In the summer months, whole streams of holidaymakers like to visit the small island of Chrissi south of Crete. But that should be over now - for the sake of nature.

The small offshore island of Chrissi was closed to visits by the authorities so that the badly affected nature of the island can recover. In recent years, around 200.000 tourists have come every year to visit the famous cedar forest on Chrissi, among other things. As the tourist portal Reise vor 9 reports, the uninhabited islet around 15 kilometers off Crete has been extremely popular with day trippers thanks to its pristine nature. For the time being, however, guests are only allowed to view the interior of the island from afar: tourist and charter boats are now prohibited from docking at Chrissi. Although bathers can still swim from the boats to the beach and stay there, they can no longer enter the interior of the island and the cedar forests.

The cause is man: The summer residents, who, according to the authorities, live in tents and self-built huts and have even built makeshift taverns, tap the groundwater that the plants will later lack. They create garbage and have even brought vehicles to the island. In addition, people migrated to the interior of the island and destroyed the young plants that could provide new vegetation. Apparently, some even brought goats to the island – the animals eat all small plants they can find. Now it is to be prevented that people settle down on Chrissi again this summer.