WHAT A HOLE!

Its one of those small gems that the adventurous traveler relishes. Taking a break for fresh coconut water, sitting in the warming sun above the Longest Beach, chatting to the friendly farmer whilst his grinning children sat watching the teenage boy shin up the tree to cut the coconuts, and taking surreptitious looks at the whiteman who was visiting, I was told that, on the forest grown slope above, was the King of England’s Hole.

No self respecting adventurer could let such an observation pass unchecked!

The slope was steep, but we finally emerged beside another bamboo house where another man was making chairs, fine carvers, by hand.

Then down we went to the overgrown sink hole in which the gaping mouth of an entrance was clearly visible.

It runs, the chair maker announced, through the mountain, and under the Naf River, into Myanmar. Clearly, he saw, or anticipated skepticism. A dog, he said, had disappeared into the tunnel, and was missing for 3 weeks before emerging again. The skepticism remained. The Naf River lay a few kilometers the other side of the hills, and the river itself was wide, deep river.

Somehow, at the time, further exploration held no appeal. It is well known that such caves, tunnels, or whatever the King of England’s Hole proves to be, is a favourite haunt of such undesirables as Cobras; and where else would a self respecting King Cobra make his lair than in another royal hole?

The name suggests an explanation of the most recent use of the place. His Majesty’s Armed Forces may well have used it, maybe even created it, as an ammunition dump during WW2. But there still seems plenty of scope for speculation and investigation!