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Believe it or not - Tabu Island was created because of anger. There is a local story that said : once upon a time,
there was a fisherman who normally caught a lot of fish everyday for selling at the market. One day, as usual,
he went to net, but it was not his day. He threw his net many, many times but got nothing.
With great patience he tried again and again, but still got nothing.
Consequently, he stared at the water looking for a waving pattern, he then threw his net again with a lot of hope.
He kept his eyes fixed on the net when pulling it up, hoping some fish would be caught.
Unfortunately he caught nothing but a nail. He became angry and threw the nail into the sea. Again
with great concentration, he kept his eyes on the sea surface and tried his net once more.
This time he threw his net as wide as he could with great hope of getting some fish. Then he pulled
it up slowly as it was very heavy. He pulled it up with great care. At the end of the net he found
the only thing caught was the same nail.
He was so angry, he grasped his long knife and cut the nail with all his strength. The nail was cut
in half. The nail was catapulted away and driven into the bottom of the sea standing up as you see it today.
The area around Phang-nga bay has a long history and is famed for its nature
and beauty, especially Ko Tabu, Ko Panyi, Tham Lot and Khao Phing Kan. The rock art in this area
has always been an important attraction.
The popularity of the Phang Nga bay area
led to the designation of the current area as a forest park
in 1974, this was named Sri Phang Nga Forest Park. The Royal
Forest Department then began to survey the area and realised
its heritage should be further protected by increasing the areas
status to a national park. Ao Phangnga National Park was created by Royal
decree and gazetted under proclamation number 98 section 64
of 29th April 1981. The park created covers an area of 400 sq.km,
protects the largest area of this original primary mangrove forest remaining in
Thailand. The park stretches from Muang
Phangnga District to the coast at
Takua Tung District. Over 80 % of the park is covered by
the Andaman sea, with over 42 large and small islands, including
such as Phra At Tao Island, Maprow Island, Boi Noi Island, Boi
Yai Island, Rayaring Island, Phanak Island, Hong Island, Panyi
Island, Phing Kan Island etc.
Topography
The topography of the park is strongly influenced by several faults, particularly the north-east
trending of the Klong Marui fault. This offsets the eastern terrain from the central mountain ranges
by a right lateral movement. This fault movement resulted in the formation of a large graben parallel
to the fault. This graben is marked by the present bay.
The high ground is produced by massive limestone blocks displaying classic karst scenery.
These blocks extend southward into Phangnga bay where they form islands with
vertical cliffs, mainly orientated in a north-south direction. Phang-nga bay slopes seaward
and is filled with tidal sediments. The bay itself is composed of large and small tidal channels
which originally connected with the fluvial system of the mainland.
The main tidal channels for instance Klong Ko Panyi, Khlong
Phangnga, Klong Bang Toi and Klong Bo Saen all run in a north-south
direction. They consist of several tidal creeks or tidal channel
distributaries. Most of the tidal channels are meandering with
well developed point bars. Mangrove forests grow around the
whole area of the Phangnga bay, they differ in species depending
on elevation and relative tidal range. The landward boundary
of Phangnga bay is marked by a gentle erosion slope, limestone
cliffs and transition forest between mangrove and upland forest
which extends beyond the bay margin.
Climate
The climate experienced in Phangnga Bay is tropical marine,
with characteristic high rainfall and year round high temperatures.
Thirty year records of Metrological Department of Thailand (1961-1990)
collected at
Takua Pa weather station indicate
that rain is abundant in the south-west monsoon season from May to October. The average
annual rainfall is 3,560.5 mm. and the average total rain days
is 189 days. The temperature fluctuates between 23๐C and 32๐C.
The average relative humidity is 83%.
Flora and Fauna
Vegetations
Plant society in the Phang Nga Bay National Park could be divided into 3 types as follows :
Mangrove Forest Mangrove forest in the limestone
mountain which found a lot of important plants in mangrove forest
upto 12 types such as Rhizophora mucronata, Rhizophora apiculata,
Xylocarpus granatum, etc. In addition, also found sea holly
and a lot of Acrostichum aureum which growing up in the bank
area or mud soil. Sea cyad is found a little bit in only the
oponed area or destroyed area.
