Tham Mae Ook Roo - CR0048
19.888237,100.057053
Location
This cave is located in a limestone tower near the village of Ban Rongha. When travelling from Chiang Rai along the H1152 towards Phaya Mengrai the towers are first seen near Ban Pa Bong. Following the road through Ban Pa Bong a quarry is passed on the left and soon after there is a road on the left, near km 26. If you reach Ban Rong Ha you have gone too far. Heading down the side road a tower is right in front of you. At the foot of the tower there is a T junction where you turn right and after a couple of hundred metres there is an obscure resurgence on the left at the foot of the tower. There is a spirit house, a small parking area and some of the trees are wrapped with orange cloth.
Description
After scrambling down through boulders there is an active streamway that starts off about 1.3 m high and gradually diminishes in height as you progress with the water and mud getting deeper. An inlet passage, said to extend for about a kilometre, is passed on the right. After a couple of hundred metres the roof gets a lot lower and the mud deepens to about 50 cm which makes the going very difficult. Eventually one reaches a T junction with the stream coming in from the right. The way to a second entrance is on the left and the exit is soon reached. This is a squalid cave û wet, low and muddy. Most of the mud is grey dust from the nearby quarries.
Hydrology and Geology
A study by the National Human Rights Commision shows that water flows into the cave at two points to the north and south of the mountain. The stream resurges from the outlet at the northeast point of the mountain. The Environmental Impact Assessment reports that the water still flows from the resurgence in the dry summer season, when no water flows into the north and south entrances of the cave. A study done by the NHRC during the dry season also indicates that the spring does not dry up even in the dry season. The study found that the water flow out of the mountain into the creek was approximately ten times more than the amount of water which flowed into the creek from the two entrances.
Documents
Bibliography 10/08/2019- ELLIS, MARTIN (2005) "Some Caves in Thailand Part 2" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 11 No. 8 pp342-357 JANCHITFAH, SUPARA (2003) "No Peace On The Mountain" Bangkok Post 27 April 2003 JANCHITFAH, SUPARA ((2004) "The Survivors Carry On" Bangkok Post 11 July 2004 WONGRUANG, PIYAPORN (2004) "Life Hard for Grieving Family" Bangkok Post 13 September 2004
History
The cave made it into the Thai national press in July 2003 due to an environmental dispute between local farmers and the quarry company. Expansion plans by one of the local quarrying companies, who have almost completely removed two neighbouring limestone towers, threatened the hill containing Tham Mae Ook Roo which is an important source of water for farmers during the dry season. Local villagers protested against the quarries' plans and the National Human Rights Commission visited the area and explored what they estimated to be 3km of passage in the cave. In December 2002 the assistant village headman, who had been leading the protests, was shot and killed. This understandably frightened many of the villagers into withdrawing their protests. 2005-03-29 (M. Ellis, D. Smart, T. Bolger, N. Anderson) Google Earth images dated February 2014 show that the hill with Tham Mae Ook Roo is being actively quarried away.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Tham Phra - CR0036 | ||
| 24.4 | Tham Mi {CR0072] | ||
| 26.9 | Tham Tu Pu - CR0043 | 45 | 0 |
| 27.4 | Tham Sai Than [CR0070] | 100 | 4 |
| 27.4 | Tham Mae Khrua - CR0062 | 90 | 4 |
| 27.5 | Tham Chang Luang - CR0051 | ||
| 27.8 | Tham Pha Tong - CR0027 | 5 | 0 |
| 27.8 | Tham Lom - CR0039 | ||
| 27.8 | Tham Waai [CR0052] | 100 | 0 |