Mork Fa Waterfall (Nam tok Mork Fah)

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand

About Mork Fa Waterfall (Nam tok Mork Fah)


Hiking Distance: < 1km round trip
Suggested Time: 30-45 minutes

Date first visited: 2008-12-29
Date last visited: 2008-12-29

Waterfall Latitude: 19.1152
Waterfall Longitude: 98.77017

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Mork Fa Waterfall (Nam tok Mork Fah) took Julie and I by surprise because prior to our trip, we had never heard of it during our trip research so we didn’t have much expectation going into our visit.

I somehow had this preconceived notion that it was going to be a dinky waterfall, but once we looked upon the real thing, we were impressed with its size and segmented characteristic.

Mork_Fa_022_12282008 - Mork Fa Waterfall
Mork Fa Waterfall

We’ve been told that this waterfall drops 60m (though we think it was more like 30-40m), but it apparently flows year round.

However, given the amount of overgrowth around the falls, we never really got a totally clean look at it, which might cause us to underestimate its overall size.

In any case, even though we had never heard this waterfall before going to Thailand, we shared this waterfall with many people so it was definitely a known and busy place.

Experiencing Mork Fa Waterfall

From the car park, we walked along a shady, mostly flat, forested trail.

A little over half-way to the main waterfall, we noticed a much smaller waterfall that was signposted as the Ob Noi Waterfall.

Mork_Fa_005_12282008 - On the somewhat easy trail leading alongside the stream towards the Mork Fa Waterfall as well as the Ob Noi Waterfall
On the somewhat easy trail leading alongside the stream towards the Mork Fa Waterfall as well as the Ob Noi Waterfall

There was a short spur trail leading closer to the Ob Noi Waterfall, but I don’t think we lingered too long once we got as far as we could go on that short detour (which stopped well short of the waterfall itself).

After continuing on the main trail, we ultimately arrived at the Mork Fa Waterfall not long thereafter.

Once there, we had to contend with obstructions by both cliff and trees, which conspired to keep the falls from being completely visible from the trail (though we were still able to see most of it).

Thus, we went beyond the official end of the trail, crossed the stream, and went right up to the side of the waterfall’s base where we got some decent profile views.

We tried to get direct views, but it was too misty to get clean photos without mist blowing onto our camera lens.

Mork_Fa_010_12282008 - The Ob Noi Waterfall
The Ob Noi Waterfall

We saw a few people swimming or cooling off here, and I’d imagine more people would do this had it been a warmer time of year.

However, our visit occurred in late December, which was well into Thailand’s much cooler Dry Season.

All in all, we spent roughly 45 minutes, which encompassed the hiking, the short detour to the Ob Noi Waterfall, and all the picture-taking.

Nomenclature

Given the inexact mappings of Thai-pronunciations into the Romanized alphabet, we’ve also seen this waterfall spelled as Mok Fah, Mok Fa, or Mork Fah.

I even saw one website call this the Tad Mork Fah waterfall.

Mork_Fa_037_12282008 - Direct look up at the Mork Fa Waterfall with a rainbow across its base
Direct look up at the Mork Fa Waterfall with a rainbow across its base

Since I don’t know Thai, I can’t shed any light about what any of this means other than they’re just approximations of the Thai language being Romanized for English.

Authorities

The Mork Fa Waterfall resides in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park near Mae Taeng in the Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. It is administered by the National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.

Mork_Fa_003_12282008 - The car park for the Mork Fa Waterfall
Mork_Fa_002_12282008 - Starting on the hike to the Mork-Fa Waterfall
Mork_Fa_012_12282008 - This was about as close as we were able to get to the Ob Noi Waterfall, which was roughly about the half-way point along the trail to Mork Fa Waterfall
Mork_Fa_014_12282008 - View of Mork Fah Waterfall from the very end of the official trail
Mork_Fa_010_jx_12282008 - Signs telling us that we were at the end of the Mork Fa Waterfall trail
Mork_Fa_021_12282008 - People around the end of the Mork Fa Waterfall Trail, which provided some sense of context as to how tall the waterfall was
Mork_Fa_027_12282008 - A person standing before the misty base of Mork Fa Waterfall, which further gave us a sense of scale with this waterfall
Mork_Fa_041_12282008 - Profile view of the Mork Fa Waterfall avoiding its mist
Mork_Fa_045_12282008 - Our last look at the Mork-Fa Waterfall before heading back towards the car park
Pong_Dueat_009_12282008 - Dipping our feet in the geothermally heated waters of Pong Dueat. This was one of the benefits of visiting this thermal reserve, which was a little further to the west of the Mork Fa Waterfall
Pong_Dueat_001_12282008 - In addition to the geothermal features, it was also possible to stay at Pong Dueat


From what we were able to tell as we were driven here on an escorted tour, we went north of the city of Chiang Mai until we got to Mai Malai-Pai Road.

Then, we continued until Km. 20 where we turned left into a dirt road and took it for another 2km to the car park.

Overall, the Mork Fa Waterfall was around 70km away from Chiang Mai city.

It took us roughly 80 minutes to get there from Chiang Mai.

Another thing worth noting was that about an hour to the west of the falls was the Pong Dueat Thermal Area.

Here, there were hot springs that were both in use as well as some boiling ones that could only be looked at.

Chiang Mai was in Northern Thailand roughly 700km north of Bangkok. It would take around 9 hours to drive or a little over an hour to fly between the cities.

Find A Place To Stay

Sweep from bottom to top of the tall, but busy waterfall


Zoomed in sweep from the base of the falls to its top with hint of a rainbow at its base

Tagged with: mork fa, mok fa, mok fah, mork fah, chiang mai, pai, doi suthep, pui, national park, thailand, waterfall, ob noi



Visitor Comments:

Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...

No users have replied to the content on this page


Share your thoughts about what you've read on this page

You must be logged in to submit content. Refresh this page after you have logged in.

Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:

If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...

No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall


Have you been to a waterfall? Submit a write-up/review and share your experiences or impressions

Review A Waterfall

Nearest Waterfalls

The Waterfaller Newsletter

The Waterfaller Newsletter is where we curate the wealth of information on the World of Waterfalls website and deliver it to you in bite-sized chunks in your email inbox. You'll also get exclusive content like...

  • Waterfall Wednesdays
  • Insider Tips
  • User-submitted Waterfall Write-up of the Month
  • and the latest news and updates both within the website as well as around the wonderful world of waterfalls


How To Build A Profitable Travel Blog In 4 Steps

Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
Read More About Johnny | A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls.