Moyo Satonda National Park: legal status, reported fees and permits

By Sumbawa Liveaboard Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: prices in the table are published by the operators and guides named, with source and check month. They are not our offers, and they change. Nothing here is legal or medical advice.

We found no source saying a guest needs a personal permit to visit Moyo Island. Sources describe an entry fee instead: one tour operator reports it collected at an entrance post, and La Galigo says park fees are usually handled on board. No official fee schedule has turned up on a government site, so every reported amount is provisional.

When did the park get its status?

In August 2022. The West Nusa Tenggara provincial government reported on 26 August 2022 that Moyo and Satonda had become a national park under Ministerial Decree SK.901/MENLHK/SETJEN/PL.2/8/2022. The notice gives an area of about 31,200.15 hectares across Sumbawa and Dompu regencies. Those two regencies matter because Moyo and Satonda fall under different local governments, and the park now spans both. With this addition, the same notice says, the province has three national parks.

Older pages still get this wrong. At least one encyclopedia entry describes the park as proposed. A provincial government notice citing the decree number is the stronger source, and it is the one used here. If an operator's page calls the area a reserve, the page may simply not have been updated, so do not assume a second protected area with its own rules.

The provincial notice is the document cited here, and not the decree's annexes, so ask the operator whether any site on the plan has its own conditions.

What did it replace?

Three earlier designations, according to the same provincial notice. They were folded into one park:

• Moyo Island hunting park
• Moyo Island marine nature park
• Satonda Island nature park

The list explains a lot of the confusion in older travel writing. A page written before 2022 could correctly describe Moyo as a hunting park or a marine park and be out of date today. We leave the founding dates of those earlier statuses out, because sources disagree on them, and the 2022 decree is what governs now.

The old labels also say something about what is there to protect: game on land and life in the water. Moyo as a boat stop still offers both reef and interior. UNESCO notes Timor deer, wild boar, macaques and reticulated python on Moyo and Satonda, so a walk ashore can matter as much as a dive here.

Do guests pay an entry fee, and how much is reported?

A fee is reported, but only by private sources, and those sources measure different things. The Langkah Travel, a tour operator, says the entrance fee follows standard Indonesian national park rates and is collected at the entrance post. The amounts it reports for foreign visitors, weekday and weekend, are in the price table on this page and carry that label. The same table shows two figures from liveaboard sellers that are a different kind of charge from a per-visitor ticket, even though they can look alike at first glance.

Do not add these together. A per-visitor ticket and a per-trip estimate may overlap, and a flat fee from one operator may include things another bills separately. Nor should you read the Langkah figure as the amount a boat will collect. Operators may include other parks on a longer route, and a crossing that continues to Komodo will meet Komodo's own charges too. Ask for the charge on your itinerary, by name and by person, before you pay a deposit.

No amount here can be checked against an official document. A specific daily fee for foreign divers also appears in some travel material, without a source that opens. Where these charges land on your overall bill is covered in the hidden costs guide.

Do you need a permit of your own?

Probably not as a separate document. Nothing published here asks a liveaboard guest to apply in advance for a personal park permit. The published language is about fees: paid at a post by someone arriving under their own steam, or handled on board by the operator. A boat entering protected water may itself have paperwork to manage, but that is the operator's job.

Think of three separate questions, because people run them together.

1. Can you enter Indonesia? That is a matter of arrival paperwork, and it is covered in our access guide.
2. Who pays the park charge, and when? Get this from the operator in writing. If the boat collects on board, ask whether you will be given a receipt and in which currency it is due.
3. Are there activity rules at the site? Diving, drones and whale shark swimming each raise their own questions. We have no source for drone rules in the park or near the bagan platforms, so ask before you fly anything.

If you travel on your own rather than by liveaboard, the likely path is different. The Langkah Travel describes public boats from Muara Kali to Moyo, and an entrance post at which you pay. Carry cash for that, and expect the reported rate to have moved. The same operator also reports a motorbike taxi charge for the ride inland to the waterfall, which is a local transport cost and not a park fee; see Mata Jitu from a liveaboard.

How does it relate to SAMOTA and Tambora?

SAMOTA is a much larger label. UNESCO lists Saleh-Moyo-Tambora as a biosphere reserve nominated in 2019, with a surface of 724,631 hectares, of which 360,123 hectares are marine. A biosphere reserve is not a national park and is not a World Heritage listing. It is a UNESCO programme designation. UNESCO also notes dugong and dolphins in Saleh Bay.

Tambora is a separate park next door. Amanwana's national parks page says Tambora National Park neighbours Moyo Satonda National Park, and UNESCO's listing covers the same landscape. A boat passing the mountain does not necessarily enter that park, and Tambora from the water explains how boats relate to it.

Saleh Bay needs separating. It belongs to the SAMOTA name, but no source here places the whale shark bagans inside Moyo Satonda National Park, and no official current ticket for the whale shark area has turned up. Note how Sumbawa Tour lists a bagan fee and an entrance fee as two different items. So do not assume one charge covers both. Rules for the bay itself sit in their own guide.

What else do visitors ask about the park?

Do I need a permit to visit Moyo Island?

Not as far as we can find, if you mean a personal permit obtained in advance. Published sources describe an entry fee instead, either paid at an entrance post or handled by your boat. Confirm the arrangement with your operator.

Is Moyo Satonda a real national park or only a proposal?

It is a real national park. The West Nusa Tenggara provincial government reported the ministerial decree in August 2022, and pages calling it proposed are out of date.

Where can I find the official fee schedule?

We have not found one on a government site. The amounts in this page's table are reported by a tour operator and by liveaboard sellers, and they are labelled that way. Ask the park post or your operator for the current figure.

Is the park fee included in my liveaboard rate?

Sometimes. Sumbawa Tour builds one into its private programme, while Tiger Blue and Komodo Resort state that park fees sit outside their rates. Check the exclusions on your own trip.

Is the park a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

No. UNESCO lists Saleh-Moyo-Tambora as a biosphere reserve nominated in 2019, which is a different programme. The national park is an Indonesian designation under a ministerial decree.

Which sources support this page?

• West Nusa Tenggara provincial government: park designation notice
• The Langkah Travel: Moyo Island guide
• La Galigo: Sumbawa liveaboard cost guide
• Tiger Blue: Sumbawa destination page
• Komodo Resort: Sumbawa liveaboard page
• Sumbawa Tour: private 4 days, 3 nights programme
• UNESCO: Saleh-Moyo-Tambora (SAMOTA) biosphere reserve
• Amanwana: national parks page

How do I reach the desk?

Write to the desk if you need help reading the fee line in an itinerary, or if you can point us to an official schedule. WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or email bd@juaraholding.com.