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secret isles
FAHTHAI
51
E X P L O R E
N
early everyone dreams of discovering a secluded
beach, a secret cave or a hidden lagoon. But
the reality of modern-day travel is that we’ve
pretty much all “been there, done that”. Yet
Ang Thong National Marine Park, which is
located just off Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, offers the
kind of unforgettable experience that gives rise to movies like
The Beach
. In fact, Alex Garland’s novel of the same name,
which was the basis for the film, was inspired by Ang Thong’s
Emerald Lake. The park is a protected archipelago made up of
42 islands that are home to a vast array of rare and exotic flora,
fauna and wildlife. Thanks to waters teeming with fish, lush
tropical rainforests and that much-admired lagoon, it’s not hard
to see why Ang Thong National Marine Park is among Samui’s
leading attractions.
Ang Thong, which is Thai for “Golden Basin”, covers
250km
2
. The area is famed for its steep limestone cliffs that rise
ceremoniously from the sea, some reaching heights of 400m.
Owing to its karst topography – created when layers of bedrock
were eroded to form caves and hidden bodies of water – the
geology is not only striking but also makes the area a haven
for adventurous explorers. There are also evergreen, beech,
limestone and mangrove forests filled with a wealth of exotic
wildlife, including native long-tailed monkeys called langurs,
hairy-nosed otters, lizards, pythons, iguanas and sea eagles.
Marine life, too, thrives in these protected waters, and visitors
may catch a glimpse of turtles, dolphins, pilot whales, whale
sharks, angelfish, butterflyfish, stingrays and even porpoises.
It’s also home to an abundance of tropical flora and fauna,
including the almost-extinct lady’s slipper orchid.
Visitors to Ang Thong National Marine Park can immerse
themselves in the sort of untouched wilderness that is long gone
from Samui itself. It offers the opportunity to see what Thailand
looked like before the onset of mass tourism, overfishing,
overpopulation and modernisation. It’s a place where intrepid
travellers can hike, swim, snorkel, kayak or have a beach picnic
and be surrounded by a seemingly pre-human landscape.
IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES
