Mu Ko Similan National Park

This guide to Mu Ko Similan National Park follows the nine granite islands from their 1982 founding through the tourism boom that nearly wrecked them — bleaching events that killed most of the coral and visitor numbers that topped nine hundred thousand a year. It traces the park authority's response, including the indefinite closure of one island in 2016. Barracuda still school around the granite towers of Elephant Head Rock, and the whole park closes every monsoon season from May through October.