In the activity of potential observation, we learned by doing direct observation of all the potential resources in rural area.  The main reason to choose the countryside is because we thought that all points of human living civilization basically started from this smallest area, called a ‘kampong’ which in its development is more often called as a village. A living civilization will develop well and be maintained if human and natural resources are sufficient and qualified.

As the modern era progresses, the level of social and environmental problems will be more complex. In the tourism sector, it is necessary to enjoy life wisely through ecotourism. Ecotourism is currently one of the options to promote a typical natural environment that is still maintained authenticity to be a tourist destination.

One typical ecotourism that can preserve the environment is rural-based ecotourism. Rural Ecotourism is a tourism concept based on the potential of the rural natural environment and the socio-cultural and economic life of local communities. The principle of rural ecotourism expects that visitors to be creative while enjoying rural life by interacting and integrating directly with rural life.

‘Ekowisata’ in Indonesian is from the word of ecotourism (ecological tourism) that is an environmentally minded tourism having priority to the nature conservation aspects, aspects of economic-socio-cultural empowerment for local communities as well as aspects of learning and education (https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekowisata).

The main purpose of ecotourism is to build sustainable tourism by providing ecological and economic benefits, as well as providing social benefits to people's lives. The needs of tourists can also answer the sustainability of socio-cultural life and providing opportunities for the current and future generations to utilize and develop it "Subadra, 2008".

We chose to learn the potential of rural-based ecotourism in Munaseli village, because this place has a lot of interesting potential. The strength of the appeal of this village lies in the history of the kingdom which is still closely related to the kingdom of "Majapahit" and its customs traditions that are still preserved today and completed with heirlooms and some sacred historical places.

Munaseli includes the deep water area of the SAP (Water Sanctuary) of the Pantar Strait and the surrounding sea. The village is home to BUMDes Manusirikoko which manages the village's business and ecotourism activities, as well as Pokmaswas Tanjung Muna as a coastal and marine monitoring community. They actively monitor and report the high destructive fishing activities that occur in the waters of their villages. Moreover, the people have authentic culinary dishes and interesting cultural history to explore.

It is expected that this rural ecotourism activity will enable young intellectual, especially students, to open their minds to act more creatively as the balance of critical thinking and idealism as the purpose of life by looking all the potentials, especially in the village. A lot of potentials, either natural resources or human resources of East Indonesia especially Alor have not been managed well and wisely. It’s a pity that commonly young people prefer just to be spectators and workers of the development in their own area, and rarely have the intention and willingness to be initiator to expand the potential of the existing resources.***