#Indonesia - Komodo dragons continue to lure foreign tourists to Labuan Bajo

The town of Labuan Bajo, the gate to the famous Komodo National Park, reportedly welcomed more tourists in 2019 than in the previous year.

According to West Manggarai Tourism Agency head Agustinus Rinus, 163,807 people visited Labuan Bajo in 2018, while in 2019 it welcomed 184,206 visitors.

"The number of tourists to this region continues to increase every year, which largely affected regional revenue," said Agustinus in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday as quoted by Antara.

In 2018, West Manggarai regency's revenue from tourism fees was said to have reached Rp 34 billion (US$2,490,604), doubling in 2019 to Rp 60 billion. "This is a significant rise following our attempt to curb tourist boats that brought tourists to diving spots."

According to the agency's data, most of the tourists who visited Labuan Bajo to marvel at the iconic Komodo dragons hailed from Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, among other countries

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Indonesia - Komodo National Park to be closed one year for habitat restoration

The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration has announced its plans to temporarily close Komodo National Park to visitors for one year to increase the local population of Komodo dragons and deer.

“The NTT administration will make [the necessary] arrangements for Komodo National Park,” said NTT Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat on Friday, as quoted by tempo.co. He did not announce the dates of the temporary closure.

Viktor said that the park's closure was intended to give the provinicial administration easier access in managing the park and developing the dragons' habitat.

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 He said that individual lizards in the current population were not as big as they used to be, attributing this to a decline in the local deer population due to poaching.  

 Deer are the main prey of the carnivorous Komodo dragons, which can grow as large as 150 kilograms and eat about "80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding", according to National Geographic. This means that a 100-kilogram lizard can eat 80 kg of meat in a single sitting.

Viktor said there was a possibility that the lizards could prey on their own kind if the deer population continued to decline.

“Its natural instinct will emerge when [the population of one of the animals] in the Komodo dragon’s food chain declines. If food is abundant, the Komodo dragons will [employ] a different instinct," he said. "This is why the administration wants to manage the Komodo dragon's habitat by temporarily closing the area to visitors for one year.”

Source - TheJakartaPost