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26-616: The Khao Luang mountain is the highest summit of a massif of several hills with steep slopes. It is part of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Range , a subrange of the Tenasserim Hills . Geologically this mountain formation consists of a granite core under loose soils. On steep slopes, the soil covering the mountains can cause landslides when saturated with water. Some of the forests of the area were felled to give way to rubber plantations . Khao Luang National Park

52-471: A diving site. The island is an important breeding ground for hawksbill and green turtles . The development of tourism has negatively impacted the health of these grounds, but a breeding programme organised in 2004 by the Royal Thai Navy and KT-DOC, a coalition of local scuba diving centres, has reintroduced hundreds of juvenile turtles to the island's ecosystem. Chumpon Pinnacle, a dive site to

78-413: A growing number of climbers. Ko Tao has a little over 25 dive sites to explore. Ko Tao is less developed than Ko Samui and Ko Pha-ngan , but has become increasingly popular especially with the mid-20s backpacker crowd in search of relatively inexpensive scuba diving certification. For the past two years the demographics of the island have seen an age increase, with many of the visitors who first visited

104-400: Is Sairee on the west coast, which has a white sandy beach of 1.7 km interrupted only by a few huge boulders and a scattering of medium budget resorts and restaurants. Chalok Baan Khao, to the south of the island, is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative for those wishing to escape the crowds. A great many granite boulders, both in the forests and on the beaches of Ko Tao, attract

130-545: Is a mountain range on the Malay Peninsula in southern Thailand , running in a north–south direction. This mountain chain is also sometimes named Banthat Range (ทิวเขาบรรทัด), a name which is however also used to refer to the Chanthaburi mountain range . The main range of the peninsula begins along the east coast at about 10° 05′ north latitude on Ko Tao . It continues through Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui to

156-495: Is a subdistrict ( tambon ) of Ko Pha-ngan District ( amphoe ) of Surat Thani Province . As of 2006 , its official population was 1,382. The main settlement is Ban Mae Haad. The economy of the island is almost exclusively centered on tourism, especially scuba diving . Scuba diving is extremely popular in Ko Tao due to clear visibility, inexpensive pricing, warm water, and the range of sealife to be seen. Before being settled

182-439: Is improving. As one of the world's most popular diving destinations, more attention is being focused on the negative effects of diving on coral reef health around Ko Tao. Natural factors combined with over-use of some areas has led to an increase in the abundance of corallivores such as Drupella snails and the crown-of-thorns starfish around the island in recent years. In 2012, a Marine Zoning and Regulations Master Plan

208-467: Is named after Khao Luang mountain. The park is mountainous with many tall peaks along its range. The park covers an area of 356,250 rai ~ 570 square kilometres (220 sq mi) with a large variety of wildlife and habitats, including mountains, forests, rivers and waterfalls. The park was designated a national park on 18 December 1974, becoming the ninth national park in Thailand. The headquarters of

234-423: The author describes the people and wildlife of Bardia. According to the account there were farms and even cows in a village on the bay lying on the west side of the island. The book includes a fanciful illustration of "Bardia" showing huts and palm trees. Joseph Huddart in 1801 included these directions for navigating the islands, "To the N.W. by N are two islands of about the same height as Poolo Carnom [Ko Samui];

260-473: The continuing education of locals by the dive community. El Niño weather patterns caused a warming of the waters which resulted in the loss of a great deal of the shallow corals near the island. Since then, the recovery has been swift and dramatic. Ko Tao now offers some of the best scuba diving in the Gulf of Thailand. And with help by the island conservation group, Save Koh Tao, the island's environmental outlook

286-495: The east coast mainland, east of Bandon Bay , and parallels the coast all the way into Malayan territory. The mountains are named after the town Nakhon Si Thammarat , located east of the range. The highest elevation is the 1835 m high Khao Luang . This mountain range is a part of the Tenasserim Hills system. It begins to the east of the Phuket Range , which runs in the same direction about 60 km further west. Between

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312-521: The east coast of the Malay Peninsula . The most northerly and smallest of these islands is marked P. Bardia, the name it had until the early 1900s. The best map example is by John Thornton from The English Pilot, the Third Book , dated 1701, but the specific map of the Gulf of Siam is dated around 1677. Also see maps of the East Indies by William Dampier c.1697. By modern standards of accuracy,

338-401: The first, called SANCORY [Ko Pha-ngan], is 7 leagues from Carnom; the other...,named BARDA, or Bardia [Ko Tao], is 7½ leagues from Sancory." (A league is approximately 3 nautical miles or 5.5 km.) On 18 June 1899, King Chulalongkorn visited Ko Tao and left as evidence his monogram on a huge boulder at Jor Por Ror Bay next to Sairee Beach. This place is still worshiped today. In 1933,

