Wooden jetty on Big Bay, Talu Island. Situated
about 600 kilometers south of the capital on the Andaman Sea coast, the Bang
Saphan neighborhood is becoming an increasingly popular stopover for
tourists bored of Thailand’s better known attractions. (Photo Credit: Ton
Gerrits)
Peter Janssen
Koh Talu, Thailand (dpa) - Prida Chareonpak, 67,
makes an unlikely conservationist.
Once the owner of a fleet of fishing boats, Prida at the
peak of his career was reaping more than 20,000 dollars worth of seafood a
day from the Gulf of Thailand. But when the fish in the gulf started to get
scarcer he had a change of heart.
“I could have gone overseas to catch fish, but I thought,
‘Why should I go? Why not try to restock the fish here?’” Prida said. Here
was Talu Island, or Koh Talu, a small island (234 hectares) off the coast of
Prachaub Khiri Khan province, about 270 kilometers south of Bangkok, whose
reefs and protective bays have provided a safe haven and spawning ground for
Pla tu, the ubiquitous mackerel, and other fish species for ages.
Koh Talu is one of Thailand’s few privately owned islands
- there are about three or four in the kingdom, all bequeathed to private
individuals by one of Thailand’s former kings. In 1977 Prida started buying
up Koh Talu from the previous owners. To do so - at the cost of about 40
million baht (1.3 million dollars) - he had to sell his fleet of 13 fishing
vessels.
After persuading local authorities to declare the
vicinity around Talu a natural preservation zone about 25 years ago, Prida’s
metamorphosis from fish killer to savior began.
“We had to fight with big fishing boats that were trying
to break the law, and with small local fishermen who were using dynamite to
kill the fish,” Prida recalled. “It took a while.”
Koh Talu, named after the
tunnel that defines its western tip. Talu means tunnel in Thai. Talu
provides the closest decent snorkeling venue for tourists staying at Hua
Hin, one of Thailand’s popular beach resorts which is just a three-hour
drive from Bangkok. (Photo Credit: Ton Gerrits)
Initially, Prida was more concerned with restoring Koh
Talu’s environment than turning it in to a tourist destination, but his
children had other ideas. In 1996 eldest son Thanapoom built three bungalows
on Talu’s Big Bay beach, charging visitors 600 baht (20 dollars) a day for
accommodation, food and snorkeling. The bungalows attracted a trickle of
backpackers from Khaosan Road, Bangkok’s notorious cheap neighborhood for
budget travelers.
“Those people can always find somewhere new,” said
Phaopipat, Prida’s second son and current manager of Koh Talu Island Resort.
The resort, the only one on the island, is no longer charging 600 baht a
night.
A two-day tour of the island, including a bus trip from
Hua Hin beach resort (125 kilometers north of Koh Talu), speed boat trips to
the island and back, accommodation in one of the resort’s 62 air-conditioned
rooms, and snorkeling or scuba diving excursions, costs about 5,000 baht
(160 dollars).
Talu provides the closest decent snorkeling venue for
tourists staying at Hua Hin, one of Thailand’s popular beach resorts which
is just a three-hour drive from Bangkok. Although Hua Hin offers plenty of
five-star hotels with large swimming pools, water sports and sunbathing,
there is nothing to see with a snorkel except a few jellyfish.
The nearest reef is at Koh Talu, part of the Bang Saphan
district of Prachuab Khiri Khan.
Situated half way between Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand’s
most popular resort island situated about 600 kilometers south of the
capital on the Andaman Sea coast, the Bang Saphan neighborhood is becoming
an increasingly popular stopover for tourists bored of Thailand’s better
known attractions.
“Most of our guests come straight to Bang Saphan from
Bangkok, spend three nights here and then travel on to Phuket,” said Anirach
Sunthathip, desk manager of the Bangsaphan Coral Resort, which caters to
French tourists.
Koh Talu Island Resort allows private dive boats to take
tourists to two designated snorkeling spots on the reef around the island,
but does not permit them to land.
Prida Chareonpak,
fisherman-turned-conservationist, has dedicated the second half of his life
to rehabilitating the environment around Talu Island. (Photo Credit: Ton
Gerrits)
“They are limited to two snorkeling spots, so if the reef
is destroyed, it will only be in those areas,” Prida said.
His battle to preserve the island’s environment has
apparently shifting from fighting fishermen to fighting dive boat operators
and their passengers.
“The reef has improved a lot but now there are about
1,000 people visiting it every day,” Prida said. “For foreign tourists it is
no big problem because they understand about conservation, but the Thai
tourists wear life jackets, play loud music, step on the coral and want to
take chunks of it home as souvenirs.”
Prida has adopted a philosophical attitude to his
struggle. “We have to gradually teach people,” he said. “It may take 100
years, but we will eventually be able to rehabilitate this area.”
