Mu Ko Phetra is a marine

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

off

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, covering mostly intact coastal line, open water, and about 30 islands of the southern part of Trang Province and the northern part of Satun Province. Established on 31 December 1984, it is the 49th national park and 14th marine national park of Thailand. The majority of the park, about 94.74% or out of is open water. The two largest islands of the park are Ko Phetra ( th, เกาะเภตรา) and Ko Khao Yai ( th, เกาะเขาใหญ่). Several islands are

marine turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

egg laying sites. Rich

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s are present around islands. Many of the islands consist of steep

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

rocks and little beaches. They are used as temporary refuges by fishermen during fishing season. In the caves of the cliffs high above the ground on some of the islands are where

swiftlet Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera ''Aerodramus'', ''Hydrochous'', ''Schoutedenapus'' and ''Collocalia''. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodidae. The group contains around thirty species mostly confine ...

s build their nest and breed. Several islands were placed under concession for decades to collect bird nests. They are highly valuable and closely guarded with firearms. Traveling to those islands should be done with local tour companies as their boats are recognized and ignored by guards. The

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

name Phetra comes from

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

''Pulau Petra'' (the island of Petra). The continued existence of the park is threatened by the proposed Pak Bara deepwater seaport.

Trang islands

* Ko Lao Liang consists of two similar islands separated by just 300 m. The smaller, northernmost island, Ko Lao Liang Nuea ( th, เกาะเหลาเหลียงเหนือ) (also known as Ko Lao Liang Nong; th, เกาะเหลาเหลียงน้อง), and the larger island to the south, Ko Lao Liang Tai ( th, เกาะเหลาเหลียงใต้) (also known as Ko Lao Liang Phi; th, เกาะเหลาเหลียงพี่). Both have rather small beaches and are bird nest gathering concessions. Around the islands are shallow reefs.

Satun islands

* Ko Phetra ( th, เกาะเภตรา /

: ''Pulau Petra'') is an island with odd-shaped cliffs. A bird nest concession island, the surrounding sea is available for diving. * Ko Lidi ( th, เกาะลิดี /

: ''Pulau Lidi'') is a large island with beach. * Ko Khao Yai ( th, เกาะเขาใหญ่), the biggest island with castle-like limestone rocks. Part of the island is the Ao Kam Poo ( th, อ่าวก้ามปู), a 700 m wide bay with waterfall and stream. The shores of the bay are a turtle egg-laying sites. * Ko Bulon ( th, เกาะบุโหลน /

: ''Pulau Bulan''), a popular tourist island with clear water and coral reef.

Satun beaches

* Rawai Beach ( th, หาดราไว), not to be confused with a beach of the same name in

Phuket Province Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...

, is a 3.5 km long beach on the mainland. It is popular camping spot.

References

External links

Mu Ko Petra National Park from National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department
(Thai only) {{authority control National parks of Thailand Protected areas established in 1984 Geography of Trang province Geography of Satun province Strait of Malacca Tourist attractions in Trang province Tourist attractions in Satun province 1984 establishments in Thailand

Trang islands

Satun islands

Satun beaches

See also

References

External links