Tham Sing Toh - CH0077
16.547351,101.840854
Location
From the Nam Phut Thap Lao resurgence drive through the resort and follow the sealed road past Tham Sihanat Decha MonkÆs Camp Site. The cave is signed along a track on the left (west) which leads to some wildlife sanctuary buildings and information signs. The cave is also signposted in Ban Pha Biat, on the road to Nam Phut Thap Lao, as being 2km away. As this cave is within the wildlife sanctuary permission to visit has to be obtained from Bangkok and park rangers will then guide you to the cave (the SMCC were reminded about this after being caught pirating the cave in February 2014). From the car park the path follows the dry river bed for about 1km before ascending steeply up the hill on the right to the entrance.
Description
Fauna
Thereuopoda longicornis (Fabricius, 1793) (Arthropoda, Chilopoda, Scutigeromorpha, Scutigeridae) (unpublished record) Orthriophis taeniurus (Cope 1861) (Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae) (Schulz 2010)
Topographie
SMCC January 2005 & December 2009 - Grade UISv2 3-3-BF
From the entrance the comfortably sized passage heads north and has steel ladders to aid the ascent and descent of pitches of up to 4m. After a short squeeze under the right hand wall at the end of the entrance passage (follow the draft) one enters the main chamber which has large deposits of bat guano and a couple of skylights in the high roof. Heading left the chamber closes down after 100m and the cave descends steeply in a small, boulder floored passage. On the first visit in 2005 the air in this part of the cave was poor, but it had improved in 2006 to allow further exploration which was stopped at the top of a drop requiring tackle. From the point where entrance passage enters the main chamber going right leads up over the guano to a 10m wide passage that descends steeply over boulders. This has been explored to where the passage was seen to level off, but has not been pushed to a conclusion. Park rangers report that the cave extends for another 500m beyond this point.
Mesure de protection
As the cave is in a wildlife sanctuary forms have to be filled in and permission required from Bangkok for a trip guided by rangers No eating food inside the cave.
Documents
[Topo] Tham Sing Toh 28/04/2019Bibliography 23/06/2019
- Dummer, Claire (2014) "Thailand 2014" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Newsletter Vol. 51 No. 2 pp46-47 ELLIS, MARTIN (2010i) "Shepton in Siam" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 12 No. 5 pp262-269 Ellis, Martin (2015a) "Some caves in Thailand Part 4" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 13 No. 3 pp91-118 SCHULZ, KLAUS-DIETER (2010) "Ubersicht der Variationen des Orthriophis taeniurus Unterarten-Komplexes mt Anmerkungen zum Status von Coluber taeniurus pallidus Rendahl, 1937 und der Beschreibung einer neuen Unterart (Reptilia: Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae)" Sauria Vol. 32 No. 2 pp3-26
History
The cave is a well known attraction in the Wildlife Sanctuary and has been visited by the Head of the Royal Forest Department and the Governor of Chaiyaphum. 2006-01-06 SMCC (M. Ellis, P. Collett, C. Dummer, P. Dummer, I. Hollis, D. Owen, L. Hollis, D. Briggs) 2009-12-01 (M. Ellis, S. Smith) 2014-02-10 SMCC (M. Ellis, P. Collett, P. Dummer, C. Dummer, S. Howe, K. Batten, J. Biffin, S. Payne, M. Tringham)
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Tham Sihanat Decha [Dragon Shrine Cave] [CH0067] | 10 | 0 |
| 1.2 | Nam Phut Thap Lao - CH0044 | 18 | 18 |
| 2.1 | Tham Song Chin [CH0109] | 100 | 20 |
| 2.7 | Tham Pha Ya Chang Puek - CH0010 | 50 | |
| 2.8 | Tham Tec - CH0052 | ||
| 3.3 | Monk Big Chamber Cave [Tham Sing Toh] [CH0054] | 238 | 16 |
| 3.5 | Tham Phua - CH0080 | ||
| 3.6 | Tham Nam Lei [CH00055] | 230 | 9 |
| 3.8 | Tham Satchatham [CH0111] |