The Koh Samui Municipality has approved preliminary notions for a funicular sightseeing cable car connecting Koh Samui and Koh Taen.
The suspended cable car system is planned to be more than two kilometers long and reach up to 60m high – and cost an estimated B500 million.
Koh Tan (Taen) is a tiny island on the southern tip of the larger, and more famous island of Koh Samui and is home to a small village of just over 30 inhabitants, who survive mostly from coconut farming and tourism.
Once home to over 500, as times have changed the population has reduced leading to the closure of its school and health center. For the last decade the island has been known as a place for those who like nature, snorkeling, deserted white sandy beaches, and some quiet time away from Koh Samui. and there are limited facilities on the island; a few restaurants, all run by locals and several bungalows.
On the eastern part of Koh Tan, you can find a long beach which often looks entirely deserted, while fans of snorkeling would head to the southern part where there could be found coral reefs with a large number different marine species just below the surface. To the west of the island you can walk through a mangrove forest on a boardwalk walking path.
The mangroves are home to fiddler crabs, shrimp, crabs and monitor lizards as well as a variety of birds. The interior of the island has a cave system, home to numerous species of bats including flying foxes, which fly off to neighboring islands every night to feed and pollinate many of the farms on Koh Samui. The coastal areas are home to numerous reefs, that while have seen better days, are still home to many species of fish, invertebrates and corals.
Koh Tan Conversation Center (KCC) is working on to create a sustainable model on the island that has the potential to be used on other small islands across the world to show that tourism can be beneficial to island communities when it’s managed sustainably and responsibly. Visit their site to learn more about their conservation projects.
Residents of Hin Fah will benefit from exclusive access, transportation and membership for the Taen Beach Club, an up and coming private sustainable facility built on the quaint neighboring island of Koh Taen, currently accessible in just 10 minutes by speedboat from the pier at Samui’s Thong Krut Village. The Tean Beach Club will cover some 15 rai (24,000 square meters) of beachfront land amply shaded by mature coconut trees, and faces northwest, providing awe-inspiring views of the surrounding islands.