Submitted by Henry on
The intriguing mystery surrounding a small expedition into the caves of Tham Lod in Pang Mapha Thailand in the late 1800's...
Tham Lod Cave is one of Thailand’s most impressive and easily accessible caves, partly for its size, partly for its attractive limestone stalactite formations and partly for an unusual coffin cave hidden within the main cave.
Tham Lod is a cave system with a length of 1.666 meters. Geologic formations sprouting from the floor and ceiling, and forming flowstone columns where stalactites and stalagmites grew together. Tham Lod Cave is a natural limestone cave system, its main feature is the freshwater stream which runs through the middle of the cave for about 200-300 meters. Inside it’s walls are covered with massive formations and columns over 20 meters high. The cave is also home to large numbers of bats and swifts.
I walked by a spider with narrow legs long enough to spread across my face, and spotted a pair of insects whose buzzing wings sounded like an electric rattle and whose bodies emitted bright red lights like strobing LEDs. - Russ Juskalian, visitor
The inner walls of the cave are covered with giant formations and columns (some more than 20 meters high) but there are many steps to climb up to get a really good view of the stalagmites & stalactites. When progressing further deeper into the cave, there is no light whatsoever, in order to explore the caverns, you must have a good guide with a decent burning torch which makes the exploration of the cave an even more mysterious atmosphere. Also filling the caves were thousands of bats and swifts a type of small bird and teakwood coffins thought to have been carved by the Lawa tribespeople over 1,400 years ago.