Tham Christmas - MH0109
19.583667,98.262088
Location
South of the dirt track between Ban Tham Lod and Ban Huai Haeng. Park at 47Q 423110 2165220, head north on the track for 60 m before going west off the road. After 150 m pass to the south of the Tham Hued and follow the path west up the valley for 400 m. Take the northern branch at the valley junction and the cave is close to the path slightly over 750 m from the road.
Description
A superbly decorated main chamber with three entrance windows, beautifully lit by the afternoon sun.The main chamber is V-shaped, involving a steep scramble down over boulders to reach the inner passage. A 5 m vertical drop (rope or bamboo pole required) leads down to the stream, which is usually dry except during the rainy season.The stream passage is only passable for a short distance before meeting a sump. In 1997 this was passed as a low-airspace duck or free-dive (2 m). Beyond the duck the cave opens up. It is possible to climb down a couple of drops before reaching a 20 m pitch.Below the pitch the passage is narrower and descends to a pool with cave fish. This pool may be a sump, but there is a bit of a draught and the air is good. The stream probably connects with the northern tributray in Tham Hued before resurging at Tham Nam Hu. Blind cave fish are present
Topographie
FOAKES, MARTIN (1998) - Sketch survey (Grade 2) - no north arrow, but survey appears to be orientated with north up.
Fauna
Paratachycines (Paratachycines) thailandensis Gorochov, 2002 (Arthropoda, Insecta, Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoroidea, Raphidophoridae) (Gorochov 2002)
Documents
Bibliography 22/05/2020- +Borowsky, Richard (1997) "Northern Thailand, the caves of Mae Hong Son" Met Grotto News April 1997. Abstracted by National Speleological Society in Speleo Digest 1997 p326 +DE VOOGD, OTTO (2005) "Tham Lod" www.infohub.com/forums +DILOKWANICH, S.; ET AL. (2000) "An Exploration and Database System of the Caves, Mae Hong Son Province" 6 Vols. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok - STD614 +DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT (1995) "The Caves of Thailand" Speleological Research Council, Sydney ISBN 0-9589253-9-9 ***Fernßndez, Dani (2017) "De cuevas por el Sureste Asiatico. Cap. 2. Espeleologia en Tailandia" Club Abismo Grupo Espeleol¾gico 14 September 2017 +FOAKES, MARTIN (1998) "Caving in North-West Thailand" International Caver No. 22 pp32-35 +HOSIE, PAUL (2010) "Under the Top of Thailand. Part One û Cave Lodge" Caves Australia No. 182 pp19-21 +JUSKALIAN, RUSS (2011) "Caves and Kayaks in a Quiet Corner of Thailand" New York Times Travel 7 October 2011 travel.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/travel/ban-tham-lod-… [accessed 9 October 2011] also published in Seattle Times 9 October 2011 seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2016411069_t… [accessed 14 October 2011] +KETMAIER, VALERIO; DI RUSSO, CLAUDIO; RAMPINI, MAURO; BERNHARDT, NADINE; TIEDEMANN, RALPH; COBOLLI, MARINA (2013) "Molecular Divergence and Evolutionary relationships among Aemodogryllinae from Southern China, Laos amd Thailand (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae)" Subterranean Biology Vol. 10 pp25-35 +SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) "Caves of Northern Thailand" River Books, Thailand, ISBN 9749863135 +Weare, Robin (2014) "Mud maps and caves in Thailand" presentation at Hidden Earth 2014
History
1991-12-25 Benoit Stinglhamber, Magnus Bj÷rkman found cave 1997-02 Martin Foakes, Paul Harries, Julie Harries, Andrew Foakes, Rachel Foakes, Gareth extended the cave to 20 m pitch. Next day Martin Foakes and Bill dropped the pitch to the blind fish pool. 2019-02-27 J. Brush, M. Coggan, N. Anderson
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | Tham Hued - MH0033 | 1365 | 3 |
| 0.5 | Cave MH0003 - MH0003 | 25 | |
| 0.8 | Tham Ban Tham North - MH0034 | 20 | 0 |
| 1.4 | Cave MH0192 - MH0192 | 530 | 0 |
| 1.5 | Cave MH0207 - MH0207 | 200 | 0 |
| 1.5 | Tham Sak Hoy - MH0206 | 150 | 0 |
| 1.5 | Tham Bendit 1 - MH0012 | 100 | 6 |
| 1.7 | Cave MH0213 - MH0213 | ||
| 1.8 | Cave MH0193 - MH0193 | 5 | 5 |