ถ้ำลอดปูยู

Tham Lot Puyu - Gua Pu Yu


Useful Information

Location: Puyu, Mueang Satun District, Satun. Thale Ban National Park.
Take boat from Tammalang Pier, 9 km from Satun.
(6.538817, 100.138905)
Open: no restrictions.
Boat fare THB 500.
[2021]
Fee: free.
[2021]
Classification: GeologyNatural Bridge
Light: n/a
Dimension: A=0 m asl., L=30 m.
Guided tours: self guided.
Boat Tour: D=2 h.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Tham Lot Puyu.
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


Description

ถ้ำลอดปูยู (Tham Lot Puyu) is actually not a cave, it's a cave ruin which forms a natural bridge. The name Tham Lot actually means through cave. The river flowing through this bridge is brackish, at a level around sea level the salty water from the Adaman Sea enters the wide estuary, which is surrounded by mangrove trees. The karst tower is so heavily corroded, the cave system inside has mostly collapsed forming a roofless cave, a depression which once was a cave but the roof is gone. Today the floor is a swamp at sea level with mangrove trees.

This is probably the strangest cave tour on this website. There is only a small rest of the cave, a natural bridge across the river, which is the entrance to a valley surrounded by limestone cliffs, the remains of the karst tower. Visitors take a boat from Tammalang Pier upstream and through the natural bridge. The exact schedule depends on the captain of the boat, and probably on your bargaining skills. Tours are possible all year, but not during heavy monsoon rains, and you should go during low tide, because the cave is filled with water during high tide and its no possible to cross it.

Nearby is Gayang Cave, which is often visited on the same boat tour. Also there is ถํ้ามรกต (Emerald Cave) which the villagers actually call ถ้ำมูลค้างคาว (Bat Dung Cave) fo obvious reasons. It is a single huge chamber where the sun actually shines in, as a result the walls and speleothems are covered by green moss, hence the name emerald. Overnight stays are offered in tents, and there is a trail up to an cave entrance higher up in the cliff which offers a great view across the mangrove forest to Malaysia. It is said to look like "Thai New Zealand".