Full Moon Party Koh Phangan: Paradise Island

Palm fronds rustling in the sea breeze, gentle lapping of crystal blue water, and the night sky lighting up one star at a time at dusk. Koh Phangan and neighbouring Ko Samui and Ko Toh are island paradises of unparalleled natural beauty. It's no wonder they're popular destinations to unwind, enjoy the sun, and let loose.

Koh Phangan is world renowned for it's monthly full moon party. On the day of the full moon, the energy in the air built gradually as the sun progressed to the west. Travelers gathered on the pristine beaches to dance and drink the night away at the famous beach party.

In the morning there was the expected group of bleary and not so slightly hungover tourists. But the morning after consequences were much worse than those self inflicted by over-enthusiastic party goers. Month after month, the scenic beaches that people travel the world over the enjoy are trashed. Mountains of plastic are dropped in a delicate ecosystem to be swept out to sea.

Thousands of tourists every year throw garbage all over the paradise they traveled across the globe to enjoy. Garbage littering the world renown diving sites, broken glass scattered on the white sand shores, and tragic damage to the wildlife.

Our third week on Koh Samui we saw this gorgeous water monitor strolling under the terrace of the restaurant where we were enjoying lunch. She was well over 1.5m long, majestic, powerful, and beautifully patterned. She wandered around checking out her environment with her blue tongue. Then she found it: an inciting, crinkly plastic bag and in moments devoured it.

Plastic often remains in the digestive system of reptiles and blocks their ability to eat and digest food, leading to slow starvation. Plastic can also damage internal organs leading to death, or they can simply be entangled in the debris and trapped in place to die. I don't know how many plastic bags this water monitor has eaten, but it's one of many threats facing the species. Habitat loss, hunting for their skin, exportation for the exotic animal trade, and pollution are among the numerous causes that landed this species on the Protected Species list.

While the Thai residents on these islands are not innocent of dropping litter as travelers we need to be respectful of the places we visit and leave them better than we found them. The residents of these beautiful places., whether human or water monitor deserve that much.