Mangrove forest in the cell and quatsite rock mountain which
found the 7 important types of plants such as Rhizophora mucronata,
Rhizophora apiculata, Xylocarpus granatum, etc. The other important
low level plant found in this area is the dense growing sea
holly. Mangrove forest in sandstone mountain which found a little
bit of important plants because this area is very far from the
main land. The 5 types of important plants here are Rhizophora
apiculata, Sonneratia ovata, Aegialites rotundifolia, Xylocarpus
granatum and Melaleuca leucadendron. In addition, samed would
be found in the area adjacent to land forest which has the lower salt level.
Land Forest, Defined as the evergreen forest which is rainforest and classified
as follows : Land forest on the limestone mountain which could
be found throughout the national park, there are 2 types : the
first is the forest on the plain land and the forest on the area so called Karst which is a valley area.
They consist of the important plants such as Aporosa aurea, Hopea ferrea Heim.
and Cassia alata Linn. Also, there are many important low level plants such as Fishtail palm.
The second is the forest on the moisture high area on a limestone mountain which consists of
small and short plants such as Hopea ferrea Heim., Water wisteria, etc.
Land forest on the cell quatsite rock mountain which found a lot
of plants growing in the foot of mountain with very high moisture,
we can find yang na woods scattering
throughout this area and also find other important plants such
as Schima wallichii (DC.) Korth., Bruguira gymnorrhiza, Carallia
brachiata (Lour.) Merr., etc. while the low level plants found
here are Bambusa arundinacea Wild, Glass, etc. Land forest on
a sandstone would be found on the slope area which has a lot
of tree and not too high. There is a little bit of the low level
plants here, most of them are grasses because of infertile soil.
The important plants are Bruguira gymnorrhiza, Sesban, etc.
Aquatic Plant Society
Could be classified as Padina, red alge, Halimida and including
a lot of sea grass and plant planton. Wild Animals, From survey
could be classified as follows :
Mammal animals, from survey could be found up to 27 types
such as Macaca irus, Semnopithecus obscurus, Hylobates lar,
etc. In addition, also found the important aquatic mammal animals
such as Infonesian white dolphin, Malayan dolphin, Finless porpoise.
Birds have been found totally 120 types, the important ones are Little heron,
Pacific reef-egret, Little egret, etc.
Reptiles have been found totally 26 types such as Siamese box terrapin,
Pseudoxenodon macrops (Blyth), etc.
Amphibians have been found 4 types such as Rana cancrivora, R. limnocharis,
Rhaco phorusleucomystax, etc.
Fishes consists of squat-headed hammer head shark sphyrna tudes, freshwater
ater stingray dasyatis bleekeri, Moray eel, Puffer fish and
many kinds of fish which live in the coral such as Butterfly
fish and the economical valued fishes such as short-bodied mackerel.
Marine Life
Marine life totals over 80 species: 24 species of fish, 14 species of shrimp, 15 species of crabs
and another 16 species of manta-rays, sharks, and gamefish. In the bay, you will find blue crabs,
swimming crabs, mud-skippers, humpback shrimp, mud-lobsters, pomfrets, jewfish, sole, anchovies,
scad, rock cod, as well as rainbow cuttlefish, soft cuttlefish, musk crab, mackerels, spinefoots,
groupers, black sea cucumbers, brain coral, staghorn coral and lastly flowerlike soft coral.
The bay of Ao Phangnga National Park has a wealth of plankton, these are small plant and animal
organisms that float at the water surface and serve as food for many species. The presence of
large amounts of plankton is due to the shallowness of the water, rich nutrient supply and the higher
temperatures found in the bay area. As the food resource is high, this makes a good nursery area for
mothers of many species, which enter the bay to rear their young before returning to deeper water
Attractions
Panyee Island
Panyi Island, actually, is the fisherman village, built on the area which can be flooded
by the sea, so their houses were leveraged to the most high
level over the highest level of the sea. This village is located
outside the national park. Panyi people are the original fishermen,
living with the shallow fishery by using floating bag-net, cockle
farming, fish farming in cage, At present, Koh Panyi is the
community for serving tourist and some of buildings had been
modified to be restaurants and souvenir shops.
Khao Phing Kan
Named so because of its nature of being split into two halves. The smaller rock slid down,
with its foundation stuck under the ground and the upper parts still leaning against each other.
Behind the mountain is a superb scenery. Looking into the sea one finds Khao Tapu, a nail-shaped island,
a solitary pillar in the sea. It is the most remarkable attraction of Ao Phang-nga National Park.
