Kalau bicara soal keindahan Raja Ampat…..ngga akan ada habisnya… Incredible…magnificent….!!!!! Jujur, kalau jatuh cinta sama pemandangan disini… Padahal gw belum bisa diving (gimana kalo udah bisa ya…mungkin jadi ngga mau pulang ;D….)
Keindahan
Raja Ampat tuh bukan tanpa sebab. Pernah ngga sih nanya kenapa wilayah sekitar
Raja Ampat pecah dalam bentuk pulau-pulau? Kenapa bentuk pecahan pulaunya unik,
ngga kayak di sekitaran Jawa atau Sumatra? Kenapa air di sekitar pulaunya
warnanya bisa tosca, ngga langsung biru? Kenapa ikan-ikannya warna-warni dan
ngga takut sama penduduk local? Kenapa ikannya beragam banget? Kenapa…kenapa…kenapa…..
(lebayyyy….)
Yang
mengakui keindahan Raja Ampat bukan Cuma kita lho… Turis-turis dari
mancanegara, terutama para divers, matanya bisa berbinar-binar bahagia kalau
dapat tiket emas ke Raja Ampat. Ngga percaya??? Ini buktinya…
Selama
di Raja Ampat, gw berkesempatan ketemu dengan seorang berkebangsaan Turki bernama
Tunc. Beliau adalah seorang….seorang apa ya…nyebutnya??? Mmmm….dia divers…dia
juga penulis untuk suatu majalah…dia juga punya travel agent….dan saat ke Raja
Ampat, dia jatuh cinta setengah mati sampe akhirnya bikin resort disana… Mari
kita sebut saja dia Tunc si pengusaha.
Bicara
soal resort, penginapan milik Tunc ini emang kelasnya yahutttt… namanya Papua
Explorers resort. Berlokasi di Kampung Yenwaupnor, Kec. Meos Mansar, kebanyakan
pelanggan PE resort ini adalah turis asing. Biaya penginapannya….ehmmm...sekitar
1700-4000 euro untuk 1-3 minggu (uhuk…uhukk…tiba-tiba pengen batukk…)
Tapi
hal yang saya respect dari bule yang satu ini, Tunc itu juga mencintai
lingkungan. Dia sempat cerita saat pertama kali usaha resort nya dibuka,
terumbu karang di sekitarnya banyak yang rusak dan mati. Karena apa? Karena
sebagian nelayan dan penduduk local yang sembarangan cara menangkap ikannya. Sejak
itu dia (dan penduduk local tentunya) komitmen untuk memperbaiki terumbu karang
dan ngga menginjak-injak sembarangan di area terumbu karang itu. Dan hasilnya….emang
terlihat, di hari saya berjumpa dengan Tunc untuk wawancara.
Ini
dia pembicaraan saya dengan Tunc si pengusaha:
LORI
When
do you know about Raja Ampat? Who told you about that?
TUNC
I
had a travel agency in Istanbul, It was already a long time ago in 1996. I used
to bring people diving all around the world. Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia.
LORI
You’re
a diver also?
TUNC
We’re
also diver. In 2008, we decided to come to Raja Ampat. It was the first time
coming to Raja Ampat. We heard a lot about it in four magazines,
What
kind of news?
TUNCK
A
very nice one. It was like Marine Biodiversity
Hotspot of the world, and the best corals you can encounter in the world. We
heard those things and we decided to come here to have a look at it.
LORI
And
what did you get?
TUNC
As I
said I have dived a lot of places in the world including Komodo, Bali, Manado.
All the area I can say the first moment had into water unbelievable. Amazing.
What
is the different that you get in Raja Ampat that you cannot get in other place?
TUNC
Lots
of species. Lots of corals. Lots of fish. All of them together. Corals are like
the carpet underwater. And fishes are like we call the dive site sardines that
so dense as they are in a can of sardines.
LORI
Is
that a thing that make you’re just like people that alcoholic. Just like want
to take alcohol more and more. Is that Raja Ampat make you just like that?
TUNC
It
makes you dive-a-holic.you want to dive more and more. You want to dive all the
sites. Explore them. As you know that a lot of sites which are unexplored. Especially
North Raja Ampat. So we are looking forward to have some good once there.
LORI
Is
that why you have resort now here?
TUNC
Yes
off course. We always want to do something in South East Asia. Especially
Indonesia, because Indonesian people, they always have special place in my
heart. Because friendliness. Always the big smile, very kind people and I want
to do something in Indonesia. A lot of places already have a lot of resorts.
