Khlong Chak waterfall on Koh Lanta: what the national park says about the walk, and where visitor accounts disagree

Khlong Chak waterfall is one of the few inland sights on Koh Lanta, and the figures people give for the walk to it do not agree. This piece sets the national park's own page next to what visitors report online, and says where the two part ways.

What the national park says

The Department of National Parks lists the waterfall under Mu Ko Lanta National Park, in Moo 5, Ko Lanta Yai subdistrict, Ko Lanta district, Krabi. Its page makes these points:

• There is no road to the falls, so visitors go on foot.
• The walk starts at Ban Khlong Chak. At the village you take the left fork and follow the stream upstream, "roughly 3 kilometres" to the falls.
• The activities it lists are nature viewing and picnicking, and it also mentions riding an elephant to the falls.
• The park's general page names Khlong Chak as one of three streams on Ko Lanta Yai that flow all year, with Khlong Nam Chuet and Khlong Nin. It says other streams often run dry in the dry season.

The waterfall page does not give a walking time, the number of drops, the fee, opening hours, rules or facilities. The park's phone number for questions and for which sites are open is 0 7565 6576.

Where visitor accounts disagree

We read visitor reviews, blog posts and tour listings in Thai and English. They are single accounts, many are old, and none is official. They conflict on almost every number:

• Distance: about 1.5 km in one source, about 2 km in another, about 3 km in several. The park says roughly 3 km.
• Time: from 45 to 60 minutes to the falls in one account, to about 2.5 hours with a swim in another and about 3 hours in a third.
• Guide: some accounts say a guide is required and give 200 baht a person, one early-2023 account says 500 baht, and others say they were not made to take one. We found no official statement of the rule.
• Entry: one 2023 account gives 200 baht for an adult and 100 baht for a child, and says the park ticket covers the whole park for that day. Another visitor suggests keeping proof of the park ticket to avoid paying twice. Check the amounts at the gate, and ask for an official ticket.

The accounts agree on a few things: the path is muddy, it crosses shallow water several times, wet-proof shoes help, and the trail passes a bat cave. One says it is easy to wander off the path.

Water, in the wet and the dry

The park says the stream runs all year. Visitors describe the waterfall itself changing a lot: one says June to October brings plenty of water and swimming, another went in late December and found little water but could still swim, and others warn that flow can be very low in the dry season. These do not contradict each other. A stream that never dries can still be a trickle at the falls in March. We found no measurement of the flow in any month.

The same stream matters beyond the walk. Khlong Chak is where the state waterworks planned a weir in 2011, as we set out in our piece on where the island's water comes from.

What to confirm before you go

• The guide rule and the fee on the day, at the trailhead or with the park on 0 7565 6576.
• Whether the trail is open. The seasonal closure from 16 May to 15 November applies to Ko Rok, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, not to this walk.
• How long you will really need. Plan for more than the shortest figure above.

The park's other walks are covered in our piece on its two one-hour nature trails.

Sources: Department of National Parks, Mu Ko Lanta National Park pages (portal.dnp.go.th), read through our own translation; visitor reviews and tour listings in Thai and English, which we cite only as accounts and have not verified. We could not visit the site.