Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [371]
Tham Lot
About 9km north of Soppong is Tham Lot (pronounced tâm lôrt and also known as tâm nám lôrt), a large limestone cave with impressive stalagmites and ‘coffin caves’ (see boxed text, opposite), and a wide stream running through it. Along with Tham Nam Lang further west, it’s one of the largest known caves in Thailand. The total length of the cave is 1600m and for 600m the stream runs through it.
At the Nature Education Centre (8am-5.30pm) and entrance, you must hire a gas lantern and guide for 150B (one guide leads one to four people) to take you through the caverns; visitors are not permitted to tour the caves alone. Tham Lot is a good example of community-based tourism as all of the guides at the cave are from local Shan villages.
Apart from the main chamber, there are also three side chambers – Column Cavern, Doll Cave and Coffin Cave – that can be reached by ladders. It takes around two hours to explore the whole thing. Depending on the time of year it is necessary to take a bamboo raft for some or all of the journey through the caves. Access to parts of the cave may be limited between August and October because of water levels.
From the entrance to the exit and taking in the Column Cavern, Doll Cave and Coffin Cave, the rafts (up to four adults) cost 400B return, or 300B one way. If going one way you can walk back from outside of the cave (20 minutes), only possible during the dry season. In the dry season it may be possible to wade to the Doll Cave and then take a raft through to the exit (300B return, 200B one way). Try to be at the exit at sunset when hundreds of thousands of swifts pour into Tham Lot and cling to their bedtime stalagmites.
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THE CAVES OF PANGMAPHA
The 900-sq-km area of Pangmapha district is famous for its high concentration of cave systems, where over 200 have been found. Apart from Tham Lot, one of its most famous is Tham Nam Lang, which is 20km northwest of Soppong near Ban Nam Khong. It’s 8.5km long and said to be one of the largest caves in the world in terms of volume.
Many of the caves are essentially underground river systems, some of which boast waterfalls, lakes and ‘beaches’. Cryptotora thamicola, an eyeless, waterfall-climbing troglobitic fish that forms its own genus, is found in only two caves in the world, both of which are in Pangmapha, Thailand. Other caves contain little or no life, due to an abundance of noxious gases or very little oxygen.
More than 85 of the district’s 200 limestone caverns are known to contain ancient teak coffins carved from solid teak logs. Up to 9m long, the coffins are typically suspended on wooden scaffolds inside the caves. The coffins have been carbon-dated and shown to be between 1200 and 2200 years old. The ends are usually carved and Thai archaeologists have identified at least 50 different design schemes. Pottery remains found in coffin caves are on display in the Nature Education Centre (opposite) at Tham Lot.
The local Shans know these burial caves as tâm pěe (spirit caves), or tâm pěe maan (coffin caves). It is not known who made them or why they were placed in caves, but as most caves have fewer than 10 coffins it indicates that not everyone was accorded such an elaborate burial. Similar coffins have been found in karst areas west of Bangkok and also in Borneo, China and the Philippines, but the highest concentration of coffin caves from this period is in Pangmapha.
The easiest coffin caves to visit are found just past Pangmapha Hospital, 2km west of Soppong, and the coffin caves in Tham Lot, 9km from Soppong. Several caves that scientists are investigating at the moment are off-limits to the public, but John Spies at Cave Lodge (below) may know which caves are possible to explore. His book, Wild Times, is also a great informal guide to the area’s caves.
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SLEEPING & EATING
Cave Lodge (0 5361 7203; www.cavelodge.com; dm 90-120B, r 250B, bungalows 300-2000B) Open since 1986, this is one of the more legendary places to stay in northern Thailand (and probably the