Tham Nam - LO0056
17.170234,101.961770
Location
Follow the signs for Wat Tham Khuha Khiri which is signed to the east of the H201, south of Wang Saphung. At a crossroads in Ban Lat go straight across. At the next village, Ban Sam Nok Chip, go straight on at a sharp right hand bend, then left and soon right. The concrete road goes across the fields to the wat. Inside the wat boundary wall continue straight on to the buildings (turning left leads to Tham Khuha Wari). Take the path to the right, around a pond, to a sign pointing up the hil to Tham Dam. The wide entrance is 50m along the path. Continuing along the path to the other side of the pond leads to the resurgence cave - Tham Nam. The resurgence can also be reached by continuing past the steps up to Tham Khuha Wari.
Description
The Tham Nam entrance has a deep pool and so it is not the prefered way to get into the cave. Dry access is possible via the Tham Dam entrance. Tham Dam is a wide overhang with a couple of huts built by monks. At the back of the overhang is a chamber with some gour pools. To the right (south) there is a narrow rift that heads southwards, but has not been pushed to a conclusion. From the southern end of the entrance chamber it is possible to climb up into a low bedding plane seasonal stream passage. This is a crawl over cobbles for about 100m to where it opens up into a chamber. A second chamber has a high level draughting inlet passage that has not been pushed to a conclusion. The main stream passage degenerates into a small, wet and muddy tube before reaching an upstream sump. This sump must be quite close to the stream sink. Back in the entrance chamber by heading left (north) a climb down gives access to a seasonal stream passage that soon leads to the Tham Nam entrance.
Fauna
Orthriophis taeniurus (Cope 1861) (Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae) (unpublished record) Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797) (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Taphozous melanopogon Temminck, 1841 (Chordata,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 thomasi Andersen, 1905 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) (Robinson and Smith 1997) Hipposideros armiger (Hodgson, 1835) (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) (Robinson and Smith 1997)
Documents
[Topo] LO0056 07/05/2019Bibliography 12/03/2020
- ELLIS, MARTIN (2010) "Caving Log û January 2010" www.thailandcaves.shepton.org.uk/node/103 ELLIS, MARTIN (2013) "Some Caves in Thailand Part 3" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 12 No. 10 pp554-578 Gosset, John (2014) "Prospections en Thailande" l'Equipe SpÚlÚo de Bruxelles blog 26 May 2014 esbhotnews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/prospections-en-… 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 VOGT, NILS B. (2013) "Temple Caves & Grottoes in Thailand: A Picture-Guide Book" Booksmango, Bangkok ISBN 978-616-222-160-6 214pp
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Tham Khuha Wari - LO0055 | 712 | 24 |
| 0.1 | Tham Nguep - LO0059 | 36 | 2 |
| 0.2 | Tham Khuha Wari 2 - LO0064 | 2 | 0 |
| 0.2 | Tham Pha Pak Om [LO0111] | 167 | 9 |
| 0.2 | Tham Jaeng [LO0117] | 75 | |
| 0.6 | LO0142 (Cave) | 5 | 0 |
| 1.2 | Khao San Hin 2 (Tham) [LO0161] | ||
| 1.2 | Cave LO0190 | 60 | 3 |
| 1.3 | Tham Khao San Hin [LO0115] | 75 | 1 |