{"id":398,"date":"2020-05-30T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=398"},"modified":"2020-05-30T10:50:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T10:50:13","slug":"pulau-buta-an-offbeat-destination-waiting-to-entice-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=398","title":{"rendered":"Pulau Buta an offbeat destination waiting to entice visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Jessica (left) and the Bajau Balangingi cultural dances<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KOTA KINABALU:\nThere is a hidden community-based tourism destination awaiting to be explored\nin the east coast of Sabah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the offing is the riverine resort providing a\nrelaxing atmosphere at Pulau Buta Eco Tourism perched in between oil palm\nplantations and mangrove forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This relatively offbeat destination particularly to\nforeign and domestic travellers alike is situated in Kampung Telisai, Tungku,\nabout 60 kilometres away from Lahad Datu town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are promoting a place for visitors to escape\nfrom the hustle and bustle of the city life and offer a place for them to\nunwind,\u201d Pulau Buta Eco Tourism managing director Jessica Reyes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are now actively selling our products to\ninternational and domestic markets, but our momentum has hit a snag due to the\noutbreak of Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were supposed to get some visitors from Bama\nYao autonomous county this month, but the tour package has to be cancelled due\nto the pandemic,\u201d Jessica disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her entourage has embarked on a familiarization\ntrip to Bama Yao in Guangxi, China end of last year and also celebrated the New\nYear there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Covid-19 is really affecting our business\nespecially our chalets, dormitories and all programme has been cancelled for\nalmost four months\u2026we are very sad and at the same time no income at all,\u201d\nJessica shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the challenging time, the management still\nhave to pay all the staff every month and now we are working very hard to sell\nback our package to our customers but unfortunately no more is coming, she\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the normal day, our place welcomed a lot of\npeople during the weekends as the guests would come for picnic and fishing,\u201d\nJessica said adding that, the accommodation can caters for 16 person at one\ntime and the visitors also have the option to choose the twin sharing rooms\ntoo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The destination is also a favourite place for\nschool students to carry out their outdoor camping activities during the\nschool-term holidays, but this year has been quiet, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also thanked the Malaysian Productivity\nCorporation and the Tourism Productivity Nexus for giving them the initiative\nto develop their products and sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo lure the visitors, I have designed a lot of\naffordable packages which is open for booking now but it seems that there is no\nrespond,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pulau Buta Eco Tourism began operation four\nyears ago catering mostly local holidaymakers in the east coast is now working\nhard to tap the international and domestic markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur uniqueness\nis watching scores of alligators crossing the river, the bats took flights in\nthe hundreds during nightfall from the nearby cave and the famous proboscis\nmonkeys during a river cruise as well as the owls during full moon,\u201d Jessica\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides\nsightseeing the fascinating wildlife, they also have recreational and fun\nactivities for kayaking, banana boat ride and fishing activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visitors will also be treated to the Bajau Balangingi traditional dance which is the native of Tungku.-HS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KOTA KINABALU: There is a hidden community-based tourism destination awaiting to be explored in the east coast of Sabah. In the offing is the riverine resort providing a relaxing atmosphere at Pulau Buta Eco Tourism perched in between oil palm plantations and mangrove forest. This relatively offbeat destination particularly to foreign and domestic travellers alike…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}