Khao Khian
Khao Khianis on the way to Panyi Island. On the cliff which stands above the sea, there are pre-historic paintings
featuring various kinds of animals. A study by the Department of
Fine Arts has indicated that these paintings are over 3,000 years
old. They are assumed to have been painted by seamen who use this
place to escape from the monsoon.
Tham Lot
Tham Lot is a lofty limestone cave with a giant hollow
whereby boats can pass through. In a hollow, there are numerous stalactite formations on its ceiling,
beyond the hollow is a beautiful sight of the mangrove forest.
Khao Machu
A striking appearance rock formation is located on the way to Ko Panyi. It resembles a dog;
its head, body, with a bushy tail.
Panak Island
Panak Island is a beautiful island with caves that house stalactite and stalagmite formations
as well as small cascade, which flows onto several tiers.
Activities - Cave/Geological Touring - Canoeing-Kayaking Top
Hong Island
with big and small mountains. Sailing to this island gives you a feeling of being surrounded in a large hall
with two doors. It will give you an immense feeling of the power of nature's creation.
Talu Nok Island
Talu Nok Island is another one of limestone mountain. It has the hollow cave, similar the big through cave but smaller one.
A boat can sail through it as well. There is a once famous site in Ao Phang-Nga National Park for sea canoe.
Tapu Island and Phing Kan Island
Tapu Island and Phing Kan Island is the main tourist attraction which all tourist boat must stop for visiting and take a photograph .
The front side of Tapu Island is very well-known by foreigners because it is one scene of the James Bond movie.
Lod Cave
Lod Cave is a big cave and length about 50 meters, lies in
Takua Thung District. There are beautiful stalactites and
stalagmites inside the grotto. During way, you can see a perfect mangrove forest in
Thailand.
Facilities
Accommodation - Camping site/Tent :
Ao Phang nga National Park has 8
bungolows for tourists
Ao Phang Nga National Park has a tent camping area, and has tents for rent,
Fee Entrance to National Park 20 Baht/person/day.
for 2 person price 100 Baht / day
for 3 - 5 persons price 200 Baht / day
or 8 - 10 persons price 300 Baht / day
Food services - Docking , Boat Tie-up , Wharf :
Ao Phang Nga National Park has a restaurant to service tourists at the headquarter and Koh La Va Yai .
3 ports at Barn Service boat for traveling to the hollow cave, Khao Khian, Khao Mha Chu, Ko Pan
Yee, Khao Ta Lu, Khao Phing Kan, Khao Tapu.
Total charge for 12 persons at baht 650-800.- barge for 60 persons at 2,500-3,500. baht
Visitor center :
Ao Phang Nga National Park has a visitor center and nature education center at Barn Ta darn Tambon
Koh Panyee Amphoe Muang , and a conference room for
about 50 persons, including multimedia tools and exhibition for tourists.
Others :
One walk namely ' The trail of mud - beach nature studies'. It is about 1.5 kilometers long.
Getting There
By Car:
Once in Phang nga Town , go past on highway heading to
Takua Thung District, pass the provincial Hall.
About after 850 kilometers, at three junction, you turn left about 2.5 kilometers.
By Air:
Takes a plane toPhuket International Airport,
for about 1 hours 15 minutes, and then connect a car for 61 kilometers
which takes time about 45 minutes to Phang Nga town. After that
takes a minibus, Phang Nga-Tha Dan route, for 9 kilometers and
will find it priot to Ta Dan 300 meters.
By Ship:
Rent a boat or contact tour agent to handle for you.
By Train:
Takes a train from Houlampong in Bangkok
to Poonpin District at Suratthani
and connects to a car for about 160 kilometers (3 hours) to Phang nga town.
By Bus:
Takes an air-condition bus for 441 Baht and the V.I.P bus for
685 Baht about 850 kilometers from Bangkok to Phang nga and
then to the bus station Phang nga, you takes a minibus, Phang
nga-Tha Darn route for 9 kilometers and for 20 Baht per person.
Contact & Source
Ao Phang-nga National Park
80, Mu 1, Ban Tha Dan, Ko Panyi Sub-district, Amphur Muang Phang Nga Phangnga Thailand 82000
Tel. 0 7641 1136, 0 7641 2188 Fax 0 7641 3791 E-mail reserve@dnp.go.th
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