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Bang Pae and
Ton Sai waterfalls are located in the
Khao Phra Thaeo National
Park 22km north of Phuket Town on the way to the airport.

Ton Sai Waterfall
A small falls over
which pours a great volume of water during the rainy season. The
trees, watercourses, and pools nearby provide one of Phuket's
loveliest scenes. The park headquarter and a small restaurant
with an excellent view are also at Ton Sai. Located near Thalang
Town, 22 km. from Phuket Town. Getting there: At Thalang town take the road running east
at the traffic light. Look for a sign to Kao Pra town.
Bang
Pae Waterfall
Best
known now as the site of the
Gibbon Fund, a project to return
domesticated gibbons to the forest, Bang Pae is a small
waterfall with a shady forest and thick foliage surrounding.
The most beautiful part of
this waterfall is the cliff, where the water runs through, with
a height of 16.7m cascading down to a stream for the distance of
about 524 m. There are some pools where people can go swimming
along the stream. Many wild animals
such as wild boars, porcupines, mouse deer, crabs, birds and
many insects usually come out to feed in the shady and fertile
area of the waterfall. A little dam
was built downstream for irrigation and agricultural purpose.
This shows that all life is able to benefit from this waterfall.
Note: The walk can be difficult and people with
handicaps should not go there.
What to see:
Birds:
You
may see various kinds of birds feeding around, on the trees or
on the ground. Two types of birds, native and migratory birds,
are found in this area. The native ones can be found year round
building their nests to lay eggs. These types of birds include
Asian Fairy-bluebird, Green Leafbird, Red-Billed Malkoha,
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Brahminy Kite. The migratory
birds, such as Forest wagtail, Blue-Winged Pitta, Siberian Blue
Robin, do not nest here and are only
found from October to March.
Crabs:
If you carefully look in the little stream or
puddles while you are on the walking through the forest, you
will see a tiny reddish creature with two little claws, one a
little bit bigger than the other. Its body is about 1-2
centimeters wide with long legs, which enable it to move
quickly. This animal is a crab, with the scientific name
Phricotelphusa limula The Phricotelphusa crab lives underneath the stones in the
shallow part of a fast-running stream. Crabs only crawl to
either their left or right side and have very sensitive eyes
that make them quickly crawl to their stone-shelter after being
disturbed. Like many other crustaceans, crabs are often
omnivorous and act as scavengers, helping to clean up the
ecosystem.
Squirrels:
There are various kinds of Squirrels but ones that are easily
seen are Malayan Black Giant Squirrels, the
Red-Bellied
Squirrels and the Grey-Bellied Squirrels (Black-Tip Tail Squirrel).
The Malayan Black Giant Squirrels are the largest squirrel you
will see. They have a black head and yellowish orange hair on
their cheeks, neck and chin. The hair on their backs is black in
colour. As the name sugggests the Red-Bellied Squirrels have red
or brown hair on their bellies. The rest of their body and tail
hair is brownish grey or brown and they have one big black band
on their back. Greenish brown and black striped bushy tails are
the characteristics of the Grey-Bellied Squirrel.
Palm
Lang Kaw
(Kerriodoxa):
The International Union for
the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it as the world's most
endangered palm species. In Thai it is called Palm Lang Khao, Tang Lang Khao or Palm Jao
Muang Talang. It is an endemic species to Thailand that is very
rare and deforestation means it is now endangered.
Getting there: To get there go to the Two Heroines
Monument and take the road running east, the Pakhlok Rd., 7 km. to Bang Pae. Look for the
posted signs.

Kathu Sai Waterfall
(Nam Tok Kathu)
The Kathu
Waterfall is flowing down on the side of Kao Kamala (Kamala
mountain) in the rainy forest. The area was upgraded
in a way to offer some facilities to go up to the mountain with
a staircase of a level about 130 m. During the rainy season (from July to December), the waterfall
is more active. During the high season, there's less of water
flowing down, but the coolness of the place is still to be
enjoyed. Already on the first level you can be sitting in the
shadow and have a view over the waterfall. At the second level,
some stairs up, you can find nice places adjusted with tables
and benches beside the river. On the mountain there are little
paths everywhere and it's a pleasant and not too risky way to
discover the rainy forest, a beautiful and preserved area.
Getting there: Take the main highway from
Patong to
Phuket town and turn left to the road to Kathu at the first
intersection. Follow the road for app. 1.5km, turn left again at
the signpost and after 2km you will be at the falls.
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