[1][2]: 229 Local people claim that the beach is "... a place of great spiritual, cultural, historical and ecological significance not just for Tutuala and Lautem district but for all of Timor-Leste.

Before the national park was established, some local families would camp at the beaches and keep watch to collect eggs and capture nesting turtles.

[2]: 207 [4] They set up temporary shelters for themselves, and keep their boats at the back of the beach, where racks and limestone caverns have been created for the storage of their possessions.

[2]: 207–208 The major cultural event in the national park is the Mechi ceremony [de], which is held on the beach and on Jaco Island.

The ceremony involves the ritual gathering of and feasting on palolo seaworms (Eunice viridis), which are known as mechi in the local Fataluku language.

The gathering, feasting and associated ritual invocations, singing and dancing mark the beginning of a new agricultural calendar, and are also important in creating, strengthening and renewing bonds and alliances between the participants in the ceremonies.