Tham Nam - CM0167
19.750000,98.910000
Location
On the northern edge of Pha Daeng National Park, about 1 km from the Myanmar border. A track signposted "Muang Na Caves" leads northwards from near the bridge just to the east of Muang Na town. After about 1km, while still amongst buildings, take a concrete road on the right. The concrete ends at a crematorium. Continue on the dirt track through the fields (concrete and paving on the steep sections) to a forest temple. From the temple take the track along the north-west side of the farmed doline. At the downstream end, on the western side, of the doline a steep footpath goes down past a small sala/shrine. There is a sign in English. Tham Nam 47Q 490680 2183993 Alt.: 745 m Tham Ngam 47Q 490677 2183967 Alt.: 767 m
Description
The southern entrance to Tham Lom is hidden behind boulders and descends steeply to the main stream level 15 m below. Downstream soon reaches a boulder choke which has been connected to Tham Nam. Going upstream the main passage is level and spacious, following a seasonal stream. The sides of the stream bed are lined with calcite crystals caused by the evaporation of stagnant pools of water, which has also created pendulites and other interesting cave formations. There are a series of large chambers and extensive unstable rock falls on the higher slopes, possibly leading to upper passages. Beyond this point the large passage continues and after 800 m an active stream is met. The water is mainly waist deep, but up to chest deep in one place. Tham Lom ends at a strongly draughting boulder choke. 300 m before the end a climb up, marked by home-made rope and motorcycle tyre ladders, ascends to a large chamber which is 40 m across and 50 m high. This chamber is well decorated and a passage leads to a second entrance that is very close to the Myanmar border, but still in Thailand. The big collapse entrance to Tham Ngam is 25 m wide by 13 m high and descends very steeply into a wide descending passage. This slope/drop is easily bypassed by following the left-hand wall. Progress is made on a very flat clay floor and after a significant narrowing the gallery enlarges again to the previous dimensions and stays this size to the end. This big collapse passage is littered with huge boulders and half way along a huge 10 m high column splits the gallery in two with the way on along the right-hand wall. A possible way on in the boulder choke was seen under a large boulder, but not descended and there was no air current. In the entrance to Tham Nam the upper part of the wooden monk's ladder has fallen into disrepair so it is necessary to rig the 15 m pitch. The pitch lands in a chamber. From the chamber heading upstream soon closes down in a boulder choke, which has been connected to the boulder choke at the downstream end of Tham Lom. Going downstream from the entrance chamber, a streamway can be followed for 200 m to a boulder choke which is below the boulders in Tham Ngam. A link between the caves has been made through these boulders. Tham Nam is a complex cave with a seasonal streamway and a series of higher level large, boulder filled passages and chambers, which head southwards and link with the passages which were explored from Tham Luek Kluai. The entrance to Tham Luek Kluai is a 20 m pitch located close to the H1178 road. The main passage, heading north towards Tham Nam, is 10 m high. Another branch of the cave descends to 89 m below the entrance and is the deepest part of the cave system, but has high CO2 levels. In 2017 a large passage, Tham Birthday, was found which went south for 200 m to a choke with surface debris and domestic rubbish and north for several hundred metres to a boulder choke. Exploration of the northern end of Tham Birthday found found a couple of connections with passages explored southwards from Tham Nam. The system still has many leads left ongoing, but exploration is made difficult by bad air, the boulder chambers and the distances that have to be covered.