364-479: The heaviest rainfall between October and December. Hot season is between February and April. Over the year the park receives approximately 3,500–4,500 millimetres (140–180 in) of rainfall. The highest temperatures range from 28 °C (82 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F) and the lowest from 15 °C (59 °F) to 15 °C (59 °F)in January and February. Moist evergreen forest, which can be found in

390-402: The island over ten years ago now returning with their families. A series of tourist deaths – including murder and alleged suicide – particularly since 2014, has prompted some to advise that tourists avoid visiting Ko Tao, with some British tabloids labelling it as "Death Island". Although tourist arrivals to the island dropped in the months immediately following the murders in 2014, there

416-403: The island started to be used as a political prison. In 1947 Khuang Abhaiwongse , prime minister at that time, pleaded and received a royal pardon for all prisoners on the island. Everybody was taken to the shore of Surat Thani and Ko Tao was abandoned again. In the 1980s, overseas travellers began to visit Ko Tao and it quickly became a popular destination. In the 1990s the island became known as

442-440: The island would be occasionally visited by fishermen from neighbouring islands looking for shelter in a storm or just resting before continuing on their journeys. It would appear from old maps and descriptions that this island was known by European cartographers and mariners as "Pulo Bardia", indicating that it was first settled by Malayo-Polynesian peoples. The old maps show a chain of three islands aligned north–south and lying off

468-400: The island, resulting in a 45,000 tonne garbage mountain while the island's waste incinerator sits idle. Ko Tao is one of Thailand's most popular tourist spots. The Bangkok Post has cited its annual visitor count as 132,000 and three million. The island is well known for scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering. The most popular place for tourists

494-488: The islands are poorly placed on early maps. Seventeenth century marine navigation and cartography used the " backstaff " which, in this area, was accurate to one degree of longitude, or around 60 nautical miles. The Edinburgh Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary published in 1827 also mentions the island and provides a geographical position. In his 1852 book titled Narrative of a Residence in Siam. by Frederick Arthur Neale,

520-551: The mountain range. This Thailand location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ko Tao Ko Tao ( Thai : เกาะเต่า , pronounced [kɔ̀ʔ tàw] , lit.   ' 'Turtle Island' ' ) is an island in Thailand and is part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand . It covers an area of about 21 km (8 sq mi). Administratively it

546-510: The park is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat . The mountainous park is a watershed for the Tapee River , Pakphanang River , Klai River and Pakpoon River , Nopphitam . Due to the park's location on the peninsula, it receives monsoons from both the east and the west coasts and means that the park receives rain all year and also cold weather. There are two main seasons. Rainy season from May to January with

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572-699: The ranges there are isolated peaks, the highest of which is 1,350 m high Khao Phanom Bencha . To the south it is continued by the Sankalakhiri Range . Several smaller rivers originate in the mountain range, the Tapi River is the largest by far. Another relatively large river is the Trang River . The range is in the Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests ecoregion . Several national parks are located in

598-1271: The valleys and in damp gullies and riversides. Hill evergreen forest and lower montaine forest. Over 300 species of orchids can be seen within the park. Khao Luang is the only place in the world where some of these can be found. There are no fewer than 327 species of animals living in Khao Luang, some of these include; Malayan tapir , Sumatran serow , pig-tailed macaque , Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine , clouded leopard , barking deer , sambar deer , binturong , panther , tiger , wild pig , banded langur and spectacled langur . Bird species include black eagle , red junglefowl , great argus pheasant , crested fireback pheasant , white-crowned hornbill , bushy-crested hornbill , great pied hornbill , helmeted hornbill , red-crowned barbet and sunbirds . There are other mountains called "Khao Luang" at other locations in Thailand: Nakhon Si Thammarat Range The Nakhon Si Thammarat Range ( Thai : ทิวเขานครศรีธรรมราช , RTGS :  Thio Khao Nakhon Si Thammarat , [tʰīw kʰǎw ná(ʔ).kʰɔ̄ːn sǐː tʰām.mā.râːt] )

624-417: The west of the island has a reputation for divers in search of both whale sharks and bull sharks. However, because of warmer water temperatures over the last year a great number of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters. The island is host to over 130 species of hard corals, and over 223 species of reef fishes belonging to 53 families. Diving conditions have improved dramatically in the past few years with

650-455: Was developed for the island and subsequently become local law, but the positive effects of increased management have yet to be realized. Tourism and development on the island has grown steadily for the last several decades, with public infrastructure often lagging far behind. Shortages of electricity and fresh water are common, and both solid and liquid waste management is inadequate. About 42,000 tonnes of solid waste are produced annually on

676-444: Was little lasting effect. To serve the tourist population, some 3,000–5,000 Burmese workers staff the island. There is a dominant Thai family on the island that owns several dive schools, resorts, and bars. Motorbikes are the main form of transport and the main cause of injury to tourists in the area. Ferry companies Lomprayah, Seatran, and Songserm serve Ko Tao from: All ferries dock at Ban Mae Haad. Journey times vary due to

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