Overview
Explore the best of Khanom on this unique conservation tour that helps to protect the local habitat of the amazing natural pink dolphins of Thailand. Get off the beaten track in the only place in Thailand where you can see pink dolphins. Just a few hours from the popular holiday islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. The tour includes a unique sightseeing adventure with deserted beaches, natural fish spa and sacred spots. English-speaking guide, pick-up and drop-off and lunch (lunch on the full-day tour only).
Itinerary
- Start + Return Location – Khanom, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
- Start Time – Hotel Pick Up 8:00 AM
- Return Time – Approximately 3:00 PM
- 8:00 AM – Pick up from your hotel and take you to the pier (either Nangkam or Koh Raet depending on weather/season).
- 9:00 AM – Enjoy the beautiful scenery of islands and mountains on the boat ride on the way to see the pink dolphins. Learn more about the natural habitat of the dolphins, their behaviour and how we can help to protect their environment. We’ll also sail past the unique Pancake Rock which sits along the coastline of Lak Sor Bay and Tham island.
- 10:00 AM – Travel to Nui Nok island and visit the sacred freshwater hole in the middle of the ocean that locals believe was created by revered Thai monk, Luang Phu Tuad. Learn more about local Thai culture and discover more than 100 years of legends in this holy place.
- 12:00 PM – Head back to the shore.
The half-day tour finishes here. The full-day tour continues…
- 12:00 PM – Enjoy a fresh and delicious lunch on the beach.
- 1:00 PM – Visit the natural Fish Spa located in the stream of Cho Waterfall.
- 2:00 PM – Visit the Stone Fish Museum, where intricately carved stone fish and aquatic animals offer a stunning and lifelike display of rare and extinct species for future generations to admire. Then, enjoy a refreshing swim and relaxing time at a beautiful natural spring nestled in the jungle.
- 3:00 PM – Journey back to the hotel and relax on the beautiful sandy beach at Khanom. We drop you off back at your hotel in the afternoon.
What to bring:
- Towel
- Personal medication if needed
- Sunblock
- Sunglasses
- Hat
- Suitable shoes for the sea activity
What’s Included?
- Transfer to and from your hotel in Khanom town.
- Lunch, soft drink and drinking water (full-day tour only).
- All admission fees and equipment as stated in the program.
- Professional tour guide (Thai-English) and staff.
- Insurance coverage of over 1 million baht/ person.
Note
This tour requires a minimum of 4 people to run. If you book, but it is not possible to find a group for you to join, your deposit will be refunded in full.
Hi, I’m Nikki. I started this website in 2008 after my first solo backpacking trip to Asia. A trip that changed my life. My vision was to create a travel diary for everyone – a place for all travellers to share their experiences. After living in Southeast Asia for over 10 years, I saw the opportunity to provide backpackers with the kind of experiences that I’d treasured myself in the region.
Excellent and informative, we saw the dolphins and loved watching them feed. A very ethical trip no chasing the dolphins. We also visited the fish carving place. We 100% recommend this trip. Mr Dahn was really good with children too
Full disclaimer – I work at South East Asia Backpacker website but I paid full price for this tour.
I had a wonderful day exploring Khanom with Mr Dang. We got super lucky during our trip and saw loads of pink dolphins, which was an amazing experience. I felt like the tour offered an ethical experience, especially compared to the other boats which seemed to chase the dolphins aggressively. The only downside was that I was sitting at the back of the boat and couldn’t always hear what Mr Dang was saying over the engine noise. It would be better if he got a microphone or moved to the middle of the boat.
As well as the dolphins, we also went to a Buddhist monument (the place of the freshwater swimming hole legend), a natural fish spa (very fun but very busy) and a cave in the afternoon. The cave was amazing but had I known how slippery it was, I would not have worn sandals. Trainers would be better!
We were told to bring swimwear as we would be visiting a secret beach however, we never ended up going – I assume because we got lucky and spent a lot of time watching the dolphins. It’s worth bearing in mind that parts of the schedule can change.
We were very excited to book this tour. We had a beautiful day for a boat ride and our tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable about what he did share. We had anticipated we would have Mr Deans as our guide based on what I read, but we had a different person. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any pink dolphins, which we understand isn’t a guarantee when they have just had their babies. However, I would have thought we would have learned more about their habitat and the conservation efforts being made for these creatures. The pancake rock was interesting to see. We only did the half day tour and are thankful we did because we were told later that the remainder of the group did not go to the fish spa pictured in the tour photos. I completely understand that spotting wildlife isn’t always going to happen, but the remainder of the trip did not really go as advertised. We are thankful for this tour drawing is to Khanom, though. It has been a beautiful place to spend some of our time in Thailand.
I had been inspired by the article on this site when planning my month trip to Thailand this February 2020 and I decided that I had to include a trip here during the month. I stayed in Khanom for 3 nights, mid Feb. Not knowing when Exactly I would make it there, I booked this trip directly on arriving in Khanom through my great Air bnb host who knew Mr Daeng very well.
14th February 2020
I was the 2nd pick up in the morning, joining a German family of 3. We went on to pick up a French family of 4. Mr Daeng informed us that he would like to make a change from the usual tour and today take a drive to the highest point near Donsak to find where the dolphins were to ensure that we saw them. We were all happy with this and it allowed us to see more of the areas beautiful landscape. On arrival at the viewpoint we took different forks allowing us to look in all directions over the bays. The view was breathtaking. I heard the cry, there they are ….. and Mr Daeng confirmed that was so. We headed down to the sea where we boarded the boat on our venture to see these beautiful creatures. It was truly amazing to see a handful of them around us. We were also lucky to see a family of humpback dolphins! MrDaeng shared his story of how the pink dolphins came to live in these waters and how he worked over 6 years to get fishermen to work with him to allow this to happen. Now there are over a 100 pink dolphins that live in these waters and other dolphin types also browse these waters too as we saw today.
The day tour also included a visit to a rock museum of over 3000 carved fish from rocks, a visit to a local plantation with home grown lunch provided, a visit to a natural fish foot spa and a visit to Khanom cave. All of which Mr Daeng shared so much history of each place. Mr Daeng is a true Conservationist and his passion and knowledge made this trip the best excursion in Thailand for me. Truly amazing and highly recommended tour.
The staff were super friendly and funny. We saw a mom and baby pink dolphin and hung out with them for a couple of hours. The fish spa was very interesting to see and so was the cave. I would recommend to other travellers.