Tham Pha Baen - LO0035
17.916187,101.759586
Location
The cave is signed off the H211 just north of Ban Pha Baen. Follow the good gravel road to where the cave is signed off to the left along a laterite road. This goes past the Huai Tham reservoir and ends at the wat. The cave is about 10m up the side of the hill with a very rough set of steps up to it.
Description
A monk at the wat said the cave was long, but on a visit in October 2007 was too wet. A quick look revealed about 100m of passage. A second visit in June 2009 did not reveal any further passages. There were a couple of small resurgences in the grounds of the wat. The cave is reputed to go all the way to the Mae Nam Mae Khong river which is about 3km to the west.
Fauna
Taphozous melanopogon Temminck, 1841 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Emballonuridae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Megaderma spasma (Linnaeus, 1758) (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Megadermatidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Rhinolophus coelophyllus Peters, 1867 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Rhinolophus malayanus Bonhote, 1903 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Rhinolophus marshalli Thonglongya, 1973 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Hipposideros armiger (Hodgson, 1835) (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Hipposideros larvatus (Horsfield, 1823) (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Hipposideros lylei Thomas, 1913 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Miniopterus pusillus Dobson, 1876 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Myotis siligorensis Horsfield, 1855 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) n June 2009 a racer type snake was seen. However, it wasn't a normal Cave Racer, but had the yellow and black stripes on the front part and a plain rear end. The eye stripe wasn't well marked, but there was a stripe round the back of the head.
Documents
Bibliography 12/03/2020- DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT (1995) "The Caves of Thailand" Speleological Research Council, Sydney ISBN 0-9589253-9-9 124pp ITH, SAVENG; SOISOOK, PIPAT; BUMRUNGSRI, SARA; KINGSTON, TIGGA; PUECHMAILLE, SEBASTIEN J.; STRUEBIG, MATTHEW J.; BU, SI SI HLA; THONG, VU DINH; FUREY, NEIL M.; THOMAS, NIKKY M.; BATES, J.J. (2011) "A Taxonomic Review of Rhinolophus coelophyllus Peters, 1867 and R. shameli Tate, 1943 (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae) in Continental Southeast Asia" Acta Chiropterologica Vol. 13 No. 1 pp41-59 ROBINSON, MARK, F.; SMITH, ANGELA L. (1997) "Chiroptera from Loei Province, North-east Thailand" The Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society Vol. 45 No. 1 pp1-16 Smith, Angela L.; Robinson, Mark F.; Jenkins, Paulina D. (2000) "A collection of shrews (Insectivora: Soricidae) from north-east Thailand" Mammalia Vol. 64 No. 2 pp250-253
History
2007-10-16 (M. Ellis) The first recorded visit by cavers 2009-06-06 (M. Ellis, T. Bolger)
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | Tham Chao - LO0134 | 6 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Tham Pha Tai [LO0205] | ||
| 10.2 | Tham Pak Khaew [LO0197] | ||
| 10.5 | Tham Saeng Tham Phrommawat - LO0071 | ||
| 10.5 | Tham Phra - LO0084 | ||
| 10.5 | Tham Huai Na - LO0085 | ||
| 10.5 | Tham Phan Chan Dai - LO0086 | ||
| 10.7 | Tham Huai Lao - LO0065 | 30 | 0 |
| 10.8 | Mued (Tham) [LO0145] |