Emerald Lake (also called Sa Morakot), Crystal Lake (also called Crystal pond) and Blue Lake are three pearls that are included in the best sights of Krabi province. The lakes are located in one place, not in the national park, but the attraction has its own territory with limited (in the sense - paid) entrance and is wildly popular with both foreign tourists and the local population.
In my opinion, this attraction is interesting, if only because the local natural beauty is very unusual for our people. Since childhood, we have somehow already got used to the plains and calm Russian nature. But the local park area for a resident of the middle lane is a parallel world. No joke - a forest that grows in water.
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Crystal Pool
After 50 meters from the main entrance, you will come across a sign to the right, onto the Natural Trail. The main dirt road with the bulk of tourists runs ahead, bending around the stream invisible to the eye, which murmurs to the right behind the trees. And the Natural Trail is a system of pedestrian bridges that run directly along the river and forest lakes. The main road ends in the town of administrative buildings within 800 meters, and the length of the footbridges is about 1400 meters. Most people take the shorter route, but I highly recommend walking the bridges one way..
This is the only way you can see truly unusual landscapes of a rainforest flooded with water, or you can even say that this is a river in which a forest grows. Sometimes the forest moves apart and backwaters appear, sometimes the channel narrows to a width of less than a meter, and the water becomes turbulent and noisy. By the way, just moving along the trail you will see Crystal Lake, which is a large clearing in a mangrove forest (if these are mangroves, of course), filled with crystal clear water. You cannot swim in it - it is too shallow, and the fence of the bridges does not provide such an option.
On the way, you will come across a bird watcher's tower, still in more or less normal condition. You can climb up and take pictures. But be careful, the spiral staircase is far from the first freshness and staggers a little.
This is how the beginning of Natural Trail looks like
And this is how the short path looks like, which is 800 meters
The bridges are made of concrete and the railings here are also cement, but everything is decorated with wood.
Whether the forest grows in the river
Whether the river flooded the forest
Bridges run through both trees and open spaces
In narrow places, the water boils and accelerates.
At the bottom - deposits of minerals from the water.
The routes here are not linear, you can choose where to go.
Sometimes the forest parts, the river gets wider
Birdwatching Tower
View from the tower, nothing special
Crystal Lake, it is also Crystal Pool
Emerald Pool
The path of the bridges ends literally a few meters before the administrative buildings, so you get back from the jungle to the main road, and then you have two options: go to the locker room, change clothes for swimming in the Emerald Lake, or continue following the signs, if you are already ready to swim. Believe me, you won't be able not to swim. Unless only if you like to sleep and arrived at the reserve later than 10 am. Then crowds of tourists are waiting for you, noise and instead of the Emerald Lake - a bank with sprats.
By the way, people very often confuse salty with iron, sometimes assigning all three toponyms to one lake - in which they swam. But this is a delusion, and it is explained by the fact that many pass by the Crystal Lake and do not reach the Blue Lake. And they are located in different places of the reserve, with the Blue Lake - at a decent distance.
Emerald Lake is generally an artificial reservoir with smooth edges and a bottom, which was hollowed out in the rock on the way to the natural stream. The newly minted pool is filled with amazingly clear water and the minerals in it give the entire lake a stunning hue that I personally would call beryl, but definitely not emerald. And yes, you can swim only in the Emerald Lake, in the rest you cannot.
The first thing that you will see on the way to the Emerald Lake
In the area of the lake, benches are installed not in a continuous row
On the far side, there are usually fewer people jostling on the shore, so go there for a swim..
Emerald Lake, it is also Emerald Pool. The depth is about 1.5 meters. The stones around are unrealistically slippery
A stormy stream emerges from the lake, through which a bridge is laid. Do not grab the trees with your hands - there are living creatures and they bite.
Blue Pool
From the Emerald Lake, past the Hermit's Sanctuary, there is a concrete bridge designed to preserve the ecosystem of the reserve from the shoes of tourists. It is laid out in an open place, it will be quite hot to go, so stock up on water and umbrellas from the sun. Here along the way there will be another abandoned ornithological tower, there is a sign on it - not to enter, but there is nothing special to take off from it. But behind her you can hide and go to the toilet (but what if). You can climb the tower, but it's scary - everything is rusted and staggers somehow threateningly. You better not risk it.
I would call Blue Lake the Blue Pond because it does not reach the lake from the word «generally». The diameter of the pond is about 30 meters, the depth is about three meters, however, due to the transparency of the water, the depth seems to be much shallower. I know this because when I was in the Blue Lake, desperate compatriots with snorkel masks were swimming in the Blue Lake, although swimming is prohibited here. Unique ecosystem? No, you haven't. Hazardous Mineral Content? When did it stop us? From personal impressions, the Blue Lake in Krabi is the quintessence of all the lakes of the province that I have seen. Stunningly deep sapphire color, from which you fall into an aesthetic stupor for about five minutes while your hands take a series of identical shots.
After the Emerald Lake, the path begins in the open area.
She walks past the hermit house
Past the fern thickets, in which another tower sticks out
And then the concrete ends with a dirt path.
Blue Lake, it is also Blue Pool
If you climb to the water, then step only on driftwood and logs, otherwise it will suck.
Three meters deep, how do you like it? If you clap your hands loudly, then clouds of bubbles rise from the bottom..
Information to visit
Entrance fee is 200 Baht per adult and 100 Baht per child. The toilet near the entrance is paid - 5 baht. Car parking - 50 baht, bikes - 20 baht per vehicle.
The park is open from 8 am to 5 pm. Blue Lake is open to the public from 10 am to 3 pm. The best option for a relaxing trip is to come here on weekdays and early in the morning. The park is closed from May to October.
It is forbidden to enter the territory of the reserve with your food and drinks - everything is taken away at the entrance, so hide the counterfeit better at the very bottom of the bag. There are several parking lots near the entrance, one of which is located directly at the ticket office, and two more large ones right next to the main road. By and large, there is no difference where exactly to park - everything is nearby and everything is paid.
From the main road to the entrance to the park, there is a street with Thai cafes and makashniki. There is also a good coffee shop where you can have breakfast and lunch..
The time to visit all three lakes with swimming will take about two or three hours, well, or more if you like swimming. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the bathing lake, and from it another 15 minutes to the Blue Pool. Walking alone will take you about an hour, given the crowd on the trail..
I highly recommend coming to the reserve with the Emerald Lake no later than 8-9 o'clock in the morning. I arrived at 10 and was already stunned by the number of people near the ticket offices, I managed to shoot Emerald Pool in its natural beauty, and when I returned half an hour later from Blue Lake, there was just a pool teeming with people. What is bad - they kick up silt from the bottom with their feet and the water becomes not emerald at all. And swimming in the same pond with such a crowd is not very pleasant.
Be especially careful when visiting during high season and on weekends. The place is popular both among tourists and among Thais themselves, who, unlike farangs, pay ten times less entrance fee. You understand, in this situation, when they have here a whole complex of natural attractions with reservoirs nearby, and lakes and hot springs, and even almost free of charge - it is clear that in their free time they come here with whole families, and families with Thais big.
Parking closest to the entrance
A small restaurant near the entrance to the park. They cook so-so, and for a long time.
Entrance tickets price. Not Thai - pay 10 times more.
Entrance gate, barrier and, on the left - cash desk.
The store is prohibited. Food and plastic bottles are taken at the entrance.
Single tourists are rare here, if they come, then immediately by buses.
On the map
Emerald Pool Park Map
Emerald Pool Park Map:
