ถ้ำหลวงนางนอน

Tham Luang Nang Non - Great Cave of the Sleeping Lady

Useful Information

Location:	Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park. (20.3816674, 99.8683325)
Open:	OCT to JUN daily 8-17. [2024]
Fee:	Park: Adults THB 100, Children THB 50. Short Tour: free. Long Tour: Adults THB 1,500, Locals THB 950. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave River Cave
Light:	bring own
Dimension:	L=10,300 m, A=779 m asl.
Guided tours:	Short Tour: self guided, L=300 m, Max=25, D=30 min. Long Tour: guided, D=3 h, L=1,600 m, Max=10.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang Non National Park, Pong Pha, Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai 57130, Tel: +66-5371-4914, Tel: +66-8-0792-5095. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Tel: +66-2562-0760. website: www.dnp.go.th
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

23-JUN-2018	12 young footballers and their coach trapped in the cave.
2020	cave closed due to Covid 19.
2023	cave reopened on the 5th anniversary of the cave rescue.

Description

ถ้ำหลวงนางนอน (Tham Luang Nang Non - Great Cave of the Sleeping Lady) or short ถ้ำหลวง (Tham Luang - Great Cave) is internationally known for the cave rescue in June and July 2018. Twelve members of a junior football team between eleven and sixteen years old and their 25-year-old assistant coach were trapped inside the cave. Soon after they entered the cave, heavy rains partially flooded the cave, blocking their way out. They were rescued by a large rescue operation of international cave divers. The world media was transfixed for 17 days, and news was spread daily all over the world. Finally, all boys and their coach were safed, but Saman Kunan, a Royal Thai Navy SEAL member and diver died during the rescue operation. It was subsequently the topic of numerous movies and documentaries.

The cave is located in the Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park. While it is not developed, there is a car park, a visitor center and the cave is quite popular. During the rainy season, the cave floods regularly and is thus closed to visitors. Dangerous are more extraordinary heavy rains during the rest of the year.

Tham Luang is an arbitrary name which simply means Great Cave or Big Cave. The full name Tham Luang Nang Non (Great Cave of the Sleeping Lady) is derived from the hills where it is located. Doi Nang Non is the mythical mountain of the sleeping princess. Actually, the hills when seen from the road driving up from Chiang Rai look like the silhouette of a pregnant lady lying on her back, facing the sky. According to legend:

There was once a beautiful Princess in the ancient Northern Kingdom who fell in love with a stable boy. She became pregnant, and they fled from the wrath of her father to the mountain. Exhausted from the journey, the princess rested in a cave while her lover went out searching for food. He was discovered by the royal soldiers who killed him. When the princess learned that her love was dead, she stabbed herself with a hairpin. Her blood streamed down the mountain turning into Mae Sai River, and her lifeless body turned into that mountain range.

The cave was closed to visitors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was reopened in October 2021 for restricted visits. Only the chamber where the cave divers of the rescue had their camp during the rescue is freely accessible, called Chamber 1. This is a short, self-guided tour, 300 m walk from the entrance and back, the visit takes about 15 minutes. There is also a longer tour which allows access to Chambers 2, which is a guided visit and may take 30 minutes. The number of visitors is restricted for the rather irrational fear that CO₂ builds up. Lately the tour was extended to include Chamber 3. This tour is also guided and takes three hours to reach the chamber 800 m from the entrance and return. The tour caused a sort of media hype because of the high fee of almost € 40. Some say this was the place where the boys were trapped, but that’s wrong, they were actually stuck in Chamber 9 which is about 2.4 km from the entrance. While at that time the cave was freely accessible, which was revoked after the accident, currently the cave behind chamber 3 is still closed to the public.

The cave is managed by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. It seems they publish no pictures of the cave, so this was actually the first cave where we found an AI-generated picture in an article about the cave. This picture is pretty nonsensical, dwarfs with helmets in a Tolkienesque gorge with lamps hanging on 100 m long cables from the ceiling, which is invisible. The whole picture is more like the setting of a computer game than a real life situation. It was quite astonishing to us, that the authors felt the need to close the gap with esoteric fantasies. But then we found out that all pictures on thai.news are AI generated, and actually we guess that the articles are also AI generated, so do not trust them.

The Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang Non National Park has several caves which might be visited. Tham Phra is a small cave with a large Buddha image inside. Tham Phaya Nak is a small cave at the foot of the cliff with a large, 2.5 m high stalagmite which looks like a snake spreading its hood. Tham Liang Pha is a tectonic cave, cause by a rockfall which created an 80 m wide an 30 m high crack between two huge boulders. A river flows into the cave, and mountain chamois would come down to drink.