Tha Pom (full name in Thai is Pa Phru Tha Pom Khlong Song Nam) is a peat swamp and forest running mostly from a pool called Chong Phra Kaew along a natural waterway. Local people call this waterway Khlong Song Nam or two types of water canal’, because clear freshwater meets and merges with seawater at high tide, resulting in a natural environment where Lumphi palms (Eleiodoxa conferta) meet and mingle with mangrove forest. Krabi Province is made up of more than 5,000 sq km of jungle-covered hills and sharp, jagged karst outcrops, as well as more than 100km of luxuriant, pristine coastline and around 200 islands in the neighbouring Andaman Sea. About 40 per cent of the provincial population is Muslim, the remainder being predominantly Buddhist. This is a clear indication that Krabi sits astride the invisible dividing line between Buddhist Thailand and the four southern provinces—Satun, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani—which are predominantly Muslim. Far from causing any sort of problem, th