Komodo island in Indonesia will close to tourists in January 2020 to
allow the habitat to replenish and to ensure there is sufficient live
food stocks for the island's famous flesh-eating lizards.
The
East Nusa Tenggara provincial government said the National Park
management wants to return the island to its usual wild condition and
keep it as natural as possible whilst providing the necessary
infrastructure for visitors.
Its indigenous lizards, the Komodo
dragons, are amongst the world's most iconic mammals but only found on a
handful of tiny islands in the Komodo National Park.
Other islands including Rinca and Padar will remain open, local news outlet Tempo reports.
As
Komodo receives the most tour groups, it is still unclear how the
decision to close the island will hit visitor numbers to the region.
Local
authorities have been mulling closing the island for the past couple of
years due to the unchecked increase in visitors, which has started to
impact the local habitat. The final straw was the recent arrest of
smugglers who allegedly stole 41 Komodo dragons.
It is claimed they sold them to international buyers for $35,000 for each dragon.
There are about 5,700 dragons living in the wild according to UNESCO, all of them within the National Park.
The region welcomes about 150,000 visitors every year. (TravelMole)
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