Thi Lo Su Waterfall (Namtok Teelorsu) The best of the three waterfall segments is the leftmost drop, which cascades down in several distinctive leaps. The lowest leaps have pools that many people love to swim in. The middle drop has a much taller and thinner appearance, which is significantly offset from the main (leftmost) section before cascading and joining the bottom of the main drop. Finally, there's a third (perhaps ephemeral) drop more to the right of the middle one.
Anyways, photographing the Thi Lo Su Waterfall is difficult. You'll be tempted to try to get it all in a frame, but you can't. And if you try to include the middle drop, you're only going to get part of it while the main drop is way to the left. You'll probably want to focus on just the main drop only and try to frame it with the surrounding cliffs and lush forest. Other factors conspiring to mess with your photo is the sun (midday and early to mid afternoon will have you look towards it) and the heaps of people walking in and out of your photos or taking certain spots hostage. There are a few outfitters or tour companies based in Umphang that organize a day tour or an overnight tour (as we had done). And there's certainly no one to stop you from going there yourself if you're properly equipped, have the admission fees, and arrange for transportation. Speaking of which, in the wet season, the roads become too muddy and flooded for vehicular traffic so you'll have to walk further by foot. Finally, because there's not a standard way of translating Thai to English, there are many spellings of the Thi Lo Su Waterfall. Excluding the way we've been spelling it, there are Teelorsu, Thilawsu, Ti Lo Su, Ti Lor Su, Thi Lor Su, etc. Tell us about your experience with this waterfall. [Back to top] [Go to next waterfall: Mae Ya Waterfall] [Go to the Thailand Waterfalls Page] [Go to the Asia Page] [Return from Thi Lo Su Waterfall to the World of Waterfalls Home Page]
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You'd think with a place that requires driving for nearly 4 hours on the "Death Highway" (once a moniker for guerilla assaults and now more for brake failures and perils of reckless driving), either a 3-hour raft or bumpy 1-hr 4wd songthaew ride, then either another 1-hour bumpy 4wd songthaew ride or 13-hour trek, plus another hour of easy walking just to get here that a place so remote would be pretty peaceful and quiet. Well, those notions are shattered when you realize that many Thais enjoy waterfalls and that this is a waterfall that just about every Thai knows about and actually tries to go to! In fact, the main campground area is quite developed as it has a ticket office, park office, a cantine, and a sometimes rather crowded campground. Moreover, we even saw a tent providing Thailand Post (i.e. mail delivery service)!
One of the lower tiers of the falls allowing for swimming
Getting higher up on the waterfall providing a different look at its constituent parts
Thinner, taller plume of water comprising one of the smaller but taller segments of the falls
The uppermost tier of the falls that we could safely get close to
Looking against the early afternoon sun at the falls