Tham Chet Mit - KA0350
14.612969,98.465960
Location
From Ban Rai a 2 hr drive leads to Pilok Mine which is followed by a 4 hr drive in a 4x4 southwards along the border. Eventually a small mining community, Samsok Mining 2, is reached. An oil pipeline from the Myanmar to Thailand passes close to the entrance and this has an access road. The cave is about 10 m up the west side of the obvious limestone mountain on the other side of the river and directly opposite a prominent white chedi.
Description
Fauna
Shrimp
Entry is made to the cave through a small hole in a large formation. Immediately inside is a 10 m deep hole to the stream. On the other side of the hole the cave is an abandoned phreatic stream passage. The sandy floor rises slightly until some pretty formations are met at a small chamber. A crawl through these leads to more walking passage and a short climb up into a larger room containing a stal column. Two hole off to the right descend steeply and the noise of the stream down below can be heard. The floor of this room slopes from left to right and this is characteristic of much of the upper level passage. A static pool (fed by seasonal percolation water) ends at a 4m climb up. The main passage continues smaller than previously over breakdown and then descends steeply to a corner and large, redissolved cascade on the right with a choked inlet above. Again the stream is met here in a 7m deep vadose floor trench. Rounding the corner the cave passage enlarges dramatically to a maximum of 10 m x 50 m high. Progress is made by traversing along ledges on the sloping floor passing short sections of streamway in the floor trench as well as large breakdown and flowstone cascades. There are bats, snakes, millipedes, cockroaches, collembola, centipedes, crickets, flies and spiders in this part of the cave. At a sharp corner to the left the large phreatic passage disappears to a higher level and further progress can only be made at stream level. Traversing on ledges above the vadose trench reaches a round chamber with a 10 m high waterfall entering on the far wall. The in situ wooden ladder was too dangerous to climb in 1995, so the passage visible at the top was not explored. This 10 m waterfall has been ascended using a bamboo ladder. Above the stream passage leads to a 2 m high cascade followed immediately by a 4m high cascade. Some 15 m distance from the main waterfall a chamber opens out and the stream enters from the roof which is not visible (30 m+). A possible inlet also enters here from the roof and lands in the centre of the chamber. The passage above the chamber consists of a huge rift.
Topographie
SMART, DEAN (1995) - Grade UISv2 3-3-A SMART, DEAN (1996) - Grade UISv2 3-3-A/1-1-A OAKLEY, PHIL (1996) - Grade UISv2 3-3-A
Documents
[Topo] Tham Chet Mit 28/04/2019Bibliography 14/09/2019
- +DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT (1997) "The Caves of Thailand - Addendum 1995-97" Speleological Research Council, Sydney +OAKLEY, PHIL (1996) "To Find Charlie A Cave" Descent No. 130 pp32-33 +SMART, DEAN (1995) "Caves of National Parks, Thong Pha Phum and Lam Khlong Ngu" Royal Forest Department, Bangkok Unpublished report 22pp +SMART, DEAN (1996) "Caves of Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi Province, W. Thailand" Royal Forest Department, Bangkok unpublished report 11pp +SMART, DEAN (2000) "Cave Management Classification in Thailand: Modification of the Australian Scheme" The Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society Vol. 48 pp165-175
History
1995-08-12 D. Smart, P. Oakley & RFD team - explored to 10 m waterfall. 1995-12-17 D. Smart et al. - scaled 10 m waterfall, but stopped at 30 m waterfall
Comments
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Tham Chet Mit 3 - KA0352 | 10 | 0 |
| 0.1 | Tham Chet Mit Resurgence Cave - KA0351 | 10 | 0 |
| 1.2 | Tham Khon Kae [KA0471] | 160 | 10 |
| 11.4 | Tham Nar Tang [KA0468] | 74 | 2 |
| 11.5 | Tham Khao Noi [KA0441] | 75 | 25 |
| 11.6 | Tham Khao Noi 2 [KA0467] | 20 | 0 |
| 11.7 | Tham Phra - KA0354 | 100 | 25 |
| 15.2 | Tham Pong Chang [KA0598] | ||
| 16.8 | Tham Nam Khao Tha Khanun - KA0235 | 125 | 0 |
To do
Climb 30 m waterfall at the end of the cave.
Martin Ellis (14/09/2019)