Tarutao National Park

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Tarutao National Park
Urak Lawoi settlement on Ko Adang
Urak Lawoi settlement on Ko Adang
Tarutao National Park (Thailand)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 6 ° 35 ′ 43 "  N , 99 ° 38 ′ 41"  E
Location: Satun , Thailand
Next city: Pak Ba Ra
Surface: 262 km²
Founding: April 19, 1974
Map of southern Thailand
Map of southern Thailand
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The Tarutao National Park ( Thai : อุทยานแห่งชาติ ตะ รุ เตา ) is a marine national park in the Strait of Malacca in the extreme southwest of Thailand , Province ( Changwat ) Satun , Amphoe La-Ngu . The park was the first marine national park in Thailand, it was declared a national park on April 19, 1974. In 1982 it was added to the list of "ASEAN Heritage Parks and Reserve".

history

Tarutao is a Malay word, it means "old" and "mysterious". According to legend, these islands were long gone from the world. A beautiful princess of Langkawi had cast a curse for being falsely executed for adultery. Perhaps the curse was really real, as pirates had robbed passing ships for centuries. It wasn't until 1964 that the British Royal Navy was able to put an end to this.

The history of Tarutao in the 20th century is closely related to the history of democracy in Thailand. In 1939 the prison authorities sought an isolated and unfriendly environment in which to imprison public enemies. A penal colony was set up on Ko Tarutao . Two important groups of insurgents were imprisoned here: the "Bowondet Coup Group" (unsuccessful counter-coup led by Prince Boworadet on October 11, 1933, crushed by Field Marshal Phibul Songkhram ) and the "Petty Officers' Coup Group".

The first prison was built on Talo Udang Bay, but with hundreds of new prisoners arriving every month, another was soon built on Talo Wao Bay. The prisoners had to build a road between the two bays that was 12 km long and 6 m wide. About 30% of the convicts did not survive the hardships. Malaria was the leading cause of death, other factors included hunger and the guards' cruelty. Escape was out of the question, crocodiles and sharks were everywhere where the guards were not looking.

The political prisoners enjoyed relative freedom in the atmosphere of an “open prison”, they were respected for their social status and were able to spend their time doing agricultural experiments, translating and writing dictionaries. After their release, many were able to hold lucrative government posts.

During the Second World War the camps were neglected. No more food supplies arrived from the mainland, so many had to starve to death. The guards and prisoners soon became feared pirates in the Strait of Malacca, hunting for richly laden ships.

Map of the Tarutao National Park

After the end of the Second World War, British naval troops were sent to Tarutao to clear the area of ​​pirate groups. After the prison authorities closed the two prisons in 1946, many settlers came from the surrounding provinces. Fishermen settled in the Tarutaos bays, farmers tilled the land in the valleys with rice, they set up fruit, rubber and coconut palm plantations.

In 1972 the government decided to make the archipelago a national park and sent surveyors here. The park was officially opened in 1974.

Today there are two prison memorials, the Ao Talo Udang Prison is located in the southernmost bay on Tarutao, the Ao Talowao Prison for petty criminals and political prisoners is located in the southeast of the island. A historic 12 km long road was built by prisoners and connects both prisons.

Habitat

The park is located at the junction of the Strait from Malacca to the Andaman Sea , it has an area of ​​1,490 km², consists of 51 islands and belongs to the province of Satun . The islands of the national park are on the edge of the Sunda Trench . Until about 8,500 years ago they were still hills of the mainland, but a higher water level, caused by melting ice at the poles, cut them off from the continent.

The waters of Tarutao National Park are actually home to a variety of colorful corals and other reef-dwellers. However, an excessive occurrence of crown- of- thorns (Acanthaster planci) , storm damage - especially on the south coast in the southern part of the park - as well as forbidden dynamite fishing have severely affected many local reefs .

The marine fauna consists of four different species of sea turtles, the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) , the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) , the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) , dolphins , lobsters , rarely whales and dugongs .

Sun bears , macaques , langurs , monitor lizards and dark tiger pythons live in the country . There are more than 100 species of birds, such as sea ​​eagles , ospreys , red kites , hornbills , herons , stilts , gray fishers and pigeons .

climate

The best time to visit the national park is from November to April. During the six months in which the southwest monsoon prevails, the sea can get very rough, the park then has to reckon with a rainfall of more than 300 mm per month. The average annual rainfall is about 2663 mm. It is usually very dry during the northeast monsoons, especially December through March. The annual average temperature is 27 ° -28 ° C, with November and December being the coolest and April the warmest.

