Discover · Green Spine
The Green Spine
A park that runs the length of the town, from the arrival to the beach, with the elephants' daily route through it. The corridor is not what is left over after building. It is the plan.
Beach & Elephant Zone
Where the trail meets the sand
The western end of the spine, between the surf village and the elephant home: the banyan tree trail, the elephants' bathing place, and the beach at the end of it.
Along the trail
The banyan tree trail runs under old canopy from the beach club past the elephant field and camp. Around it sit an outdoor gym, a nature playground, a skate park, an event lawn and an eco-bridge over the water. It is the busiest stretch of the park, and the one a visitor meets first.
The elephants' day
Khao Lak Elephant Home is the only interactive elephant sanctuary in Thailand with beach access. The animals walk a route of two to two and a half kilometres each day, through the park to the sea and back; the spine is drawn around it, with rest areas, bathing and feeding places where the trail and the park meet.
- Open now
- The elephant home, the beach bar and the surf village.
- Parcels
- GR1 and GR2, Phase 01.
Activity Zone
Boardwalks over the wetland
The middle of the spine is water: a two-hundred-metre wetland boardwalk, a raised walk of a hundred metres, a canopy walk and a floating farm.
On the water
A hydroponic farm floats on the wetland, a sculpture garden and a community pavilion sit at its edge, and a rain garden doubles as a wet playground. An observation deck looks over the elephant field, and the forest trail carries on towards the town.
Evenings
An event space in the park is drawn for films under the sky and food trucks, with the lake behind it.
- Parcel
- GR3, Phase 03, beside the town centre.
Community Zone
The town's back garden
Where the spine passes the town centre, the school and the homes, it widens into lawns, an amphitheatre and a boat house on the lake.
Shared ground
An open lawn and a recreation park for games, a dog park, an experience centre with a children's learning programme, and the elephant valley with its rain garden, where the trail passes closest to the homes.
- Parcel
- GR4, Phase 04.
Arrival Zone
Goya Tower and the Archaeology Park
The spine begins at the gate: a fifteen-metre tower built by hand from elephant-dung bricks, a café, and a park with a replica of the Boonsoong bridge.
The tower
Boonserm Premthada of Bangkok Project Studio sterilises and presses elephant dung into bricks, a process first shown in his Elephant Theatre Pavilion at Versailles. Goya Tower takes its name from the elephant who provides the material, and around thirty per cent of it comes from the Matalay Elephant Home.
The gateway
A visitor centre and bike station, the farmers' market and, further in, the Market at Matalay on the lake: the first things a visitor meets, and the meeting point between Khao Lak and the town.
- Parcels
- GR5 and GR6, Phase 01.
- Status
- Goya Tower is under construction; the entrance sign is up.
Enriching biodiversity, cutting potable water and carbon: the park is also the town's water and shade. The Green Spine zone lists its six parcels.