Koh
Chang Marine National Park
consists of 50 islands and is an
increasingly popular destination for both divers and nature
lovers alike.
The tourist infrastructure is still in its infancy but
Koh Chang,Thailands second largest island, is developing
into a major tourist destination.
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Discovering
Koh Chang
Getting
around the island is mostly done by motorbike which can
be rented at many places on all of the beaches. There are
also many cars on the island, many acting as a skeleton
taxi service.
Most
of the islands activities, including accommodation, places
to eat and dive centres are concertrated around the beaches
of White Sand, Klong Prao, Kai Bae, Thanam, Bang Bao and
Gong Goi, all scattered along the western coastline of the
island.
There is no shortage of restaurants on the island, with
menus following both local and European dishes.
Other attractions include elephant trekking, mountain-biking,
motor-cross, kayaking, fishing and snorkelling.
The
Diving around Koh Chang is
done mainly off boats. The house
reefs are generally shallow and very suitable and convienient
for for training dives and snorkelling. One thing to bear
in mind is that not all the islands dive centres stay open
all year round!
Most of the main dive sites are to the west and south-west
of Koh Chang. These include Hin Rap, Hin Sam Sao and Hin
Muratha. Further south you'll find Hin Luk Bat, Hin Rap
south, Secret Reef, Tun Leung and Hin Rua Tek.
A great place for pelagic spotting is Hin Rang Yai, a set
of pinnacles starting just below the surface and descending
to 27m on the west side features mainly rocks with overhangs
and boulders.
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For
instance leopard and whale sharks along with black blotched
stingrays provide fairly regular encounters. At 14m on
the south side of this spot is a soft coral garden with
resident triggerfish, sweetlips and potato grouper.
There are numerous examples of both hard and soft corals
in the area, and the marine life is both plentiful and
diverse. Blue-spotted stingrays as well as hungry reef
sharks and turtles are all also seen along the reefs.
A
number of the areas dive sites can also
be explored from the neighbouring island of Koh Mak. The
island has a small resort on the north east coast which
offers seasonal diving facilities. Of the other islands
in the park landing on any of the Rang islands should
never be attempted.
Koh
Chang has the highest diversity of evergreen's in the
country, so much so that their are plans to hopefully
establish
another National Park on the Cambodian border an area
which shares similar flora and fauna characteristics.
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