Beach clean-ups, biking and art bars on a slow tour of Thailand’s Koh Mak island

Photograph by PIERRICK LEMARET. Retrieved from nationalgeographic.com

It’s Koh Mak’s low season and I’m on a beach-clean mission with Nipon. Along with five relatives and four other families, he co-owns this island in Trat province, 190 miles south east of Bangkok, near the Cambodian border. His work to preserve the island’s natural beauty and water quality led to him becoming the chairman of the Koh Mak Tourism Community Enterprise. He also oversees the local branch of the worldwide, community-led Trash Hero initiative, which he brought to Koh Mak in 2017 to clean up the island and better manage waste.

“Koh Mak has a very different background to other Thai islands,” says Nipon, stroking his grey chevron moustache as gigantic rain droplets plop from the 60ft-tall coconut trees around us. Whereas most of the country’s islands are owned by government bodies or by various business groups, Koh Mak is the largest Thai island that’s all in the hands of locals, and this unique community-ownership model puts residents in charge of setting the pace of change. “We have no higher powers involved, so the decisions we make collectively are final,” he explains.

Many of Thailand’s paths are famously well-trodden, but Koh Mak retains its authenticity through a comprehensive ecotourism approach designed, implemented and enforced by locals. The island stretches across 4.8sq miles and remains mostly undeveloped, free of large hotel brands, fast-food chains and nightclubs. It even lacks Thailand’s omnipresent 7-Eleven convenience stores. Instead, locally owned hotel resorts, quirky art bars and family-run businesses thrive here. There are also just 500 hotel rooms on the island, which helps to control tourist numbers.