Tham Ku Kaeo - CR0010

อำเภอแม่สาย (TH)
20.330501,99.863134
Length 530m Depth 10m
Grottocenter / carte

Location

Within the grounds of Wat Tham Plah, 50m north-west of the main entrance a flight of naga stairs leads up to the entrance. Martin Ellis - 10/08/2019

Description

Martin Ellis - 10/08/2019

The entrance platform has a reclining Buddha. After 40m the cave bends sharply right and appears to stop at a statue of a hermit, but a small hole on the left leads to the inner part of the cave. The next section is fairly tortuous with several crawls less than 50cm high. After 150m the cave opens into a more spacious passage 8-9m wide by 5-6m high, decorated with columns and suspended gour pools. 500m from the entrance an irregularly shaped chamber has several short passages leading off it, all of which appear to be blocked. A couple of these cul-de-sacs house a marvellous collection of clay figurines representing the Buddha surrounded by the multitude of humanity going about their daily lives. Some of the breakdown sections in the floor are unstable and have pockets of bad air. The pitches at the end are over 20m deep and have not been descended. A monk called Kruba Boon Choom Yannawaro moulded the Buddha Images in this cave since he was a novice. In 2497 B.E. a monk called Luangpo Kamon Soothiyano made a doorway into this cave and surveyed it. He found that it is a nice stalagmite and stalactite cave then he named it ôKhoo Khaew Caveö.

Fauna

Martin Ellis - 10/08/2019

Eukoenenia lyrifer CondÚ, 1992 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Palpigradi, Eukoenenioidea, Eukoeneniidae) - type locality (CondÚ 1992) Psiloderces septentrionalis Deeleman-Reinhold, 1995 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae, Araneomorphae, Ochyroceratidae) (Deeleman-Reinhold 1995) Belisana schwendingeri Huber, 2005 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae, Araneomorphae, Pholcidae) (Huber 2005) Troglopedetes multispinosus Deharveng et Gers, 1993 (Arthropoda, Entognatha, Entomobryomorpha, Entomobryoidea, Paronellidae) (Deharveng and Gers 1993) Protrinemura leclerci Mendes, 2002 (Arthropoda, Insecta, Zygentoma, Protrinemuridae) û type locality (Mendes 2002) Eustra leclerci (Deuve, 1986) (Arthropoda, Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae) û type locality (Deuve 2001)

Topographie

Martin Ellis - 10/08/2019

DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1987) - Grade UISv2 3-2-A

Documents

[Topo] Tham Ku Kaeo 28/04/2019
Bibliography 10/08/2019

History

1986 The cave was explored and surveyed by the APS expedition. 1988-01-21 L. Maffre, F. Pallier, C. Thouin, B. Tonnelier 2014-03-11 M. Ellis, R. Harper, V. Unsworth 2015-06 P. Collett, V. Unsworth attempted to descend the pitches at the end of the cave, but these were deeper than the equipment available. 2016-07-06 M. Ellis, Y. Sopha Martin Ellis - 10/08/2019

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.2Tham Plah - CR0013
0.3Resurgence CR0076
0.3Tham Plaew Plong Fah - CR0015547
0.4Resurgence CR0077
0.5Cave CR0011 - CR0011
0.7Tham Noi [CR0078]80
0.8Tham Sao Hin Phraya Naak [CR0028]800
1.6Cave CR0101
1.6Sink CR0103