Berau Bay, with its discourse on the connectivity of tourist destinations in the Berau Bay Coastal Park Area.
Coastal Park Conservation Area (KKTP)
Berau Bay which is in the Kokas District area, Fakfak Regency, prepares a very unique and exotic beauty route, namely the Berau Bay KKTP Tour Route. Visiting Fakfak feels incomplete if you don’t cross this tourist route.
This path offers; the lush maze of mangroves with its calm water surface, historical routes with stories of the ancestors of the Fakfak people who met and strengthened the foundation of ‘One Furnace Three Stones’, the existence of the oldest mosque in Fakfak, which was built in the early 18th century, and empties into a waterfall which is said to have magical properties for healing.
The History of Berau Bay Route
What can you find along this path? This is history.
- According to a statement made by Jaelani Tigtigweria, the head of Mandoni Village, this path has been utilized for a very long time and connects the towns or hamlets along this historic route and strengthens the ties between the Fakfak community’s close-knit families. The Fakfak people were inspired by the difficult trek and the dense mangroves to create the villages and hamlets that still stand today, including Batufiafas, Kiminakra, Mandoni, Patimburak, and Kaburbur.
- In the past, the Fakfak people utilized this route to reach the Berau Bay region, with Kokas as their location, before it became well-known as a tourist route. Historically, according to information from the local population, this journey was traveled for around two days by boat that was rowed from Ubadari Village on the north coast.
- Additionally, one of Fakfak’s oldest mosques is located along this path in Patimburak Village.
- There are also ancient caves where people in the past rested while traveling this path.
The head of Mandoni Village applauded the local government’s plan to make this path a popular tourism route. When homestays or shelters are later created for arriving tourists, the local community is prepared to support them, and the communities are also prepared.
Sites on the Berau Bay Route
Along this path, you will find several sites that have a history that has the potential to develop more.
1. The Al-Yassin Mosque
The Al-Yassin Mosque in Patimburak Village, the oldest mosque in Fakfak Regency, is one of the well-known historical attractions along this tourist route. Unlike most mosques in Indonesia, which have a spectacular dome erected in the center of the structure, the mosque built in 1870 has a somewhat different shape.
Since it was constructed in cooperation with the village’s three different religious communities—Islam, Christianity, and Catholicism—this mosque was, in fact, constructed with a unique architecture that resembles a church. The Sultanate of Ternate-Tidore appointed Semempe Kuda, whose grave is close to the mosque, as the first King Wertuar during this period. Indigenous peoples have now made an oath to uphold inter-religious tolerance, particularly in Patimburak Village.
2. Dwinduir River
At the end of this tourist route is a river called the Dwinduir River, located in Ubadari Village. This river has pools with little waterfalls because of its distinctive terrain. As a result, it creates a vast area of lovely and relaxing places to relax and swim.
So, in 2019, the Fak-fak Regency Tourism Office constructed huts or gazebos as a location for visitors or tourists to unwind after their visit and experience the exhilaration of this miniature waterfall.
The Ubadari Village Tourism Awareness Group (POKDARWIS) has independently maintained and guaranteed the cleanliness of this tourist destination since it first started its activities in early 2020.
Berau Bay Connectivity Route and Its Benefits for Increasing Community Income
According to Meity Mongdong, director of the Indonesian Conservation Foundation’s West Papua Program, a tourist route will run smoothly if all of its components—including tourist attractions, regulations, and policies that support them, information, data, and expert analysis—work together in harmony. It will also work well if it has active human resources who will take advantage of its attractions.
Local people, as spearheads, not only protect nature and the environment but are also able to take advantage of their activities to improve their family’s economy with the income they get from protecting nature itself.
In conclusion, local residents must really support the government’s program in building the connectivity of tourist destinations in the Berau Bay Coastal Park Area.
