GALAPAGOS FEES TO DOUBLE

Entry fees to the Galapagos National Park are set to double next year to £110, authorities in Ecuador have warned. The islands are expecting a huge demand for tours next year, prompted by the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, who fine-tuned his theory of evolution after a visit to the Galapagos in 1835.

The increase in fees is one of a series of measures to be introduced by the Ecuadorian government to limit tourism to the fragile archipelago.

SCIENCE FOR GROWN-UPS

If you’re one of those who think museums are wasted on children, keep this Wednesday night free for the Science Museum’s first late-night adult-only event. From 6.30pm until 10pm, the South Kensington museum is offering robot racing, sci-fi films, tours, music and a bar. For the more mature, the Launchpad gallery will be open, allowing grown-ups to use museum equipment to blow huge bubbles, and there won’t be a disapproving child in sight. For more details of the free event, visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk .

SUNKEN TREASURES

The world’s first underwater museum is to be built off the coast of Egypt — and no wetsuits will be required. Fibreglass tunnels will take visitors to glass viewing domes off the shore of Alexandria, from which they will see the submerged treasures of Cleopatra’s palace and the wrecks of ancient Greek and Roman ships. Once started, the project will take three years to complete, but full funding has yet to be secured, so don’t hold your breath.

TOUR GROUP KIDNAPPED

A busload of British travellers has escaped unharmed after being taken hostage in Peru. The group of 14, driving through a remote area of Cuzco district, was surrounded by a 50-strong mob of villagers armed with pickaxes and branches. The villagers had mistaken the group for surveyors from a mining company. Their driver and guides were beaten, but the tourists were released unhurt after four hours.

BALINESE COVER-UP

Tourists in Bali could be prevented from wearing bikinis and other skimpy beachwear if a new law is passed next month. The bill, which would apply across Indonesia, would criminalise a number of “pornographic” activities, including kissing in public and gay sex. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Bali last week, claiming the law could allow Muslim extremists to stamp out local Hindu traditions and lead to the collapse of tourism.

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