Topographie
Tham Lom: JARLAN, PHILIPPE; CARON-JARLAN, VIOLAINE, BELUCHE, ALEXANDRA; BELUCHE, FRANCOIS (2010) - Grade UISv2 2-2-A SMCC March 2012 - Grade UISv2 6-3-F Gosset et al. February 2015 Tham Ngam: JARLAN, PHILIPPE; CARON-JARLAN, VIOLAINE, BELUCHE, ALEXANDRA; BELUCHE, FRANCOIS (2010) Grade UISv2 3-3-F. SMCC March 2011 - entrance to boulder choke Grade UISv2 6-3-F Tham Nam: Grade UISv2 6-1-F centre-line survey - Avila, Bolger & Wyderka 28 May 2013 Gosset, John (2016b) USv2
Documents
Bibliography 29/06/2019- +Anon. (2015g) "Projet de prospections et dÆexplorations spÚlÚos en Thailande (2016)" l'Equipe SpÚlÚo de Bruxelles 9pp ***Bolger, Terry; Ellis, Martin (2018) "An overview of caves and caving in Thailand" Journal of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association No 110 pp32-37 ***Callister, Paul (2019) ôSMCC in Thailand 2019ö Shepton Mallet Caving Club Newsletter Vol. 56 No. 1 pp13-14 +ELLIS, MARTIN (2005) "Some Caves in Thailand Part 1" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 11 No. 7 pp294-321 +Ellis, Martin (2015a) "Some caves in Thailand Part 4" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 13 No. 3 pp91-118 +Ellis, Martin; Laumanns, Michael (2017) "Thailand" in Laumanns, Michael; Price, Liz (eds.) (2017) "Atlas of the Great Caves and Karst of Southeast Asia: Part 2 Myanmar - Vietnam" second edition, Berliner Hohlenkundliche Berichte Band 67 pp241-292 +Gosset, John (2015b) "ExpÚdition DAO 2015 (suite et fin)" l'Equipe SpÚlÚo de Bruxelles blog 3 April 2015 esbhotnews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/expedition-dao-2… +Gosset, John (2016a) "Dao 2015 Expe Tha´lande" Regards No. 81 pp76-95 +Gosset, John (2016b) "Expedition Thailande DAO2016" l'Equipe SpÚlÚo de Bruxelles blog 20 March 2016 +Gosset, John (2016c) "Report for FSE Euro Speleo Project ESP-2016-01 Thailand û DAO 2016" unpublished report for Federation Speleologique Europeenne 12pp +Gosset, John (2017a) "Expedition Tha´lande DAO2017, du 16 janvier au 1er fevrier" 6 April 2017 l'Equipe SpÚlÚo de Bruxelles blog [accessed April 2017] esbhotnews.blogspot.co.uk/ 2017/04/expedition-thailande-dao2017-du-16.html (French) ***Gosset, John (2017b) "DAO 2016 Exp? Tha?lande" Regards No. 83, Union Belge de Sp?l?ologie, pp54-69 ***Gosset, John (2019b) "Dao 2017 Exp? Tha?lande" Regards No. 86, Union Belge de Sp?l?ologie, pp36-51 (French) +JARLAN, PHILIPPE; CARON-JARLAN, VIOLAINE, BELUCHE, ALEXANDRA; BELUCHE, FRANCOIS (2010) "Expedition NANTHAI 2008" SociÚtÚ SpÚlÚologique de l' AriÞge-Pays d'Olmes 55pp +SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) "Caves of Northern Thailand" River Books, Thailand, ISBN 9749863135
History
Tham Lom: 2008-07 the entrance was visited by the SSAPO, but the cave was not surveyed. 2009-09-18 M. Ellis, T. Bolger - The entrance was also visited by a SMCC team 2012-03-06 M. Ellis, P. Collett, S. Hall - The first 500 m of the cave was surveyed 2015-02 a team lead by John Gosset thoroughly explored and surveyed the cave for a week. Tham Ngam: 2008-07 the cave was explored and surveyed by the SSAPO. 2012-03-06 M. Ellis, P. Collett, S. Hall - resurveyed as far as the boulder choke. 2012-11 T. Bolger, A. Morgan, T. Wyderka, G. Washburn - investigated the cave without finding a way through the boulder chokes. Tham Nam: 2009-09-18 M. Ellis, T. Bolger - The entrance was visited by a SMCC team 2013-05 T. Bolger, T. Wyderka, A. Avil - entrance pitch was descended and a centre-line survey conducted. 2015-02 Tham Nam and Tham Ngam were linked by John Gosset's team. 2016-02 John Gosset's team greatly extended Tham Nam and linked it to Tham Luek Kluai 2017-02 John Gosset's team linked Tham Lom and Tham Nam. Also extended Tham Ngam and Tham Nam. Explored Tham Birthday passage in Tham Luek Kluai and found two more connections to Tham Nam. Explored Tham Lom 2 (crosses Myanmar border) and Tham Lom 3 (in Mynamar) 2019-01-29 John Gosset's team linked Tham Lom and Tham Lom 2. Cave now crosses border. 2019-01-31 John Gosset's team linked linked system to Tham Lom 3. Total length 12 km.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Tham Lom [Tham Nam System] [CM0142] | 10668 | 176 |
| 0.2 | Tham Chang-Pha Hok - CM0140 | 148 | 13 |
| 0.2 | Cave CM0300 | 20 | 20 |
| 1.2 | Tham Muang Na Nua - CM0137 | 20 | 0 |
| 1.5 | Tham Lom 2 [CM0305] | 710 | 75 |
| 3.5 | Tham Wua - CM0177 | 50 | 0 |
| 4.5 | Tham Klang Muang 1 - CM0162 | 400 | 0 |
| 4.5 | Tham Klang Muang 2 - CM0163 | 100 | 0 |
| 4.5 | Tham Klang Muang 3 [CM0303] | 25 | 25 |