Wednesday 12 October 2016

Travel: Kayaking in Ao Thalane Krabi


Krabi is a bit of an in-between town for a holiday, and is sometimes considered to be a stopover to other islands like Koh Phi Phi, but nevertheless, it does have a charm of its own and its own share of activities to offer.

One of the things I would definitely recommend is doing a kayaking trip through the mangroves! 

I had booked the tour online through TripStoreKrabi after reading a few reviews, and decided to take the half day kayaking trip. Mind you, the website mostly liases with several local vendors, but we were linked up to Sea Kayak Krabi for this particular trip.

A shuttle picked us up from our hotel about 9ish, and it was a leisurely thirty minute drive to the kayaking site. We were the only people in our shuttle at the time, having made the trip during low season, but there were several other groups who were pushing off at the same location at different times.

We were introduced to our guide, ‘A’, and we were extremely lucky to be the only four people who had booked the tour, and ended up having a private tour of our own!

We were briefed on how to use our kayaks and then A showed us the map and explained the route we would be taking. The routes depend on the tides – when the tide is lower they won’t be able to kayak the whole circuit.

Surrounding limestone cliffs

Initially you kayak out through the open sea before heading into the mangrove swamps.

For me, entering the mangrove estuary was almost magical. 

Heading into the ancient limestone karsts
 Imagine kayaking through what feels like an ancient forest, with majestic limestone cliffs looming over on either side. I honestly felt like I was going through a scene that wouldn’t be amiss in Jurassic Park. Depending on the parts of the estuary you kayak through, the waters can be a bit murky or very clear, but very very green. There’s rich birdlife, and our guide was forever pointing out the little mudcrabs at the side, or the birds that were darting in and out.

He ever brought us to a part of the estuary where the James Bond movie, Man with the Golden Gun was filmed, and told us how exciting it was as a child to actually see the jetskis brought in for the movie scenes. 


Through the estuary, there are several caves – once again, being able to go into these caves depend on the tides – if the tides are too low, you won’t be able to visit. We visited the Crocodile Cave, which was full of stalactites and stalagmites, named such because of a crocodile that used to reside in it – we were assured that it no longer did!

You do need to be a little bit fit for this activity – the tides can be strong at times, and it can get tiring. Those short breaks in between the paddling really were great for photo stops and a bit of a rest, and I would definitely recommend the half day tour for those who aren’t up for as much physical activity!


We paid about 600 Baht per person for the half day tour, which seemed very reasonable. I saw a few other vendors offering tours between 500-600 baht, but considering we had done a small group tour and had such a fantastic personalized experience with our guide, I wouldn’t have asked for more.

A second kayak trip!

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