Mount Telomoyo in Central Java’s Magelang regency has been closed again after it was reopened a little over a week following crowds of visitors flocking to the tourist spot last weekend, clips of which have circulated widely online.
In the videos, most visitors can be seen on their motorbikes, while others parked their vehicles and set up tents on the edge of the track leading to the mount’s summit, observing no social distancing measures as everyone simply stood too close to one another.
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Mount Telomoyo was reopened with COVID-19 protocols — including temperature checks at the entry point and mandatory face masks — on July 11 after it was closed for months due to the pandemic, with the tourism site’s management capping the number of visitors to 400 vehicles.
Officials confirmed that those widely circulated videos were taken yesterday morning. Wardoyo, who heads the Pandean Forest Village Community Institution (LMDH) and Telomoyo tourism management, said that visitors had started coming very early in the morning from several entry points yesterday.
“At 3am, there were already many groups. The management came to my house at 6am. The standard health protocols took too long, the visitors kept coming in and couldn’t be handled any longer so we closed the area at 7:30am,” Wardoyo said yesterday.
After entries to the mountain were closed, Wardoyo said there were around 2,000 visitors who remained at the summit. The summit was only cleared out at around 2:40pm.
Separately, Head of Magelang regency’s Tourism, Youth, and Sports Agency Iwan Sutiarso expressed regrets over the surge of visitors on Mount Telomoyo, adding that his office has warned the tourism site management to strictly implement the health protocols and limiting the number of visitors.
“The management has temporarily stopped tourist visits and will conduct an evaluation. Then they will prepare for online reservations or ticket sales,” Iwan said.
Mount Telomoyo is a popular volcanic attraction in Central Java, which is accessible by motorcycle. The stratovolcano is located close to other mountains, such as Mount Sumbing, Mount Merbabu, and Mount Ungaran.
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