Wild Thai Islands: Turtles, Reefs, Rainforest and Maya Bay’s Sharks

The wild side of the Thai islands, from the coral reefs and sea turtles of the Similan and Surin archipelagos to the limestone, mangroves and prehistoric cliff paintings of Phang Nga Bay, the rainforest of Khao Sok and the blacktip reef sharks that returned to Maya Bay, with a directory of the national parks in our guide. Facts from the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Thailand’s islands are wilder than their beach bars suggest. In the Andaman Sea, the Similan and Surin archipelagos hold some of the country’s richest coral reefs, where sea turtles graze and reef fish crowd the shallows; on Phuket’s north-west coast, sea turtles still come ashore to lay their eggs. Inland, between the Andaman coast and Surat Thani, Khao Sok protects the largest rainforest in southern Thailand.

Much of this is national park, run by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, with entrance tickets, seasons and rules of its own. Go with a licensed boat, keep your ticket with you, and treat every reef as the living thing it is.

Closed in 2018 to let it recover, Maya Bay reopened with one firm rule: no swimming, because the sharks had come back.

Reefs and sea turtles of the Andaman

The Similan Islands take their name from a Malay word for nine, after the nine islands of the archipelago; Ko Tachai was added in 1998, and the national park lies some 70 kilometres from Thap Lamu pier. The Tourism Authority of Thailand lists its shallow snorkelling bays, its dive sites around Ko Bon and the pinnacles, and corals, turtles and more than 50 species of fish. Check the Department of National Parks for the season before you book.

Further north, Mu Ko Surin, an archipelago of five islands about 60 kilometres from Khura Buri pier, has shallow-water reefs that TAT describes as the most pristine and abundant in Thailand, home to four species of sea turtle; at low tide you can walk the channel between Surin Nuea and Surin Tai. On Phuket, Sirinat National Park protects 13 kilometres of the north-west shore, with casuarina woods, mangroves and coral reef, where sea turtles come ashore to nest.

Limestone, mangroves and rainforest

Ao Phang Nga National Park covers about 400 square kilometres of sea and shore, with limestone islands rising from the bay and prehistoric paintings on its cliffs. Across the water in Krabi, Than Bok Khorani National Park has two nature trails, one of them three to four kilometres out to the mangroves, and the marine park of Hat Noppharat Thara and the Phi Phi islands protects limestone cliffs, caves and coral reefs.

Khao Sok National Park, covering 738.74 square kilometres around the Rajjaprabha Dam, sits at the centre of the largest rainforest in southern Thailand: limestone peaks, forest and marsh, rare birds such as the Malayan banded pitta, and the rafflesia, one of the largest flowers in the world, which can bloom between November and April.

Feature: Maya Bay, closed to recover

Maya Bay, on Phi Phi Le, was loved almost to death: by 2018 the crowds and boats had badly damaged its reef. In June 2018 the Department of National Parks closed the bay to visitors so that it could recover, and it stayed closed until January 2022. The bay is part of the Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, and it reopened with new rules to protect what had grown back.

Did you know? Swimming in Maya Bay has stayed banned since it reopened, because blacktip reef sharks had returned to the shallows while the bay was closed.

Our advice

Our advice: book reef trips with licensed operators who brief you before you get in, and never stand on, touch or collect coral. Use reef-safe sun cream, keep your national park ticket with you (officials may check it on Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le), and check the Department of National Parks for each park’s season, since some marine parks close for part of the year. Give nesting turtles and their hatchlings space and darkness, and never feed fish or monkeys.