The main islands

  • Ko Tarutao ( เกาะตะ รุ เตา ) is the largest island of the national park and the namesake. It is more than 26 km long, 11 km wide and 151 km² in size. It is 26 km from the mainland and only 5 km from the Malay neighboring island of Langkawi . The topography of Tarutao is dominated by mountain ranges that stretch across the island in a north-south direction and reach 708 m at the highest point. About 60 percent of the island is covered with forest. The southern tip and the east coast are dominated by rugged limestone rock formations, some of which are tiny islets or slender pinnacles off the coast and are overgrown by an astonishing variety of shrubbery . The west coast has long sandy beaches that alternate with mangrove swamps and densely forested hills. In the sometimes very dense mangrove forests there are individual trees with a trunk diameter of 1 m. The Asean Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC) lists the following areas with mangrove forests:
    • Khlong Phante Malakaa: 195 ha; a small open bay with mangroves, partly in connection with limestone sinkholes .
    • Ao Talo Lingai: 128 hectares; Mangroves (78 ha).
    • Ao Talo Wao: 198 hectares; Mangroves (72 ha) and Wadden Sea (126 ha).
    • Ao Talo Dabu: 97 hectares; Mangroves (38 ha) and Wadden Sea (59 ha).
    • Ao Talo Dang: approx. 810 ha; Mangroves (57 ha), with many large Sonneratia trees ( Sonneratia Caseolaris ), adjacent grass plain (55 ha) and the Wadden Sea (approx. 700 ha) on the southern shore of the island.
  • Ko Adang ( เกาะ อา ดัง , with 30 km²) and Ko Rawi ( เกาะ ราวี , with 28 km²), which are 45 km west of Ko Tarutao, are designed differently. Wild granite mountains rise up here, on Ko Adang up to a height of 703 m, on Ko Rawi up to 463 m. In this group of islands there is no limestone, while there is no granite on Tarutao. The dramatic mountain landscape on Ko Adang, almost entirely covered by forest, is very popular with visitors to the park, as the highest points offer a wonderful view of Ko Lipe and the 300-kilometer-wide Malakka Strait . In the rainy season there are impressive waterfalls on the eastern slopes.
  • Ko Li Pe (เกาะ หลี เป๊ะ ) - here is a village of the Urak Lawoi , anethnic minority of Thailandalso known as sea ​​nomads . The formerly semi-nomadic and ethno-religious tribe of the Urak Lawoi ( people of the sea , in Thai: Chao Leh ) is a subgroup of the Orang Laut . They speak a Malayo-Polynesian language and differ greatly from the ethnic Thais due to this and their distinctly different phenotype. You yourself call the 4 km² island Pulau Lipih , which means flat island .
  • Ko Butang ( เกาะ บุ ตัง - also Ko Batong or Ko Dong, เกาะ ดง ), like Ko Lipe, belongs to the “Adang Rawi Group”.

Smaller islands

  • Ko Sarai ( หมู่ เกาะ สาหร่าย ), east of Ko Tarutao.
  • Ko Khai ( Egg Island , เกาะ ไข ), known for its natural rock gate ( ประตู หิน ). Sea turtles lay their eggs here.
  • Ko Ta Nga (also Ko Tanga, เกาะ ตา งา ห์ ), halfway between Ko Tarutao and Ko Adang.
  • Ko Bitsi ( เกาะ บี ด ซี , also Ko Lek: small island )
  • Ko Tarang ( เกาะ ตา รัง )
  • Ko Hin Ngam ( Island of Beautiful Stones , เกาะ หิน งาม ) known for its shiny black, smooth pebbles.
  • Ko Chabang (also Ko Jabang, เกาะ จา บัง )
  • Ko Yang ( เกาะ ยาง )

literature

  • Vasa Sutthipibul (et al., Ed.): National parks in Thailand . National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok 2006, ISBN 974-286-087-4
  • Denis Gray (inter alia): National Parks of Thailand . Communications Resources Ltd., Bangkok 1991, ISBN 974-88670-9-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biodiversity Conservation Center: Tarutao Island ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arcbc.org.ph
  2. ↑ cf. Guide to Mangroves of Singapore
  3. ↑ Urak Lawoi of the Adang Archipelago, by Dr. Supin Wongbusarakum (Eng.)
  4. ^ Merritt Ruhlen: A Guide to the World's Languages, Vol 1, p. 344, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-1894-6

Web links