Desa Wisata Pela: The Charm of Nature Tourism Village

Photo: Rini Afriliani

The Pela Village located in Kota Bangun Kutai Kartanegara District is one of the nature-based tourism villages that has its own uniqueness. Pela Village is a fishing village dominated by houses and bridges made of wood. The wooden bridge serves as the main road connecting one house to another. This is because Pela Village is located on the banks of a tributary of the Mahakam River and at the end of the mouth of Semayang Lake, so Pela Village is surrounded by rivers, swamps and lakes.

Photo: Pela Village

Apart from its uniqueness, as a tourist village in Pela Village you can do the following things;

- Visit the Fisheries Museum

In Pela Village, you can visit the Fisheries Museum which was inaugurated on June 16, 2019. This museum is an important icon that you must visit when in Pela Village, in this museum you will find various fishing gear used by fishermen in Pela Village along with preserved fish.

The fishing tools that you can find here are tamba, tempirai, lukah or bubu, rawai bentang, rengge, rawai tajak, and jala. Then, you will find the ceiling of the museum decorated with seraung as a protective head gear often used by fishermen when fishing. The fish preserved in this museum are also quite diverse, one of the fish that is the main attraction of this museum is the Giant River Ray with the Latin name Urogymnus Polylepis.

You can also find various interesting facts about the Mahakam Pesut or freshwater dolphin on the 2nd floor of the museum.

After visiting the Fisheries Museum, you can also do an activity around Pela Village using bicycles that are rented out at the Tauman homestay next to the Fisheries Museum.

Photo: bicycles that can be used to travel around Pela Village.

- Cruising the Pela River

Pela Village also provides river cruising facilities starting at 6am. In this activity we will be invited to go down the river to see the activities of fishermen setting nets to catch fish, buying fish at the floating market directly, and if you are lucky you can also see pesut directly. This is because the Pela Village area is a pesut conservation site that has collaborated with the Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia (RASI) Foundation. However, keep in mind that the appearance of pesuts is uncertain so it is difficult to determine when they will appear.

Through this river cruise, you can also enjoy the sunset at Lake Semayang and Tanjung Tamanoh using the long boat or ferry facilities provided. In this river cruise activity we will be invited to surround Lake Semayang and then visit Tanjung Tamanoh.

In the dry season, the water of Lake Semayang will recede until the surface of the land will appear and be overgrown by grasses. In this season, you can camp in the area because the dry land and overgrown grasses are perfect for camping.

In addition, you can try the water play rides provided by Pela Village such as banana boats and paddle boards.

Photo: Banana Boat

Photo: Paddle Board in Pela Village

- Lake Semayang Festival

The Lake Semayang festival celebration was one of the event that you must attend in Pela Village. This festival was held in June. In this festival there are various competitions organized that you can try, such us fishing nets, rowing boats, fishing competitions, culinary competitions and mendanau or catching fish with bare hands. This festival ws held because Semayang Lake is known as the largest lake in East Kalimantan and has great fishery potential and is also known as the habitat of pesut fish which often appear in this lake.