Blogs from Ko Tarutao Marine NP, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

March 27th, Though breath taking, Koh Tarotao wasn’t exactly what I had made it up to be in my mind. As avid campers the research we had done on this island made it sound like it was right up our alley. Koh Tarotao is a marine national park as far south in Thailand has one can go without ending up in Malaysia. It is the most untouched island in all of Thailand covered mainly in dense old growth, swamps and limestone cliffs. In 1938-1948 it was home to more than 3,000 criminals as a secluded island prison where men were left to roam amongst the dangers of the island taking to piracy or dieing of malaria. The island now is mainly shut down except for the western side where camping and hiking is permitted. When researching ... read more

Jessika and I took a very nice walk to Ao Son today. It is the next beach down from Ao Molae that has a restaurant as well as camping and basic lodging, 4 km further down the coastline. We got an early start at around 7:15 to beat the heat of the day, which never truly showed up, due to a light cloud cover that hung around through the day. It was nice to be able to move around and be active without dripping in sweat. We heard many birds and insects along the walk through the jungle, and spotted some crab eating macaques and a few spectacled langurs leaping about in the lush canopy overhead. The beach was a long strip of beautiful white sand squeezed from either side by thick green jungle and clear, ... read more

I could wax lyrical for hours about the tropical idyll that is the island of Koh Tarutao. Former prison and setting of TV's 'Survivor' (2002), this island is a place where we homo sapiens are in the minority. As we pitched our tent on the white sandy beach of Ao Pante, mike and I felt like tiny solitary specks amongst the craggy hillsides, dense jungle, miles of empty beach and tranquil turquoise seas. We had found all we had been looking for...nature, solitude, beauty and not a bar, Tuk-tuk, hawker or neon light in sight. Bliss. Because tarutao is a protected National Marine Park, mankind has not been able to spread his grubby paws too wide, which means flora and fauna are abundant and diverse on this unspoilt island. We stayed a week in all so ... read more

The archetypal image of Thailand is of deserted, white sand beaches and coral filled seas. Unfortunately due to the number of tourists (approx 14m per year) these beaches are no longer deserted and every man and his dog is trying to get there. We decided to buck the east coast trend and instead hit the far west Andaman coast area. As we arrived at the harbour our dreams of an unfound island paradise were dashed as hordes of fluorescent white tourists scrambled to get on their speedboat. There are however more islands than Tarutao such as Koh Lipe, an island newly opened to private development and marketed as the 'Maldives of Thailand', that the majority seemed to be heading to. This was reinforced as our ferry to Tarutao was actually a supply boat for the hotels ... read more

The options were simple: a tent or a sparse, over-priced room. We chose the tent (surpriseeeeeeee). A short walk from Koh Tarutao’s ranger station revealed 4 more tents set up under the shade of a few trees in a designated camping area. We chose to ignore the designated area (surpriseeee) choosing instead to pitch tent amidst a cluster of trees a good way upwind. Like seasoned troopers, we laid out the tent, fitted the ‘rafters’ and carefully tied down. Then we strung up our hammocks and stood back surveying our handiwork and thinking “…brilliant”. And ‘brilliant’ it was. We were set up just off the edge of a long, curving white sand beach. The entrance of our abode opened up to luscious views and cooling winds from the turquoise Andaman Sea. A sizeable piece of driftwood ... read more