Qualla: Cheow Lan Lake

Cheow Lan Lake: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KOSIN SUKHUM, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1987, a king named a dam. Rajjaprabha, he called it: "light of the kingdom." Before that day, the project had a simpler name, the Cheow Lan Project, after the village that would disappear beneath 185 square kilometers of rising water. Today, Cheow Lan Lake fills a basin in Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani Province, Thailand, its emerald surface broken by limestone karst towers that jut skyward like the ruins of a drowned cathedral. The dead trunks of the preexisting forest still pierce the waterline in places, pale and skeletal, monuments to the valley that was.

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Image: KOSIN SUKHUM | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cheow Lan Lake: The Village Beneath the Water

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Troxx, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand began construction in 1982 by diverting the Klong Saeng River. The dam was designed as a multi-purpose project: power generation, flood control, irrigation, and fishery. But filling a 185-square-kilometer basin required emptying it...

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Image: Troxx | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cheow Lan Lake: Rescue by Helicopter

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JayExpat, CC BY-SA 3.0. As the water rose through 1986 and 1987, it created islands where ridgelines broke the surface, stranding animals on shrinking patches of forest. What followed was one of Thailand's most ambitious wildlife rescue operations. Over 18 months, teams working by boat and helicopter ca...

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Image: JayExpat | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cheow Lan Lake: Karst and Canopy

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. The lake sits within a protected landscape that extends across roughly 4,000 square kilometers when neighboring reserves are included. Khlong Saeng, Khlong Nakha, and Kaeng Krung wildlife sanctuaries border the reservoir, while Sri Phang Nga National Park stretches the preservati...

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Image: Christophe95 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cheow Lan Lake: Light of the Kingdom

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0. The name Rajjaprabha was bestowed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the dam's inauguration ceremony on September 30, 1987. The timing was deliberate, linking a major infrastructure achievement to a royal milestone. The dam generates hydroelectric power for southern Thailand, controls...

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Image: Vyacheslav Argenberg | CC BY 4.0