The most famous beach in the world is once again banned
After years of closure, Thailand reopened Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Island to visitors. Since even stricter rules to protect nature were not enough, this is now over. Greece has also now blocked one of its islands.
Stand: 31.05.2022
Top view of Thailand’s famous dream beach Maya Bay on the island of Ko Phi Phi
Source: pa / Zoonar / Fokke Baarssen
Ztrampled nature, broken corals, scared away fish, shimmering pools of sunscreen and motor oil on the murky surface of the water. It’s shameful how 600,000 visitors in just five months can devastate a sandy beach that is only 250 meters long. Even if the individual vacationer wants to protect the environment on the way: the crowd does it – and leads to the fact that the most famous beach in the world is closed again shortly after its reopening.
We are talking about Thailand’s dream beach Maya Bay on the island of Ko Phi Phi: actually crystal clear water in neon turquoise, with limestone karst rocks and coral reefs. Made famous as the setting for the 2000 blockbuster The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
After that, the bay was loved to death for almost two decades, by up to two million holidaymakers a year. Maya Beach has been closed to visitors for a good three years since 2018, not because of Corona, but because of overtourism. So that nature could recover.
Maya Bay 2017: The photo shows how big the crowds on the beach used to be
Source: pa/Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB
And indeed: with the calm, the lobsters and hundreds of blacktip reef sharks returned, new corals slowly began to grow. The Ministry of the Environment therefore decided to carefully reopen Maya Bay to visitors under strict conditions at the beginning of 2022: for a fee and only with prior notification.
Tourists were only allowed to visit the beach from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for one hour each day, a round cost twelve dollars. Wading allowed, swimming forbidden. Speedboats were no longer allowed to dock on the beach, but only bobbing on the back of the islands. The 4125 “slots” for visitors per day were fully booked in no time.
Another island serves as a model for Thailand
But none of this was enough to protect the corals. The Ministry of the Environment in Thailand has therefore decided to close the dream beach again – initially until the end of August, maybe for several years. An increase in the admission price to up to 30 dollars is then being discussed.
A nearby island serves as a model. Because the no less picturesque Mosquito Island with white beaches has long been closed to visitors, for almost nine years. The corals there have since fully recovered.
Mosquito Island are only allowed to be admired from afar by holidaymakers in Thailand
What: Getty Images/Vincent Jary
Another holiday country also sees an entry ban as a drastic but effective means of giving nature a break. Greece has blocked the island of Chrissi, about 15 kilometers off the coast of Crete. Because of its fantastic beaches, up to 200,000 day visitors recently came. Some vacationers also camped there all summer long. The island became littered, cedars were felled for firewood. Chrissi may no longer be entered until October 31st.
On the Greek island of Chrissi, a path leads past a dying “Chrissi cedar” to the beach
Source: dpa/-
Sometimes, however, nature takes a well-deserved break from humanity. Such as on the Brazilian island of Queimada Grande in the Atlantic. Snakes ensure peace here. There are now thousands of lance vipers, one of the deadliest species of snakes.
The residents, even the last lighthouse keeper, fled the island, an automatic beacon was set up, and for over 30 years entry to the island has been strictly forbidden. Tourists prefer to only look at this natural paradise from the boat.
Corals could be the solution to plastic waste in the sea
500 freight containers of plastic end up in the Mediterranean every day. This is the result of calculations by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There have long been various projects to fish microplastics out of the oceans. Now corals should help.
Source: WORLD / Stefan Wittmann