Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hat Khao Lak is the jumping-off point for the park. The pier is at Thap Lamu, about
10km south of town.
Sights & Activities
Diving & Snorkelling
The Similans offer diving for all levels of experience, at depths from 2m to 30m. There
are rock reefs at
Ko Payu
(Island 7) and dive-throughs at
Hin Pousar
(Elephant Head), with
marine life ranging from tiny plume worms and soft corals to schooling fish and whale
sharks. There are dive sites at each of the six islands north of Ko Miang (Island 4); the
southern part of the park (Islands 1, 2 and 3) is a turtle nesting ground and off-limits to
divers. No facilities for divers exist in the national park itself, so you'll need to take a dive
tour. Agencies in Hat Khao Lak and Phuket book dive trips (three-day live-aboards from
around 15,000B, but you'll pay more to rent gear).
You can hire snorkelling gear (per day 150B) from the park headquarters. Day-tour op-
erators usually visit three or four different snorkelling sites. Plenty of tour agencies in Hat
Khao Lak offer snorkelling-only day/overnight trips (from around 3000/5000B), and the
beach can become positively packed. It's clear that nobody is really monitoring the num-
bers of day trip visitors, to the park's detriment. Some snorkelling outfits go so far as to
feed the fish, which is a big ecological no-no. That would never happen if this place were
a national park! Oh, wait...
Wildlife & Hiking
The forest around the park headquarters on Ko Miang (Island 4) has a couple of walking
trails and some great wildlife. The fabulous Nicobar pigeon, with its wild mane of grey-
green feathers, is common here. Endemic to the islands of the Andaman Sea, it's one of
some 39 bird species in the park. Hairy-legged land crabs and fruit bats (flying foxes) are
relatively easily seen in the forest, as are flying squirrels.
A small
beach track
, with information panels, leads 400m to a tiny, pretty snorkelling bay.
Detouring from the track, the
Viewpoint Trail
- 500m or so of steep scrambling - has panor-
amic vistas from the top. A 500m walk to
Sunset Point
takes you through forest to a smooth
granite platform facing west.
On Ko Similan (Island 8) there's a 2.5km forest hike to a
viewpoint
, and a shorter, steep
scramble off the main beach to the top of
Sail Rock
(aka Balance Rock).
