8 Ideas to Start Your Sustainable Journey in Indonesia

Traveling to the breathtaking natural places that Indonesia has to offer is a great choice for those who are planning a natural holiday trip. Although any normal trip would be fun, a sustainable journey as a responsible tourist enriches the experience even more. There is no better way to appreciate the spectacular gift of Mother Nature than to actually protect and sustain its beauty. So how do you start? Well, here are 9 best ideas for your sustainable journey in Indonesia:

1 | Find the Thrill of Becoming a Responsible Tourist

The idea of spending your dream holiday by taking pictures and breathing in the fresh air sure sounds tempting, but how lucky would you be to actually have a chance to contribute to its beauty and charm? You can certainly do this by being a responsible tourist and planning an eco-friendly trip.

The perfect place to start would be a journey to the Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Award (ISTA) winner for Socio-Culture, the Wae Rebo Village in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. As the destination that has won the Top Award of Excellence from UNESCO in 2012, you will definitely be enchanted with all the rich culture it has to offer. Imagine being greeted by unique traditional houses called the Mbaru Niang and the mesmerizing panoramic mountains with the dense Todo forest unfolding before your eyes. Waerebo can be just the perfect place to dive deep into your love for nature too.

Being a responsible tourist means you’re not just passing by, but you also help conserve their natural, social and cultural heritage. The biggest changes are often in the smallest gestures. Just by disposing your waste carefully so it wouldn’t be eaten by animals passing by, buying local crafts and using water or electricity responsibly, you have already contributed a lot towards the future! Sounds exciting, right?

2 | Do Research on Sustainable Tourism Spots

There are many ways for you to ensure that your holiday will truly become a sustainable journey, one of them is to look for spots that are already focusing on sustainable tourism.

One of these enchanting places is West Bali National Park. It is truly no wonder that this home to over a hundred species of wildlife has won an ISTA award for their magnificent environment. Prepare to make your tropical dream come true. Look forward to the moment you can bask yourself in their unspoilt beauty of lush green forests, picturesque mountain range, crystal clear blue water, and vast stretches of pristine beaches. You can also find one hundred and sixty species of birds in the park, including the near extinct Bali Starling, the fauna icon of Bali itself.

3 | Out of All the Beautiful Places, Choose Your Favorite One!

Attractions like the Pandawa Beach Tourism Area, Maribaya Lodge Tourism Village, Kampoeng Cinangneng, and Pujon Kidul Village had won an Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Award (ISTA) for economis utilization to local communities in 2018. In Maribaya, you can savor a limitless panorama while sipping on a cup of warm coffee.

If you’re interested in sustainable tourist attractions with breathtaking views, Tangkahan Ecotourism, Tanjung Puting, West Bali National Park, and WAHA Tourism Community (WTC) had won the award for its environment. If you also love animals, consider visiting Tangkahan and meet with the gentle giants.

Meanwhile, if you would like to dive into the rich cultures in Indonesia, tourist attractions like Wae Rebo Village, Kei Tourism, Ulun Danu Beratan, and Tanoker Learning Village might be the perfect choice for you, for they had won ISTA’s Socio-Cultural award. In Tabanan Bali, you can find Ulun Danu Beratan. The temple is situated in the middle of a calm and comforting Lake Beratan. So get ready for some majestic and surreal feel!

Feeling overwhelmed with these extraordinary choices? Just take your time to do some research and choose the one that has captured your heart best!

4 | Seek the Best Places to Stay and Have Fun

Other than tourist attractions, you can travel responsibly by staying in eco-friendly hotels spread all around Indonesia. That way you can ensure that the places you stay are ones that are supporting environmental-friendly principles and could aid in your goals for a sustainable holiday. So, you will enjoy an unforgettable holiday while also contributing to maintaining the beauty of your surroundings? How exciting is that for a plan!

You might want to add Nihi Sumba, to your sustainable holiday bucket list because it will capture your heart. Situated in the remote island of Sumba, staying here would make you feel like you’re one with nature and with the culture around it. With their care for their surroundings, it is no wonder that this beautiful place won an ISTA award, and was also recently titled as the #1 Hotel in the world at the World’s Best Awards, how cool is that!

Image by mahakemala

The hotel is the largest employer and has contributed to the healthcare and welfare of the society of the islands. A portion of this hotel’s profits are repatriated towards the Sumba Foundation, enabling guests to also become benefactors to the foundation. This foundation since then has built 16 primary schools, four medical clinics and have provided reliable healthcare to over 25,000 people. Other than that, you can even learn about sustainable spear fishing, or even try it!

5 | Organize a Checklist for Your Eco-Friendly Goals

After planning your activities and the places you’ll visit, organize the ground rules for your eco-friendly travels. This way there will always be a reminder to what you should and shouldn’t do during your sustainable holidays.

Some ideas for your checklist would be to travel lightly, with this you’ll have less impact on the places you’ll visit. You’ll also be able to enrich your travels by diving into the cultures and habits of the locals. Especially since Indonesia can definitely offer you richness in culture, it would be a waste to merely just passing by its tourist attractions without connecting with the locals.

Not only can you sip coffee and enjoy the enchanting panorama, you can even find the local food products that Pujon Kidul offers, from dairy products to special herb drinks called Jamu that are made from their own herbs garden. You can also learn that some villagers here practice biogas processing as one of their efforts towards homemade energy.

6 | Book Signature Experiences around Conservation

You can find many activities around conservation areas in Indonesia. Conservations you can visit around Indonesia are national parks like Taman Safari Bogor or Way Kambas Lampung. Other places that should also be in your list would be Kebun Raya Bogor, Komodo Island’s National Park and many more. You would surely fill your schedule with activities in the area because there are plenty to choose from.

In Tanjung Puting National Park, get ready to be greeted by not only an unbeatable view but also the friendly orangutans that call Tanjung Puting home. Better yet, the only way around the place is by foot, so enjoy some forest bathing through the beautiful nature surrounds.

7 | Book Directly through an Online Platform that Lists Credible or Award-Winning Sustainable Destination

Make sure that you plan your itinerary based from the information of a trusted website and booked your plan on a credible platform. In the social media of today, it is best to collect all the information you can and double checked on updates with phone calls or direct emails until you are definitely sure that you are dealing with the right source.

Check for a special experience, just like the one you will find in Tangkahan Eco-Tourism in North Sumatera, where you can find a calming river and lush greeneries to soothe your sight. You will also have the privilege to greet the friendly elephants roaming around, and if you’re lucky you can even help them take a bath!

8 | Be Excited on Your Upcoming Green Adventure and Share with Your Fellow Friends with Green Goals

With all the schedule planning of activities that you’ll do and places you’ll visit, and also all the packing of eco-friendly products, you are ready to go! All you have to do now is sit back, relax, and experience the natural wonders of Indonesia while also preserving its beauty for other future travelers to enjoy.

Don’t forget to share your memorable stories,like maybe that indescribable feeling of meeting new friends, just like when you are planning to visit the WAHA Tourism Community,who share the same values and green goals just like you!