Komodo National Park temporary closure and for deep pockets only

[Fibonacci]

If Komodo get's away with this then I'd imagine, Raja Ampat and other Indo regions going the same route.
~snip~
Clearly there are too many people visiting the place and the environment is taking a beating....so what else would you suggest?
At least the Indo gov is doing something....whether it is the right thing is debatable...but at least it is action.

My HUGE concern though is that only a small portion of the extra $$'s will be spent on the park...the rest will line a few pockets!

I dived Komodo in 2016 for a week on day boats and then on a short liveaboard with Divine Diving onboard Weta Molas.

It was already incredibly crowded in LBJ jam-packed with divers of all income levels... a real Wild West free-for-all!

Most divers I met were quite sympathetic to paying a park fee till we landed on Rinca Island for the Dragon trek and saw first hand the dilapidated state of the entire site... tatty threadbare uniforms on the Rangers, infrastructure literally falling down, paths not maintained, poor signage... a shambles.

Obviously the vast majority of funds raised through park fees are NOT being passed on after being skimmed by multiple layers of vested interests in Indonesia. Raising the park fees will only increase cash flow to these interests and not help the park or its inhabitants one iota IMO.

Internecine rivalry, greed and hubris could easily spell 'beginning of the end' for diving in Komodo/Raja Ampat just as I found in PNG... which is rapidly descending into a failed state.
"They'd rather blow out the candle than share the light"

 

[Cali_diver]

There are way too many boats in Komodo.... I have seen first hand the damage that is being done to the reefs there. Perhaps this will thin it out a bit.

 

[scubafanatic]

If Komodo get's away with this then I'd imagine, Raja Ampat and other Indo regions going the same route.

I'm a tad torn with this though, yes the $$'s are super steep and would discourage me from going for sure!!! But...how else do you discourage people from coming??
You could do what Sipadan does and issue a limited no's of permits.....but man that is painful!!

Clearly there are too many people visiting the place and the environment is taking a beating....so what else would you suggest?
At least the Indo gov is doing something....whether it is the right thing is debatable...but at least it is action.

My HUGE concern though is that only a small portion of the extra $$'s will be spent on the park...the rest will line a few pockets!

They only want to discourage lower income people from coming and feel their 'product' is underpriced vs what the market will actually bear. And now we'll see if they are right about their assumption. If they are wrong they'll adjust the fees back downward to match up with market realities. There's always the chance they'll discover the market will bear prices even higher than $500/ $ 50,000 so prices could go up further, not downwards. I doubt the fees have anything to do with eco-green oriented initiatives but just represent cash harvesting to the relevant/connected govt officials. It is THEIR country though and it's partly our fault for enabling their 'corruption' vs boycotting them.

 

[Centrals]

Bhutan has been doing exactly the same for many yrs and see no reason to change it.
A lot of unemployed Indonesian soon.
The relatively newly built LBJ airport will be even more quiet without the budget divers.

 

[Rob669]

There seems to be a mixture of views on this. We'll have to wait and see what the Governor of this region decides to do. I have asked Scuba Junkie Komodo for an update so fingers crossed it will all soon blow over.

 

[bshort4]

There seems to be a mixture of views on this. We'll have to wait and see what the Governor of this region decides to do. I have asked Scuba Junkie Komodo for an update so fingers crossed it will all soon blow over.

I did the same with Uber Scuba, I was planning on possibly booking another liveaboard trip with them but now I will wait and see what their response will be.

 

[bshort4]

I heard back from Uber Scuba in Labuan Bajo about the Governors remarks on raising the fees in Komodo National Park and they along with all tour providers are aware of his comments in the article from the Jakarta Post. They seemed more concerned about the attempt to close the park for a year than the raising of all the fees which they don't seem to feel will happen in the near future if ever. It is an election year and this governor may or may not be around for another term. Also the local government does not set the policies for the National Park--that falls under the central government so his attempt to become one of the "well heeled" by raising fees will more than likely fall on the wayside for now. But they didn't rule out that daily fees to enter the park wouldn't go up again like they have in the past just hopefully not to the amount this governor was hoping for.

 

[Illini_Fan]

Well ---

I just received an email from Mermaid Liveaboards. I'm booked for the Sept 2019 Komodo trip.

"Please note that do to an increase in Government taxes for Komodo National Park we are obliged to increase our Park and Port fees accordingly from the 2019 Komodo season to the following amount:-

Mermaid I: 200 Euros/per person"

I already have my long haul flights booked so at this point I pretty much have to absorb the 200EUR increase.

01/30 clarification: Mermaid sent a clarification that this is only an increase of 50EUR from the current 150EUR charger. NOT an increase by 200EUR. After rereading their message, it was worded correctly, I read it wrong.

 

[Dogbowl]

What was it before the increase?

200EUR is still reasonable/acceptable/bearable. 500USD is not IMHO.

 

[runsongas]

1.3 million idr per week iirc, or roughly 92 dollars at current exchange rate