Whale Sharks in Gorontalo: Botubarani Season, Fees and Rules

Whale sharks come to Botubarani, a fishing village 20 to 30 minutes east of Gorontalo city, in most months of the year. Since 2020, the village's monitoring group has seen them in every month, most often from May to August. They are young males, most of them 3 to 7 metres long. They feed about 20 metres from the beach, and village boats take visitors out to them.

A visit costs a few euros: IDR 10,000 to enter and IDR 100,000 for a boat for up to three people (2024). This guide gives the season from the village's own records, the reason the sharks come so close, the rules, and the way there. Every figure names its source.

When the whale sharks come

The village's monitoring group has noted every day with sharks since 2016. A 2025 study printed its calendar (HAYATI Journal of Biosciences). These are the days with whale sharks each year:

From 2016 to 2019, some months had no sharks at all. From 2020 to 2023, every month had some. The most days with sharks fall from May to August.

A 2024 study of the years 2019 to 2022 found the most sharks in June (Ilmu Kelautan). In 2021, its best year, 18 sharks came in May and June, and 12 were there on one day, 16 June 2021. In a field study from February to May 2024, the sharks came on 70 of 78 days, more often in the morning (HAYATI, 2025).

They can also leave. In May 2024, two orcas came into the bay, and the five young sharks at Botubarani left. Satellite tags placed them off Biluhu, west of Gorontalo (ANTARA and CNN Indonesia, 29 May 2024). By July 2024 the village saw sharks every day again (CNBC Indonesia, September 2024).

For 2025 and 2026 no monthly counts are published. In May 2026 the site's managers said they see one to eight sharks a day. In September 2026, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo began a one-year study of when the sharks come.

Why they come so close to the shore

A shrimp-processing plant stands by the beach. In 2016, its waste was suspected of drawing the sharks in (Mongabay Indonesia). WWF-Indonesia wrote in 2017 that this needs more study.

People also feed them. Boatmen and villagers threw shrimp heads to the sharks in 2016 and 2018. In 2024, the site sold bags of feed at IDR 20,000, and its boat packages included feeding (CNBC Indonesia).

Officials have asked for the feeding to stop. The head of the provincial fisheries office said so in 2016. In 2020, the government's marine office in Makassar (BPSPL) wrote that feeding had changed the sharks' behaviour, and advised strongly against it. Feeding from boats also brings the sharks' mouths to the surface, where boats hit them. In 2016, more than half of the sharks had wounds from collisions.

Whale sharks are fully protected in Indonesia, and Botubarani lies inside the Gorontalo Bay coastal park, set up in 2023.

How a visit works

These are the prices and hours CNBC Indonesia found in September 2024:

• Entry: IDR 10,000 for an adult (about €0.50), IDR 5,000 for a child, at the blue ticket counter at boat base IV.
• A boat: IDR 100,000 (about €5) for up to three people, with a boatman and life jackets.
• Snorkelling: IDR 35,000, and IDR 50,000 for the gear.
• Diving: IDR 60,000 a person without gear. You need a diving licence.
• Hours: every day 06:00 to 11:30 and 12:30 to 17:00. On Fridays 06:00 to 10:00 and 13:00 to 17:00.

The village's page on the Ministry of Tourism's site lists other prices, with no date. Ask at the counter on the day.

The rules

• Do not touch the sharks. The managers forbid it.
• Do not use a flash. The managers forbid it: the sharks' eyes are sensitive to light.
• Do not feed them, even when feed is on sale. Officials have asked for the feeding to stop.
• Keep your distance in the water, and give the sharks room to leave.
• Go early. The sharks come more often in the morning.

When can you see whale sharks in Gorontalo? In most months. At Botubarani, 20 to 30 minutes east of Gorontalo city, the village's monitoring group has seen whale sharks in every month since 2020, most often from May to August and in the morning. In May 2024 they left for a few weeks after two orcas came. In 2024, entry cost IDR 10,000 and a boat for up to three people IDR 100,000.

Getting there

Botubarani is on the Trans-Sulawesi road, 20 to 30 minutes east of Gorontalo city. Our Gorontalo to Botubarani route gives the distance and drive time. Gorontalo's airport is Djalaluddin (GTO).

Stay in Gorontalo: see the places to stay in Gorontalo and the tour operators in Gorontalo. See the weather and waves for Gorontalo before you go.

Sources

• Rahman, Suyasa, Syamsuddin and Pahlevi, Population Structure, Site Fidelity, and Residency Patterns of Whale Sharks in Botubarani Waters, HAYATI Journal of Biosciences 32(4), 2025: the village group's calendar for 2016 to 2023, and the field study of 2024.
• Yasir and others, Seasonal Constellation of Juvenile Whale Sharks in Gorontalo Bay Coastal Park, Ilmu Kelautan 29(2), 20 June 2024.
• CNBC Indonesia, Mengintip serunya berenang bersama hiu paus Sherly di Gorontalo, 8 September 2024.
• CNN Indonesia, Sempat viral, hiu paus ramah Gorontalo menghilang gegara muncul orca, 29 May 2024.
• Mongabay Indonesia, Jangan biarkan nasib hiu paus di Gorontalo merana, 31 May 2016, and Wisata hiu paus di Gorontalo harus utamakan konservasi, 1 September 2020.
• WWF-Indonesia, Another perspective behind the appearance of whale sharks in Gorontalo, 29 August 2017.
• InfoPublik, Tim peneliti UNG pasang alat deteksi, 26 September 2026.
• Jurnal Penelitian Ilmiah Multidisipliner, Peran daya tarik wisata hiu paus Botubarani, 2026: the managers' interview of 2 May 2026.