Emerald Pool

This guide to Emerald Pool in Krabi follows ornithologist Phil Round's search for Gurney's pitta, the jewel-colored bird once thought unseeable, and conservationist Maliwan Sopha's fight to save its last patch of lowland rainforest as plantations closed in. You'll learn what colors the pool itself and where the swimmable water gives way to a closed, unstable hot spring upstream. Listen streamside, and watch the canopy for macaques while you're at it.