• Enter the Footsteps site.
• Visit Beach Watch for news updated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Write your own Movie Reviews or see what other people think about The Beach.
• Discuss The Beach movie
• Discuss Leonardo at Leo Fans Only!

The following report was sent to us in August 2000 by Heinz from Moskito Diving 5 Star IDC based on Phi Phi island:

"I have been here a long time and since the movie was made I have seen quite a lot. We actually go to Maya Bay quite a few times a week with our customers. The bay is open all year as long as the weather allows boats to enter the shallow waters. On bad weather days there have been many people accessing the beach from Loh Samah Bay which is on the other side of the island. At the moment we have the usual rubbish build up blown in from Phuket which makes the beach look ugly. The vegetation is growing back very well and people are following the paths that have been provided. The area where they bulldozed is also growing back well. As far as we could tell there was no major coral damage done during filming. If anything, the increase of visitors has probably caused more wear and tear. We really could not tell you about coral damage due to silting. Quite often the dive shops here on Phi Phi get together and help clean the beach but we find that this is not enough due to the high volume of rubbish which comes in every day on the high tide. The biggest thing we have noticed is the large increase of people visiting the beach especially during high season. There is still only one small shop which is open only during the high season months. It is very small and they do not sell souvenirs. The people there actually help to keep the beach clean."

Thanks to Heinz at the Mosquito Diving 5 Star IDC Dive Center on Phi Phi Don island. For details of diving adventures with multilingual instructors please visit their web site at http://www.moskitodiving.com/ for more information.

We also contacted the Royal Forestry Department (RFD). They visited the island recently with environmental experts sent by Leonardo DiCaprio's family to check up on the present situation. This is what the RFD told us:

"We are happy with what the Fox Company has put back and the condition of the dune until December last year. During the past new year there was a huge number of people organized by the Phi Phi Don island to have a full moon party on the beach and they have ruined the beach so badly. Most of the plants were recovered but the part of the dune that people climbed up was damaged. The other side of the dune where people did not climb and does not face the strong win is now recovered and the Environment people from US and IUCN were unable to recognize the touching of this side of the dune by the movie."

It would seem that it will take time before we will see the full recovery of the beach - the progress so far has been one step forward and two back. Some areas which were seemingly recovered have now been wrecked by either bad weather or tourists/partygoers trampling on the dunes. The protesters still argue that if the root systems weren't removed by the film-makers then the dune would have held together better. Our main concern is still making sure that Maya Bay doesn't become a mirror of "James Bond Island". For those of you who don't know, after the movie "The Man with a Golden Gun" was made in Thailand, the island used in the location was renamed and the beach was invaded by 52 souvenir stalls. We don't want that to happen to Maya Bay. Although there is still only one small refreshment stall on the beach, there is still no permanent ranger staff on the island. The RFD have told us that they are planning to set up a ranger station this month though all previous attempts have failed. There has already been a large increase of tourists to the island which is expected to increase greatly after the monsoon finishes in about October. Unless there is a permanent ranger station there soon to protect the beach and island (which incidentally is part of a national park) the sensitive beach ecology could be damaged beyond repair.

- Richard Barrow, webmaster (August 2000)

FEBRUARY 2000: We have followed very carefully the environmental debate for the last 15 months. Like many people in Thailand we were concerned about any possible permanent damage which might be caused by the film-makers when they bulldozed a dune on Maya Beach, removed the vegetation and planted 60 palm trees. Although they took meticulous care to put everything back the way they found it, we believe that they shouldn't have been given permission to make those alterations in a national park in the first place. However, the fact is, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) did give them permission. Whether it was legal or not, that is now up to the courts to decide.

We visited Phi Phi Le and Maya Bay in February to check on the condition of the beach and dune. What we found there was a considerable amount of erosion on the dune. At least 2-3 metres had been washed into the bay during severe storms last year. Though we believe that the film-makers are partly responsible for this, they were very unlucky that during the restoration of the dune, Thailand was hit by some of the worst storms in recent memory. The last storm at the end of 1999 coincided with a high tide which came right up to the top of the dune. The dune also suffered during a recent illegal New Year's Party on the island. The RFD tell us that they are satisfied with the work carried out by the film-makers over the last year. They say that the dune will now restore itself naturally over the course of time. The RFD are so pleased that they gave the film-makers their bond back.

We don't want to lay blame on anyone, but rather concentrate more on the future of Maya Beach which has already been nicknamed "Leonardo Beach". The one year obligation of the film-makers to work on the beach finished at the end of February and they have now left for good. Though we would prefer they stay on the island until the dune has fully recovered we realise that by their legal contract they no longer have to stay.

Now is the time for people to work together, both environmentalists and the Royal Forestry Department. What is important at the moment is to have a permanent ranger station on the island. Tourists need to be made aware that they have to respect the dune in order to give it a better chance of a complete recovery. This means not walking over it or pulling at any of the plants. If you bring a bottle of drink or food to the island then please take any rubbish away with you. At present there is only one small snack shop tucked away at one end. We don't want to see this multiply even though the number of tourists will surely increase. Nor do we want to see souvenir stalls selling shells and coral. The last thing we want to happen is a repeat of the infamous "James Bond Island" with its 52 souvenir stalls on a small stretch of beach. We have to start somewhere. Let us start with Maya Bay and help give the beach a healthy future.

If you are interested to read our report and see the pictures we took in February of the real beach then please click here. Otherwise, please enter our web site about Thailand and The Beach movie.

NOTE: The above was written in February 2000, the weekend the movie was released in the USA. We intend to keep following this story over the coming years. Very little has been reported in the papers apart from some rumours of the beach being closed for a while and the local rangers wanting to charge admission to the beach. We have also heard that an incinerator was installed on the island though due to a lack of funds it cannot be used. These are all second hand reports which we need to have confirmed. Our school is in Bangkok and the island is about 600 kms south of us. The school has already paid for three trips to the island for us to monitor the situation. We hope to go again this year once the monsoon has finished in about October. Of course, the trip isn't confirmed yet as it is expensive for the school to keep paying for these trips.

"We appreciate all the time and hard work that has gone into the site." Andrew Macdonald, producer of The Beach

"Leo was pleased with the Thai students hard work." Irmelin, mother of Leonardo DiCaprio.

"It is the only Beach web site that has received acknowledgement from the film-makers, Fox, and from Leonardo's family and friends." Bangkok Post

"A virtual compendium on the movie." BBC Movies

"Extremely comprehensive." - The Guardian, (UK)

"Reflects tireless and comprehensive efforts." - The Nation

"Such was the site's authority that the world's media looked to it to provide information." Empire

"This site exhaustively documents the filming process." Brittanica.com