Currently, tourists pay around $10 (£8) to enter the island. In 2018, 176,000 people visited Komodo, up from 44,000 people in 2008. In July, the local governor said the island needed to be closed ...

“People here consider this animal our ancestor ... In 1969 and ’70 he and his family camped on Komodo Island for 13 months, recording detailed observations of the animals’ every move.