Ao Talo Wao, Koh Tarutao
The site of Tarutao's 1930s penal colony, on the island's remote east coast.
Ao Talo Wao, Koh Tarutao
Ao Talo Wao, on the east coast of Koh Tarutao, was the site of one of the two penal settlements the Thai government established on the island in the 1930s. Ordinary convicts were held here; political prisoners were kept further south at Talo Udang.
During the Second World War supplies to the island were cut off, and the guards and prisoners together turned to piracy in the Malacca Strait - a period that ended only when British forces were sent to suppress them in 1946. The camp was closed and the island abandoned to the forest.
Reconstructions of the prison buildings and a small exhibition stand at the bay today, along with the remains of the track that crossed the island. It is reached by boat around the coast or by the rough road across from Ao Pante Malacca, and sees very few visitors.
- Toe Boo Cliff — Toe Boo Cliff is the viewpoint above Ao Phante Malacca, the bay where Ko Tarutao's national park headquarters and main pier...
- Ao Pante Malacca, Koh Tarutao — The arrival bay and park headquarters on Koh Tarutao, at the mouth of a mangrove river.
