Designing interpretation tracks for nature tourism in Tahura Gunung Menumbing, West Bangka

Abstract

Taman Hutan Raya (Tahura) Gunung Menumbing is a well-known protected area in West Bangka, Indonesia, and a popular heritage site for its old historical house located at the top of the mountain that was used by the Dutch to isolate the founding fathers of the Republic Indonesia during the war era. Although it has been a popular tourism site, many potential attractions in Tahura Gunung Menumbung are still unexplored. This research aimed to design interpretation tracks for nature tourism in Tahura Gunung Menumbing to increase tourism destination attractiveness. To achieve the research purposes, this research used the combination of field surveys, literature reviews, and interviews. We followed the procedure from the Bureau Land of Management to score the landscape attractiveness. It was found 142 plant species, 61 animal species, and 12 landscape points of interests that were potential to be the interpretation objects. We identified 10 interpretation tracks varied from 160 to 4,200 meter in length and contained 2 – 8 interpretation objects. Six interpretation programs are then proposed, such as Menumbing Jungle Tracks, Tin Mining Explorations, Primates of Menumbing, Snakes to Explore, Menumbing-Belt Adventure, and Menumbing’s landscape and socio-culture.