Then you come here, you meet Papuan people, you meet Indonesian people, and
there also very kind and then you say ‘I need to do something’. That’s all the
project started actually.
LORI
And
I just like a small village actually. And you used the resort just like. All
the leaves, all the wood. Why don’t you make just like a big hotel here?
TUNC
First
of all, off course we wanted to be a sustainable resort. Eco friendly resort.
It isnt enough just to write ‘eco’ in your name. you also have to act like
‘eco’. So, using natural things like woods, leaves and things like that, … if
the resort is not used, they’ll be composed easier, instead of having big one
or something like that here.
LORI
When
people know about Raja Ampat, and people just like you. They want to know and
then they’re getting interested in, and their friends and some of people or
maybe crowded people want to go here,. What is the most scariest thing or maybe
the worst thing that can happen in this place?
TUNC
Everybody
has to take care of surrounding of Raja Ampat especially the corals and the
fish. So we shouldn’t be … the environment. The most inportanht thing is
sampah. Sampah issue. Never throw something into the water, and also we have
tempat sampah. We can throw them in. the second thing is the corals. If we
touch them a little bit they could be die. Never walk on top of them, never
stand on them with shoes or feet, which can hurt you and also the corals can
die because of that. And off course no … fishing. If we want to keep the corals
here keep healthy and alive, and making people more and more coming here from
outside, in indonesia also from inside indonesia and other countries coming in
here. We need to keep this place alive. I always say Indonesia has so many
tourism resources. 17500 islands, they can live easily on the money of the
tourist coming in. just take care of the environment very good, keep it
conserved, they can earn a lot of money
of it. And more and more tourists coming. If we keep it like this.
LORI
Do
you think Papuanese or maybe Raja Ampat citizens have educated enough about
that?
TUNC
They
already have lots of projects here. Like the Kalabia Boat and surely they have
heard about it educating local people about the environment. I think they’re
targetting about this. Also we, the resort we need to continue with that
education.
LORI
Some
of foreign investors, just like to give their money to invest their money in
Indonesia. But they used to say that local people just like strange and foreign
people, they don’t like to meet the other people and just like, we call it
corrupt. Take illegal money just like that in some places. How do you think in
Raja Ampat? Is that difficult for you to make investment?
TUNC
I
think from the beginning, the first moment I said into … I was always helped to
find the right place to the investment I think I feel very confident and safe
here. Also with the local people also with the local government. We’re saved
here. I don’t have any problem. And till then, since the first day. Off course
you heard things and you’re scared. None of them. All of them support tourism
here, especially Raja Ampat. And I must say, I didn’t work with other local
government but I I work with Raja Ampat local government. Bagus sekali.
LORI
And
some of local investors just like investing it, but when they postpone and they
just like. All the things that we want to get with the high price.
TUNC
It’s
not easy off course. If you’re investing you must be invested. Now when I came
here, I’ve always seen other resorts. I thought Raja Ampat deserves better.
………… because Raja Ampat deserves a hotel like this. And I hope for the later
investors come here, they don’t just invest a little, big, nice, and also
sustainable.
LORI
Do
you have any a testimony or maybe a suggestion for tourists or maybe local
people, I mean indonesian tourists that want to come to Raja Ampat
TUNC
They
definhitely want to come because it’s a special place of their country. They
should meet the local Papuan people, they’re incredibly nice, welcoming, also
very shy people. It’s very nice to interact with them, and we already became
big family. But when they come here, every tourist has to be aware that this
very pristine. So they have to bear in mind, how they can protect this. So if
they can see trash, sampah which doesn’t even belong to them, just take it and
throw them to tempat sampah. After that try to protect the reefs, not to walk
on them. Swim on top of them, … and see whats going on. Try to take a lot of
pictures, show people more and more so they get knowledge about Raja Ampat. And
thjey come here more but still, very protective about the environment.
Raja
Ampat, get more attention from people around the world is beginning from
actually from the NGOs, some divers that know about Raja Ampat. And the local
government knows about that, and at the last is the government of Indonesia.
And I think not all of the area in Papua, get attention just like Raja Ampat.
What do you think about that?
TUNC
Well
I must confess that the rest of Papua is as pristine as Raja Ampat. And also
needs the attention from the whole world. And the central govenrment also of
the tourism. Not to forget the Cendrawasih have the whale sharks the local whale
sharks. The world is looking at them. The tourist would also go over there. So
we have to take care of this also. Not only Raja Ampat. It’s actually every
part of Indonesia which is under attention of tourists. We need to take care of
all the area, not only Raja Ampat.
sumber foto: Lori dan Pak Christofel
