Ко Тао: История и современность тайского острова

Island subdistrict in Surat Thani, Thailand

Ko Tao (เกาะเต่า, , ) is an island in Thailand and is part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It covers an area of about 21 km2 (8 sq mi). Administratively it is a subdistrict (tambon) of Ko Pha ngan District (amphoe) of Surat Thani Province. as of 2006, its official population was 1,382. The main settlement is Ban Mae Haad. The economy of the island is almost exclusively centered on tourism, especially scuba diving. Scuba diving is extremely popular in Ko Tao due to clear visibility, inexpensive pricing, warm water, and the range of sealife to be seen.

Before being settled the island would be occasionally visited by fishermen from neighbouring islands looking for shelter in a storm or just resting before continuing on their journeys. It would appear from old maps and descriptions that this island was known by European cartographers and mariners as "Pulo Bardia", indicating that it was first settled by Malayo Polynesian peoples. The old maps show a chain of three islands aligned north–south and lying off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The most northerly and smallest of these islands is marked P. Bardia, the name it had until the early 1900s. The best map example is by John Thornton from The English Pilot, the Third Book, dated 1701, but the specific map of the Gulf of Siam is dated around 1677. Also see maps of the East Indies by William Dampier c.1697. By modern standards of accuracy, the islands are poorly placed on early maps. Seventeenth century marine navigation and cartography used the "backstaff" which, in this area, was accurate to one degree of longitude, or around 60 nautical miles. The Edinburgh Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary published in 1827 also mentions the island and provides a geographical position. In his 1852 book titled Narrative of a Residence in Siam. by Frederick Arthur Neale, the author describes the people and wildlife of Bardia. According to the account there were farms and even cows in a village on the bay lying on the west side of the island. The book includes a fanciful illustration of "Bardia" showing huts and palm trees. Joseph Huddart in 1801 included these directions for navigating the islands, "To the N. W. by N are two islands of about the same height as Poolo Carnom [Ko Samui]; the first, called SANCORY [Ko Pha ngan], is 7 leagues from Carnom; the other ,named BARDA, or Bardia [Ko Tao], is 7½ leagues from Sancory." (A league is approximately 3 nautical miles or 5.5 km.) On 18 June 1899, King Chulalongkorn visited Ko Tao and left as evidence his monogram on a huge boulder at Jor Por Ror Bay next to Sairee Beach. This place is still worshiped today. In 1933, the island started to be used as a political prison. In 1947 Khuang Abhaiwongse, prime minister at that time, pleaded and received a royal pardon for all prisoners on the island. Everybody was taken to the shore of Surat Thani and Ko Tao was abandoned again. In the 1980s, overseas travellers began to visit Ko Tao and it quickly became a popular destination. In the 1990s the island became known as a diving site.

The island is an important breeding ground for hawksbill and green turtles. The development of tourism has negatively impacted the health of these grounds, but a breeding programme organised in 2004 by the Royal Thai Navy and KT DOC, a coalition of local scuba diving centres, has reintroduced hundreds of juvenile turtles to the island's ecosystem. Chumpon Pinnacle, a dive site to the west of the island has a reputation for divers in search of both whale sharks and bull sharks. However, because of warmer water temperatures over the last year a great number of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters. The island is host to over 130 species of hard corals, and over 223 species of reef fishes belonging to 53 families. Diving conditions have improved dramatically in the past few years with the continuing education of locals by the dive community. El Niño weather patterns caused a warming of the waters which resulted in the loss of a great deal of the shallow corals near the island. Since then, the recovery has been swift and dramatic. Ko Tao now offers some of the best scuba diving in the Gulf of Thailand. And with help by the island conservation group, Save Koh Tao, the island's environmental outlook is improving. As one of the world's most popular diving destinations, more attention is being focused on the negative effects of diving on coral reef health around Ko Tao. Natural factors combined with over use of some areas has led to an increase in the abundance of corallivores such as Drupella snails and the crown of thorns starfish around the island in recent years. In 2012, a Marine Zoning and Regulations Master Plan was developed for the island and subsequently become local law, but the positive effects of increased management have yet to be realized. Tourism and development on the island has grown steadily for the last several decades, with public infrastructure often lagging far behind. Shortages of electricity and fresh water are common, and both solid and liquid waste management is inadequate. About 42,000 tonnes of solid waste are produced annually on the island,

Ko Tao is one of Thailand's most popular tourist spots. The Bangkok Post has cited its annual visitor count as 132,000 and three million. with some British tabloids labelling it as "Death Island". Although tourist arrivals to the island dropped in the months immediately following the murders in 2014, there was little lasting effect.

Name Max. depth Visibility Average depth Level Features Marine life Shark Island28m5 30m15mOpen water +Boulders and rock formations, soft corals. Drift diving for the experienced. Resident turtle, great barracuda, titan triggerfish and clown triggerfishHin Wong Pinnacle40 m15 20 m17 mOpen water +Tabletop rock formation covered with a variety of hard and soft corals. Hawksbill turtle, snapper, sweetlips, porcupine pufferfish, juvenile boxfish Mango Bay16 m5 20 m10 mBeginner +Only accessible by boat and suitable for training dives with a sandy bottom and shallow reef. Also accessible by a recently built road through the jungle from Sairee BeachSmall reef fish, pufferfish, moray eelsWhite rock20 m10 30 m12 mOpen water +A wide band of coral reef with a diversity of hard and soft corals. Wrasses, butterflyfish, angelfish, moray eels, clownfish, and triggerfish. Nang Yuan Pinnacle (Red Rock)19 m10 30 m10 mOpen water +A large boulder with swim through arches and to the west a large cave to explore. Giant whiptail ray, moray, pipefish, crabs, titan triggerfish and reef shark. Twins22 m10 25 m12 mOpen water +Three groups of granite rocks covered in corals and sponges, divided by sandy patches and a backdrop of coral garden. Bluespotted ribbontail ray, juvenile bluering angelfish, six barred angelfish, clownfish, scorpionfish and pink anemone. Green rock28 m10 30 m16 mOpen water+A maze of swim throughs, canyons, caverns, and caves created by large boulders. Yellow margin and titan triggerfish, giant trevallies, cobias and stingrays, occasional reef shark sightings. Japanese gardens14 m10 15 m10 mBeginner +Hundreds of hard and soft coral formations creating the impression of an oriental garden. A dive boat also rests at around 15 meters, which was destroyed in the summer of 2009 and was towed to the site. Abundance of small coral fish and a variety of nudibranchs. Chumphon pinnacle45 m5 30 m24 mExperienced diverFour granite pinnacles carpeted with anemones. Whale shark (seasonal), giant grouper, barracuda, bull shark, batfish and tuna. Southwest pinnacle33 m10 30 m20 mAdvanced +A collection of pinnacles with a unique topographical arrangement, giant fan corals. Whale shark (seasonal), giant grouper, barracuda, occasional leopard shark. Sail rock45 m15 35 m30 mAll levelsHuge rock chimmey with a vertical swim through that ascends from 18 m to 8 m. Amongst the Gulf of Thailands first diving sitesLarge pelagics, king mackerel, tuna, whale shark and manta.

To serve the tourist population, some 3,000–5,000 Burmese workers staff the island. There is a dominant Thai family on the island that owns several dive schools, resorts, and bars.

Motorbikes are the main form of transport and the main cause of injury to tourists in the area.

Train services are available to Chumphon where ferries are available.