Thung Kha Caves

Location: 9.736685, 99.030600

Thung Kha Cave is 97km south of Chumphon Town. Travel down Highway 41 for 89km until you reach the Lamae crossroads. Here turn right onto road 4002 and after 8km take another right, opposite a gas station.

The cave is 500m up this road on your right and is well signposted.

A made pathway leads you round to the caves on the eastern side of the hill.

The first cave's entrance is at the bottom of a series of steps. Sadly when we visited in December 2018 we found the cave flooded.

The 'Caves & Caving in Thailand' website has referenced this as Cave No. CP0147.

However on a second visit in June 2019 we were lucky to find the water had gone.

If you follow the lighting poles to what looks like the end of the cave you will find an opening to a further cavern. In this cavern we found passageways going in 3 different directions. Sadly this part of the cave was very muddy/slippery so it was only a cursory look.

I guess this you would classify as a cave in the making, where the water is still washing out the soft stones and earth. No formations of note were found.

When you venture back to the entrance chamber, on the left (looking into the cave) you will find a passageway at a slightly higher level. You will see lighting poles in the passageway and someone has marked on the rock the way to go.

You have two options for going down this passageway. You can follow the lighting cable over a large fallen bolder or do as we did crawl underneath it. Less than half a meter headroom so be careful. Worth the effort as you will come to a chamber with lots of formations and this is where the bats live.

Amazing contrast to the other section of the cave.

When you exit the cave continue round to the left on the made path and you will find another cave at a higher level.

This is a much smaller cave but the walls have amazing staining.

The 'Caves & Caving in Thailand' website has referenced this as Cave No. CP0148.

Found out about the cave from an online news report - ch3thailand. 

Scenic Spot

Even if you are not too interested in the cave the area is rather scenic. First as you walk round on your left you see a massive tree perched on top of a rock outcrop. The tree roots form a curtain down the rock face to the pond at it's base.

Trailing roots and vines are everywhere.

More photos here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/HRLyerv7QHcE7owJ8