A few days ago I took a minibus to Soppong, which is basically the caving capital of the world. Ok, maybe not, but this area is home to some of the world’s most exquisite caves. This district has more than 200 caves, including 2 of Thailand’s largest (at 14 km and 8.4 km) and a good number with active streams inside.
I decided to stay at Cave Lodge which is 9 km out of town but near Tham Lod, one of the most popular caves in the area. The Lodge is owned by John Spies, an amazing photographer and cave enthusiast (investigating, discovering, and naming them for 30+ years) . He offers many different treks and adventures to explore the area so I knew I’d be in for a good time. Plus, the Lodge itself was a very accommodating place to stay.
They’re in the process of building another fire pit in a gazebo:
The Lodge walls boast some very interesting info about the area:
This definitely got me pumped up for my next adventure! At 9:30 the next morning, a Belgian couple and I were dropped off on the side of a road for a short hike to Fossil Cave accompanied by our 60-year-old guide, Angkor Wat. Angkor is a small, spritely fellow who I would have pegged at about 45, but I’m slowly learning that Thais age on a different time continuum. Anyway, the 700m passage in Fossil Cave has some amazing formations but is most known for its 280 million-year-old fossilized shells. Um, how do we get in, Angkor?
(left) This glass plate was placed on a stalagmite to collect the newest growth. Angkor said it’s taken 4 years to get that little bit. (right) Mushrooms found deep in the cavern.
(left) These are very fine, like silk thread. Spider webbing? I don’t know. (right) Fossil shells!
After another short hike, we arrived at Waterfall Cave. It’s a 400m stream cave with some low, wet, narrow passageways. There were points where we were crawling on our hands and knees with water up to our neck! This is not for the faint of heart, especially when you find out that you must get in and out of the cave quickly. If you’re caught inside when it starts raining, you’re in big trouble. (Or maybe they just don’t want you looking for a certain ring of power…) It’s worth braving though, because the stream ends at the top of a 30m waterfall! Also, if you listen closely, you can hear Gollum singing and slapping fish onto the rocks. I wish I had photos, but it was just too dark and wet, not to mention time-sensitive.
After this intense adventure, Angkor let us settle down on a bamboo platform with a fantastic view to dry off and enjoy lunch.
Our final stop was Christmas Cave with an expansive cavern and beautiful white formations. That steep bamboo ladder is awfully inviting, isn’t it?
I really didn’t have the time or equipment to take photos that do these caves justice, so check out more of John’s images here. This experience was entirely amazing and I can’t wait to come back and explore some more. Maybe next time I can bring some friends. Any takers?
I decided to stay at Cave Lodge which is 9 km out of town but near Tham Lod, one of the most popular caves in the area. The Lodge is owned by John Spies, an amazing photographer and cave enthusiast (investigating, discovering, and naming them for 30+ years) . He offers many different treks and adventures to explore the area so I knew I’d be in for a good time. Plus, the Lodge itself was a very accommodating place to stay.
They’re in the process of building another fire pit in a gazebo:
The Lodge walls boast some very interesting info about the area:
- 8 caves [in this district] are the habitat of eyeless troglobitic fish. These tiny fish belong to 2 genus. One “cryptotora” is a new discovery and is one of the world’s most specialised subterranean fish. It uses its fins like feet to “walk up” waterfalls. It has no eyes, scales or skin pigment. It is found in 2 caves in Pang Mapha and nowhere else in the world. These fish were featured in the BBC Planet Earth series…[John] took them to the cave. [OMG ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THAT’S AMAZING!]
- Archeologically, the district is very important. There are 50+ rock-shelter sites with evidence of prehistoric use in the stone age. 12 sites have rock art, approx. 5-15,000 years old. Almost 90 caves contain the remains of prehistoric log coffins. One cave has a 3500 year old burial urn with human bones cemented into the flowstone cave floor. Another has a human skull cemented by limestone.
- Some caves are important habitats for cave adapted fauna. Tham Lod has an extraordinary number of resident swifts—approx 300,000. Tham Pha Daeng has an amazing evening bat flight as many 100s of 1,000s of tiny bats fly out in an unbroken stream. Other common cave fauna include racer snakes (Tham Lod has many), tiny troglobitic insects and pinhead-sized micro snails.
- Some caves, such as Tham Lod, are run by local communities as tourist attractions and have become very important for the village economy. The income from guiding and rafting has helped to reduce the clearing of forests for fields and helped the locals view the caves as precious resources worth respecting and protecting.
This definitely got me pumped up for my next adventure! At 9:30 the next morning, a Belgian couple and I were dropped off on the side of a road for a short hike to Fossil Cave accompanied by our 60-year-old guide, Angkor Wat. Angkor is a small, spritely fellow who I would have pegged at about 45, but I’m slowly learning that Thais age on a different time continuum. Anyway, the 700m passage in Fossil Cave has some amazing formations but is most known for its 280 million-year-old fossilized shells. Um, how do we get in, Angkor?
(left) This glass plate was placed on a stalagmite to collect the newest growth. Angkor said it’s taken 4 years to get that little bit. (right) Mushrooms found deep in the cavern.
(left) These are very fine, like silk thread. Spider webbing? I don’t know. (right) Fossil shells!
After another short hike, we arrived at Waterfall Cave. It’s a 400m stream cave with some low, wet, narrow passageways. There were points where we were crawling on our hands and knees with water up to our neck! This is not for the faint of heart, especially when you find out that you must get in and out of the cave quickly. If you’re caught inside when it starts raining, you’re in big trouble. (Or maybe they just don’t want you looking for a certain ring of power…) It’s worth braving though, because the stream ends at the top of a 30m waterfall! Also, if you listen closely, you can hear Gollum singing and slapping fish onto the rocks. I wish I had photos, but it was just too dark and wet, not to mention time-sensitive.
After this intense adventure, Angkor let us settle down on a bamboo platform with a fantastic view to dry off and enjoy lunch.
Our final stop was Christmas Cave with an expansive cavern and beautiful white formations. That steep bamboo ladder is awfully inviting, isn’t it?
I really didn’t have the time or equipment to take photos that do these caves justice, so check out more of John’s images here. This experience was entirely amazing and I can’t wait to come back and explore some more. Maybe next time I can bring some friends. Any takers?
No comments:
Post a Comment