Wandergliding: Pig Island

October 30^th, 2024

Yesterday Naomi told me about a little excursion that she and her mom did when they were staying in Koh Samui, and that was a visit to what is known as “Pig Island”. I did some quick research and booked a trip online for the following morning. The island is properly named “Koh Mat Sum” (koh or ko meaning island in Thai) and it’s located about four kilometres off of the south shore of Koh Samui.

After being picked up at my guesthouse by one of the ubiquitous Toyota mini-bus taxis, I was taken to a beach where me, along with a number of other tourists, waited for our boat ride.

One of those cute signposts saying which direction such and such country is...not sure how accurate this one was:

Inside the heart, that's Pig Island on the left and Tean Island on the right...where we were headed.

On the speedboat. This thing could clock 37 knots unloaded, that's fast!

A strange looking party boat:

Our guide on the boat told us we would first stop for some snorkelling near Tean Island, less than a kilometre from Pig Island. We had 45 minutes to check out the fishies. I was surprised that the mask and snorkel I was given was actually of decent quality. I jumped in the water, along with 30-40 other tourists. At first, I didn’t see much at first apart from a school of long skinny fish, which looked like trumpet fish, but they were smaller and a bit different. The water was a bit murky and I couldn’t quite see the bottom. As I started to swim towards the shore, which was still 200-300 meters away, the depth was shallower and shallower, to the point that I could have stood up if I wanted to. I found the odd bit of coral too which, not surprisingly, had more fish swimming about. I did see a couple of parrotfish that were about two feet in length which was cool. Right near the end of the snorkelling session, I found the best bit of coral with a bunch of different types of fish going about their business. I’ve definitely experienced better snorkelling, but I’ve also had worse…so this was alright.

Next stop, Pig Island. As we approached the shore of the small island, it was obvious that it was a little tropical paradise, a white sandy beach with a small peninsula with palm trees. Even if there weren’t feral pigs, it would be an attractive place to visit. The story behind the pigs is that a man named Mr. Kitt was on the mainland, at a small city called Surat Thani. He passed by a market and noticed four sad, emaciated looking pigs for sale. Out of pity, he purchased them and brought them back to the island. He didn’t realize how much food these animals required, and he joined forces with a tour company called GoJo Tours to start bringing tourists to the island so they could learn about the pigs…and feed them! Well, this plan obviously worked well as now there are probably 30+ animals, literally living “high on the hog”!

Arriving on Mad Sum Island, or as locals call it: Ko Mat Sum.

On Pig Island...nice spot.

My first encounters with the pigs:

Let the pig action begin!

This little guy enjoyed petting them, but as he turned around, one pig bit onto a strap of his lifejacket that went under his butt. Thankfully dad intervened.

So cute!

Oh little piggie...

It was fun to check out these pigs, pet the odd friendly one, and watch as other tourists bought pig food pellets, which were placed on a metal plate, to feed them. The guide had recommended to not put the food in our hands as the pigs were pretty voracious and might not know where the food ended, and your finger started. He also warned us not to pick up the little piglets as a protective mother might take offence to that.

Feedin' time!

This was one of the biggest ones...a large sow.

I love the look of the boats.

This was our boat, with 3 x 225 horsepower outboards. No wonder it could haul butt.

A lovely little sandy peninsula by the main area.

Back to the pigs...she was digging for something...

There were a few dogs around. I saw them occasionally growl at the odd mischievous pig to put them in their place.

Ahhh....

But then I got up to check out a couple of pigs nearby, who started jostling with each other...and then the bigger one got a bit upset. I almost got bowled over! Got my heart racing a bit.

These hogs definitely won the "Pig Lottery".

This was the smallest piglet I could find...so cute.

They seemed insatiable.

So cute!

Even more tourist boats showed up, but I'm sure it's even busier in high season.

The big mama.

A face that only mama could love...wait a sec, she is the mama...

An attempt at a pig-selfie:

I was a big cautious with her...

An hour later, lunch, for the humans, was served and then we had about an hour and a half to hang out, hop in a kayak or go for a walk. I ventured down the beach and checked out a viewpoint.

Lunch was decent.

And now siesta time...

I went for a little hike around part of the island.

This was a lovely viewpoint.

Another beach, away from most of the tourists. Looked like a series of Survivor could have been filmed here.

And there was already a small shelter built here.

Down on the secluded beach.

Walking back to the main beach.

This is where the beer bottles end up...sad as a bunch of them were broken so I can't imagine they bother bringing them back to the mainland to recycle them. Thailand is a bit behind on the whole recycling program.

Returning to the main area, all the pigs were in siesta mode, obviously satiated from all the food they had received. However, about 20 minutes before our group was about to leave, the afternoon session of tourists arrived, and the pigs were reinvigorated after their naps and now a new infusion of food and love from the Westerners!