In Thailand's eastern province of Sa Kaeo, an area of ancient heavily eroded Limestone yields a good harvest of caves. Most are unsurveyed and unrecorded, often with large galleries and chambers (sometimes 30 metres high). There is a lot of work to be done here, with very few Western/European cavers active in the area.

<British caver Dominic Clinton (author of this site) has recently moved to Thailand, and will slowly start to explore and document the caves of SE Sa Kaeo - a daunting task. This site will document his explorations. Anyone in the area who wants to join forces with Dominic is very welcome - contact him: oldexplorer at gmail dot com Left: In Pet Cave, a show cave near Klong Hat - a variety of passageway from hands-and-knees crawls to 30m avens with a few dozen bats.

< These distinctive limestone towers - about 70m high -  at Khao Chakan soar out of valley alluviums. A few miles further to the south east you are in the heart of a heavily eroded karst landscape, with jagged knife-edge limestone ridges which hug the Cambodian border. The border zone is militarised, and you may need to pass through Thai Army checkpoints to reach certain caves.

< ^ There are supposedly about 72 separate caves in the Khao Chakan towers - so far I have only been in about 6 or 7 - early impressions suggest that 72 is an exaggerated number. All have been dry (some dripping during rainy periods), with no streamway. Most are horizontal systems with 20-30m of passageway, sometimes linked to vertical caves/avens 30m high. 

Guided tour of the caves of Khao Chakan

I am available to guide small groups (up to 6 people) around the various caves. Please note that you will need to be reasonably physically active to participate, as some scrambling over muddy rocks is required. Comfortable old clothes and strong abrasion-resistant gloves are essential, with enclosed shoes that cannot fall off the foot (old trainers with a good grippy sole are recommended). The caves are warm, often nearly the same temperature as outside. Age is no barrier - I have met walkers in their 50s who are fitter than some people in their 30s. We will encounter a lot of bats flying very close to us - they pose no danger, although people of a nervous disposition may feel uncomfortable. The sight of hundreds of thousands of bats leaving the caves for their nightly hunt is spectacular - this occurs at about 6:30-7:00pm every evening. Food and toilet facilities are available at Khao Chakan.

Please contact me for more details: oldexplorer at gmail dot com.

A typical short horizontal cave at Khao Chakan...

^ Entrance

^ In the entrance hall (10x15m, height varies 20-30m) a 2.5m Buddha welcomes you, while to the right passageway beckons: continue about 50m into the hillside - past the remains of a doorway - to reach a 20m ceiling aven with plenty of large bats (25cm wingspan). The formations are mature and rather scruffy/weathered in this ancient karst landscape.

A similar section of passageway in a neighbouring cave:

A typical larger vertical cave at Khao Chakan...

This one is gated, but if you ask one of the monks they will probably allow you in - best if you have a native Thai speaker with you to smooth the way. This cave contains the embalmed body of an important monk in a glass coffin; it is gated because of previous thefts of religious artefacts.

In the small alcove on the far right of the above picture there is a welded gate that prevents people falling down a 6-7m shaft - on the day of visiting it was draughting out in my face as I stood at the grille, with the sound (and smell) of bats. In the picture below it is the brown grille just left of centre. Thieves supposedly entered via this access previously. **Update** I have subsequently discovered how to get into the passageway beyond the gate via another entrance.

Looking between the slats of the gate gives the illusion of a deep shaft (one monk talked about a 30m drop), but in reality it is just a 6-7m pit about 3m in diameter, with passageway continuing at gate level beyond the pit. There are a number of pits in these caves, all so far choked with mud/gravel - there may be lower passageway that has become filled with washed-in debris over thousands of years. Only a major dig could discover if that hypothesis is correct.

^ Looking back out to daylight

Where are the three towers of Khao Chakan?

17 kilometres from Mueang Sa Kaeo District along Highway 317 (Sa Kaeo-Chanthaburi):

 ^v Pet Cave, Klong Hat, SE Sa Kaeo

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Page last updated 25 August 2009