Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Camping is also permitted under casuarinas at Ao Molae and Ao Taloh Waw, where
there are toilet and shower blocks, and on the wild beaches of Ao Son, Ao Makham and
Ao Taloh Udang, where you will need to be self-sufficient. The cost is 30B per person
with your own tent, or you can hire tents for 225B. Camping is also permitted on Ko
Adang and other islands in the park. Note that local monkeys have a habit of going into
tents and destroying or eating everything they find inside - so shut everything tight.
The park authorities run canteens (dishes 40-120B; 7am-2pm & 5-9pm) at Ao Pante Malacca
and Ao Molae. The food is satisfying, but you can find beer only at Ao Molae.
Getting There & Around
Boats connecting Pak Bara and Ko Lipe stop at Ko Tarutao (450B each way, at least four
times daily). Oddly, though, only the 9.30am boat directly from Lipe drops passengers at
Tarutao. The island officially closes from the end of May to 15 September. Regular boats
run from 21 October to the end of May. During the high season, you can also come here
on speedboat day tours from Pak Bara for 2000B, including national park fees, lunch,
drinks and snorkelling.
With a navigable river and plenty of long paved roads, the island lends itself to self-
propulsion: hire a kayak (per hour/day 100/300B) or mountain bike (50/200B) - or if it's
just too darned hot, you can charter a vehicle (per day 600B). Long-tails can be hired for
trips to Ao Taloh Udang (2000B), Ao Taloh Waw (1500B), and Tham Jara-Khe or Ao
Son for around 800B each.
If you're staying at Ao Molae, take a park car (per person 60B) from the jetty at Ao
Pante Malacca.
Ko Lipe
Ko Lipe is this decade's poster child for untamed development in the Thai Islands.
Blessed with two wide white-sand beaches separated by jungled hills and within spitting
distance of protected coral reefs, five or six years ago the island was only spoken about in
secretive whispers. But then the whispers became small talk, which quickly turned into a
roar - you know, the kind generally associated with bulldozers. The biggest losers have
been the 700-strong community of chow lair villagers, whose ancestors had been gifted
Lipe as a home base by King Rama V in 1909, but eventually sold to a Thai developer
with suspected mafia ties in the 1970s. Back in 2009, the big fear was whether or not
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