Songkhla Lake

Songkhla Lake (Thai: ทะเลสาบสงขลา, RTGS: Thale Sap Songkhla, IPA:) is the largest natural lake in Thailand. It is on the Malay Peninsula in Southern Thailand. Covering an area of 1,040 km it borders the provinces of Songkhla and Phatthalung. Despite being called a lake, it is actually a lagoon complex.

The lake is divided into three distinct parts. The southern part opens with a 380 m wide strait to the Gulf of Thailand at the city of Songkhla. Here it contains brackish water about half the salinity of seawater. Further north, after a narrowing to 6 km width, is the Thale Luang (782.80 km). At the northern end between mangrove swamps is the 28 km Thale Noi in Phatthalung Province. The most striking feature is the long 75 km long spit which separates the lake from the sea. Unlike most spits, it was probably formed when originally existing islands were connected by silting from the lake precursor.