Weekend Getaway

It was mid-afternoon yet the deserted forest seemed as dark as dusk. We wove paths between leafless branches, hugging the cliff walls to not lose our orientation. In places the stalactites overhead gave a moment of awe as we looked up, casting shadows as they blocked what little light the sun provided. We were floating in a fairy tale land where time stands still, frozen in the past. We were diving in Khao Sok.

From the moment we descend from the surface, down the wall of limestone, the lake engulfs us in green cloudy waters. With limited visibility the shadows play tricks on us, creating an eerie atmosphere full of mystery. Catfish glide past us and disappear into the shadows. Old fishing nets drape between dead tree branches, covered in a thick layer of silt, suspended in time like a booby trap begging to be touched. Columns of limestone dangle from the cliffs like twisted organ pipes. Others seem carved from the walls.

Along our route caverns, caves, and divots add texture to the walls. Catfish and freshwater shrimp peek from crevices. Movement draws our gaze down below, to the murky water. The bottom might be nearly 200 feet from the surface, but we only go far enough to see the wall drop out of sight and where the tops of the trees are just out of our reach.

If we stay still for a moment time seems to be frozen, no movement at all, until we realize our bubbles disturbed the cliff overhangs above. Leaves float down ever so slowly, like feathers or a light snow falling. All we hear is our breathing.

Surfacing, leaving behind the drowned forest, the sun is shining brightly. In the longtail boat we admire the topside scenery on the way back to the raft houses we call home for a couple days. We're surrounded by one of the oldest evergreen forests in the world with limestone peaks shooting straight up with vertical walls that create the borders of this man made lake, and the dive sites along the edges.

A little history might help to get some sort of idea how and why these limestone cliffs formed and what this lake is all about.

When with my family in Ao Nang we wondered how the limestone peaks emerged from the jungle. Turns out they were there long before the trees grew their roots.

A couple million years ago or so much of what we know today as Southeast Asia was under water. The healthy marine environment created limestone deposits (calcium carbonate) which formed from the coral reef skeletons. This reef stretched from Southern China through Vietnam and Thailand down to Malaysia and Borneo. After the ice age these limestone formations were buried under more and more water pressure and formed the rocks we see today. After another 100 million-ish years molten granite reacted with rocks and formed tin and tungsten deposits. Later, plates shifted and things got a little mixed up and broken apart. This created bunches of exposed limestone peaks, jutting to the skies, throughout parts of SE Asia. Now fresh rainwater erodes these cliffs slowly creating stalactites along the walls. Make sense? Hopefully because otherwise you'll need to ask a geologist (and they can give you accurate info).

All you need to know is that basically what we're looking at today is the ancient coral reef compacted and in the fresh air to form beautiful cliffs that in some parts are draped with jungle growth, others cracked with mysterious caves, and parts with walls that seem to be melting in the sun.
Quite the setting.

The lake was created to provide power to Southern Thailand after the boom of tin and tungsten mining. After a road was built nearby for miners, the area became protected from further development in 1980. A couple years later the dam was built, creating the 65 square mile lake, Cheow Larn Lake (shaped like the ravine between the peaks). At this time the Electricity Authority of Thailand attempted the biggest capture and release operation in Thailand, though many of the animals did not survive in their new environment. For example the river fish had trouble adjusting to the depths of the lake. Today you can mostly find some freshwater fish, like featherbacks and catfish, and topside gibbons might make an appearance in the tree tops.

Most people come to admire the jungle and serenity of Khao Sok National Park. Being surrounded by this environment just puts a smile on your face as you breathe in the fresh air. But what brought us here is what mysteries lay under the surface of the water, the forgotten world in the depths. That's where the real fun is.