From beaches to Bieber: 6 locations closing after tourism overload
Atlanta couple gifts High Museum collection of European art
LONDON, Aug 29, (Agencies): Indonesia has unveiled plans to close the island of Komodo to the public from January next year in a bid to conserve the world’s largest living lizard species – the Komodo dragon.
This was the latest in a growing list of locations to close to tourists to protect the environment and/or wildlife.
Here are five other places that have recently closed to tourists:
1. Maya Bay, Thailand
This island cove made famous by the 2000 film “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was closed to tourists last year until 2021 in a bid to salvage the area’s coral reefs, which have been damaged by warmer temperatures and a flood of tourists.
2. Boracay Island, the Philippines
Boracay Island was closed for a six-month cleanup from April to October 2018 after being described as a “cesspool” by President Rodrigo Duterte. The island attracted 2 million visitors the previous year but has now limited numbers to 19,000 a day and banned beach parties, smoking and drinking.
3. Mount Everest base camp
The Chinese government closed its side of the Everest base camp this year to anyone without a climbing permit due to the huge amounts of rubbish piling up at the site, according to the Lonely Planet travel website. The Chinese base camp, located in
U13 (ages 10-13) and U17 (ages 14-17). We train three times a week and play regular games throughout the year with schools and clubs. Contact Coach T 97128884 for information.
Invitation to Grand Mosque:
The Visits Department is pleased to invite you to visit the Grand Mosque, which is one of Kuwait’s most treasured religious and cultural landmarks to
Tibet, can be accessed by car.
4. Fjadrargljufur canyon, Iceland
The popular tourist site, featured in one of Justin Bieber’s music videos, was closed to tourists for about three months this year due to damage from wet weather and foot traffic. The number of visitors had nearly doubled after being featured in the singer’s music video “I’ll Show You”.
5. The Faroe Islands, Denmark
Ten popular tourists sites were closed temporarily this year for maintenance by an international team of volunteers after a 10% growth in visitor numbers in recent years.
Children play wildly around a tractor in the El Infernal neighborhood in the province of Pinar del Rio, part of Cuba’s renowned tobacco-growing zone.
The moment that everyone is waiting for arrives as tractor driver Osniel Hernandez appears with a trailer covered in a blue tarp, creating a mobile pool that will travel through the dirt streets of the neighborhood.
The idea for the mobile tractor-pool was hatched by local parents Mariset Martinez and Yamian Válido on July 26, to make their kids happy and fight the harsh Caribbean heat in the aptly named settlement. In a neighborhood far from recreation centers, community members helped to make the idea of the tractor-pool a reality, lending tarps, providing water and paying for the tractor’s gasoline.
“We want to keep the kids happy in our community and this costs nothing.” said Hipolito Marraron, the president of the cooperative that lent the tractor, with the condition that it could only be used if it wasn’t needed by the agricultural workers.
The tractor in El Infernal also is occasionally pressed into service as an ambulance in an area with few motor vehicles.
After operators explained some rules to the swimmers, the tractorpool made its first successful trip, as children splashed their neighbors to encourage them to join the party – a party that became the main attraction in a poor but resourceful neighborhood.
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ATLANTA: Atlanta’s High Museum of Art has announced a couple has gifted it a collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings, including works by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Tuesday that the 24-painting donation from philanthropists Doris and Shouky Shaheen is the most significant gift of European art to the museum since 1958. That year, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation provided the base of the museum’s European collection by gifting 30 Italian works.
The High announced it’ll name a gallery after the Shaheens and display the collection there later this year.
A museum official declined to estimate the value of the gift, but said it wouldn’t have been possible with current resources. This year, a Monet painting sold for $110 million at auction.
discover the beauty of Islamic arts and architecture. Free guided tours are available all year round on official working days between (9-11 am) and (5-7 pm), within a special tour program designed to cater to the needs of different age groups. The program is as follows:
Reception; Auditorium show; (according to age group); Touring the Mosque; Q& A; Art workshops; (according to age group – between