Thi Lo Su waterfall
Interesting facts
- The Karen name is often translated as black waterfall, though some sources say local Karen originally called it Thi Lo Chu, the great waterfall.
- Estimates of its width range from about 400 to 500 metres, and some describe the limestone cliff behind it as nearly 300 metres high.
- The Klotho stream feeds Thi Lo Su strongly all year round, so the curtain of water never runs dry, even in the hot season.
- Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary, declared in 1989, covers about 2,590 square kilometres under IUCN category Ia, the strictest level of protection.
- The sanctuary is part of Thailand's Western Forest Complex and borders Myanmar as well as the Thung Yai Naresuan sanctuary.
- Its forests form the watershed of the Mae Klong and Khwae Yai rivers, which carry the water south through Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi toward the sea.
- The sanctuary shelters Indochinese tigers, Asian elephants, Malayan tapirs, clouded leopards and great hornbills.
- The same sanctuary holds Pi Tu Kro, a heart-shaped waterfall, and Thi Lo Re on its border with Thung Yai Naresuan.
- The protected forests span altitudes from about 80 to more than 2,100 metres, and nights turn cold from November to February.
Why it is worth it
Deep in the forests of western Thailand, the Klotho stream spills over a limestone escarpment in a curtain of falling water some 250 metres high and several hundred metres wide. Thi Lo Su is generally described as the largest and highest waterfall in Thailand, although it has never been formally surveyed and its dimensions are estimates. The name comes from the Karen language of the people who live in this border region, and the falls lie within the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak Province, at an elevation of around 900 metres.
The falls are not a single drop but a broad wall of many separate streams, tumbling in tiers down the cliff. Seen from the front, they fall into three groups: the left-hand group is the largest, highest and most layered; the central one drops down a sheer face in narrower ribbons; and the right-hand group spreads into many smaller strands over a lower cliff. Spray drifts over the boulders at the foot, and rainbows often form in it; the Tourism Authority of Thailand singled out the rainbows of Thi Lo Su in a national campaign promoting the country's natural wonders. The waterfall is at its fullest during the rainy months from June to November, when the stream swells and the curtain widens.
The approach from the sanctuary headquarters is a nature trail of about 1.5 km through bamboo and mixed deciduous forest, where wild Curcuma flowers grow on the forest floor. Below the falls, a further path climbs to a viewpoint on the opposite hillside, from which the whole width of the cascade can be taken in at once.
Getting there
Thi Lo Su lies in Umphang District, south-west of the small town of Umphang. From the Umphang road a turn-off at Ban Mae Klong Mai leads about 30 km to the sanctuary checkpoint, followed by some 26 km of unpaved track to the sanctuary headquarters and a 1.5 km walk. The nearest larger town on the Thai side is Mae Sot, about 90 km away in a straight line, served by Mae Sot Airport (MAQ), about 88 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Thi Lo Su Waterfall is claimed to be the largest and highest waterfall in Thailand. It stands 250 metres (820 ft) high and nearly 450 metres (1,480 ft) wide on the Mae Klong River, flowing down from Huai Klotho into the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak Province in northwestern Thailand.
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