Thread by @PichayadaCNA

I had an opportunity to visit the world-famous Maya Bay on Phi Phi Islands in Thailand last week after it was closed to tourists in June for rehabilitation. And what I saw was absolutely stunning

The bay suffered great environmental damage after it was made famous in The Beach, starring @LeoDiCaprio. Before it was closed, some 5,000 tourists visited Maya Bay each day, not mentioning roughly 200 boats that would line its main beach

@LeoDiCaprio Years of mass tourism have destroyed most of the reef in Maya Bay. People stepped on the corals, breaking and killing them. Many were also damaged by rudders and sediments. There was hardly any space on the beach in high season

(Photo: Thai National Park Department)

@LeoDiCaprio Maya Bay today is completely different than how it was just 6 months ago. Glass-like water. White powdery beach. And zero tourist activity means it's incredibly peaceful

@LeoDiCaprio Many tourists still enter the 'No Entry' zone, clearly marked by red flags reading "No Entry" in English, Mandarin and Thai. This person here was paddling inside the forbidden area, tailed by a drone. In the photo, he was getting out after his captain had been warned by officials

@LeoDiCaprio "There's no sign" is the answer I got from a tourist when I said her friend can't paddle in the rehabilitation area. Tourists aren't allowed inside because marine scientists and national park officials are growing thousands of colonies of new corals to replace the dead ones

@LeoDiCaprio When tourists and boats are gone, sharks return to Maya Bay. These are blacktip reef sharks. I spotted at least 90 of them cruising along the now empty beach last week. Marine scientists believe sharks have come here to give birth as they normally do so in a sheltered bay

@LeoDiCaprio Most of the sharks at Maya Bay are longer than 1 metre. They may look small in my photos but that's because my drone was quite high up in the air. They come very close to the shore in the morning and late afternoon when the tides are high and the temperature isn't so hot

@LeoDiCaprio When Maya Bay reopens, tourists will have to access it from Loh Samah Bay (located right behind it) and walk through a passage prepared by the National ParK Department. A new pier will be built here to accommodate tourist boats, which can only drop off and pick up visitors

@LeoDiCaprio Tourist boats will no longer be allowed to enter Maya Bay from the front. The ban is permanent.

Full story of how the world-famous Maya Bay in Thailand is recovering from years of mass tourism 🦈 cna.asia/2QGEAKG

🦈 Have you ever seen so many sharks? 🦈 Watch how nature has taken back the world-famous Maya Bay in Thailand from mass tourism after it was made popular by The Beach, starring @LeoDiCaprio