The Island of Koh Phra Thong
Thailand’s Koh Phra Thong is named after a local legend of buried treasure. As the story goes, many years ago a band of pirates attracted by the island’s isolation or perhaps ship wrecked by rough seas, buried a Golden Buddha at an undisclosed location on the island. There is no record of it ever having been discovered, and it may well be hidden somewhere in the confines of our tropical island resort! This sprit of adventure and discovery still attracts those discerning few who choose to venture off the beaten path.
There have always been a number of special natural features of Koh Phra Thong Island and in particular the location of Golden Buddha Beach. It fronts onto over 5 miles of pristine beach on the Andaman sea and, in addition, over 4 miles of beach on a beautiful bay containing small picturesque islands with nice rocks and coral for snorkelling. It is also only 60 km from the Surin Islands, Richelieu Rock and only slightly further to the Similan Islands; both are renowned diving locations.
Koh Phra Thong is over 20,000 acres and less than 5% of the island has seen any development. It is a mystery how Koh Phra Thong has remained unknown and relatively undeveloped compared with many of the islands of Thailand.
On the east side is a small fisherman’s village, Thapayoi and on the southeast end is another small village, Thung Dap. These villages total less than 300 inhabitants consisting of Moken, a rare tribe of sea gypsies, and Thais. The largest village, Thapayoi, has a school and a staffed community health centre. Just to the north of the island is a beautiful mountainous island of Koh Ra. This island is predominately national forest with great beaches for exploration and swimming.
In addition to its fine beaches, Koh Phra Thong has large mangrove swamps and wide, open savannahs rich in flora and fauna. Birdlife is especially rich with over a hundred species having been sighted on the island. For a number of years the resort community had a close working relationship with an international conservation group called Naucrates (www.naucrates.com). Each year, scientists from Naucrates and 30-50 volunteers have come to the island to support the protection of the wildlife and natural resources. A key activity that the organization excelled in has been the education of the local people regarding just how special the island is.
Please see the Koh Phra Thong website for more information about this beautiful island.
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