Komodo island to close for a year

The Indonesian island of Komodo will close to tourism from January 1, 2020, for a year. The move is designed to protect the 1,700 dragons that live there. Komodo Dragons are members of the monitor lizard family and can grow up to about 3 metres (10ft) making them the worlds largest species of lizard. In 2018 they attracted 176,000 tourists which puts a strain the their habitat.

The Indonesian government has earmarked US$7.3 million for the island’s rehabilitation and says the island will only reopen when the food sources and environment have returned to their previous state.

The rest of the Komodo National Park will remain open and visitors will still be able to see dragons on the islands of Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang.

Photo: Mark Dumont via Wikimedia commons