The canyon over which Game of Thrones‘ heroic Jon Snow learned to ride his first & only dragon (when things weren’t so firey with his Aunt) is closed off to tourists because (surprise) they’re destroying it.
It doesn’t take a Three-Eyed Raven from Game of Thrones (who’ll sit back & let an entire city burn before he’s undeservingly crowned King – oh yeah, spoiler alert!) to know that tourists tend to cause damage wherever they go, and Iceland’s Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon is no exception.
The once ‘hidden gem’ moved to the top of bucket lists worldwide when it featured in Justin Bieber’s 2015 video for ‘I’ll Show You’. It gained further popularity when it appeared in the seventh and eighth seasons of the recently concluded fantasy series, most notably when the rightful heir of the Iron Throne (and the dude that proved over and over again that he knows nothing), Jon Snow, rode a dragon over its deep cliffs.
Since, tourists have flooded into Iceland’s canyon like it’s Zara taking part in a Black Friday sale, with some one million people visiting the site in 2015 – a figure that’s expected to drastically increase after its latest Game of Thrones presence, Associated Press reported.
Although that’s good news for Iceland’s rampant tourism industry, environmentalists raised concern over the stability of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon and successfully introduced a ban that prevents tourists from entering.
Image: Agnieszka Mordaunt/Unsplash
The Environment Agency of Iceland has placed warning signs at the canyon’s entrance and hired park rangers to help reduce visitation, however, reports suggest that tourists aren’t abiding by rules and are even going as far as bribing park rangers into giving them access.
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