Bang Pae and Ton Sai waterfalls are located in the
Khao Phra Thaew National Park
22 km. north of Phuket Town on the way to the airport.
Ton Sai Waterfall
Location: Amphoe Talang
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
Location: Amphoe Talang
Best known now as the site of the
Gibbon Fund 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.
Kathu Sai Waterfall (Nam Tok Kathu)
Location: Amphoe Katu
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 meters 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.
Ton Sai Waterfall
Bang Pae Waterfall
Kathu Sai Waterfall
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 Bang Pae WaterfallOctober 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 suggests 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.
text
