Maya Bay Reopens Once Again

Thursday, January 27, 2022

At the edge of the turquoise water, tourists from Asia and Europe take pictures. In early January, they had come to take part in the long-awaited reopening of Maya Bay, the top attraction of the Andaman Sea, after remaining closed for almost three years.

“We hoped that there would be no one here for the first day,” says Maïka, a Malagasy tourist. “But it’s a mythical beach, everyone wanted to come, of course.”

Maya Bay located quite far from the island of Koh Phi Phi, with its crystal-clear waters and vegetation-covered limestone hills, this stunningly beautiful bay has got its name from the Sanskrit word “Maya,” meaning illusion. In one Hindu tradition, it denotes the cosmic force through which the universe manifests itself to human beings.
For the movie Beach, released in 2000, this place was used as a backdrop with Leonardo di Caprio and Virginie Ledoyen.

On an everyday basis, Maya Bay received almost 5,000 visitors and 200 boats. The gorgeous marine ecology of Maya Bay became the victim of its success and ills of mass tourism: the coral reef got massively damaged, fauna and flora withered.

The government closed the bay in 2018 for ecological recovery. For three years, the restoration efforts were maintained and scientists from the Coral Reef Conservation Center set up “coral nurseries” close to the bay. It facilitated underwater spaces dedicated to the cultivation of tiny plants. Local communities have mobilized to save their environment.

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