Sabang on Pulau Weh, Aceh, is one of the tourist paradises in Indonesia. The famous tourist destinations in Sabang are usually marine tourism, with various exotic beaches. There are also historical tours in Sabang which I will later show in monomad photos in this black and white photography community.
This time I show photos from slightly different tourist destinations in Sabang. The name is Putro Ijo Tourism Park, which is located on the shores of Lake Aneuk Laot, Aneuk Laot Village, Sukakarya District, Sabang. This tourist destination has only been known since 2019, and is not yet widely known.
Putro Ijo Tourism Park offers tourism that is different from most tourist destinations in Sabang. Here visitors can enjoy the beautiful and lush flower garden, while feeling the fresh breeze.
Across Aneuk Laot lake, you can see a view of dense green forest, as if we were on the banks of the wild Amazone river. In this river, visitors are free to fish to get various types of river fish, although for 1.5 hours we cast our hooks and didn't catch a single fish. Maybe these fish already knew we were only stopping temporarily and weren't really fishing.
The leaves are falling as if it is autumn in Sabang.
Putro Ijo Tourist Park is actually managed privately, meaning it is not owned by the government like other tourist destinations in Sabang. However, anyone can enter the park and there is no entry fee.
The park management has a restaurant that provides freshwater fish such as pomfret, grouper, gourami, tilapia, and so on. Visitors who enter the Putro Ijo Tourism Park can choose to eat at the restaurant or not. The restaurant also provides various types of Acehnese cuisine. While enjoying typical Acehnese food which is rich in spices, visitors can listen to the sounds of nature at Taman Putro Ijo.
But there is no obligation to eat at the restaurant. The 1991 alumni of STM Negeri Bireuen and I only stopped for about 1.5 hours to take photos and fish, because my son happened to bring a fishing rod.
According to the owner of Putro Ijo Park, Fatwa Amri, in the last year this tourist location has started to become busy with visitors, especially local tourists. Apart from restaurant visitors, there are also visitors who stop by just to fish and take photos.
Chairman of the 1991 Alumni of STM Negeri Bireuen, Zulfikar Idris, said that his party came to the Putroe Ijo Tourism Park based on the recommendation of a guide. "Because the location is not too far from Sabang City, we might as well stop by. The nature is still pristine and beautiful. "If it's all for lunch, it will be more fun," said the man who works for an oil and gas company in Kota Lhokseumawety.
Tarmizi, an alumnus of STM Negeri Bireuen, said that the Putro Ijo Tourism Park is suitable as a tourist destination for families or for holding office meetings in a serene atmosphere. They don't have an agenda at Putro Ijo Tourism Park so there aren't many activities they can do there.
According to him, this tourist location still has the potential to be developed, for example by providing tour packages around the lake, either while fishing or just traveling by motorboat to enjoy the beautiful surrounding views.
"This type of tourism is not yet familiar in Sabang so it would be more interesting if it was developed," said the man who is familiarly called Meiji.[]]
An hour and a half of fishing, not a single fish touched the bait.