Kathu District

Kathu (Thai: กะทู้) is a district (amphoe) of Phuket Province, Thailand. The district is in the west of Phuket Island. It neighbors Thalang to the north, Mueang Phuket to the east and south, and the Andaman Sea to the west.

Geography

Kathu is the district which includes the tourist beach of Patong. Kamala Beach to the north is much less developed.

History

On 5 December 1938 the district was downgraded to a minor district (king amphoe) and became a subordinate of Mueang Phuket District. It was upgraded to a full district again on 10 December 1959.

Administration

The district is divided into three sub-districts (tambon), which are further subdivided into 14 villages (muban). Patong has town (thesaban mueang) status, Kathu has sub-district municipality (thesaban tambon) status, and Kamala is led by a tambon administrative organization (TAO). Each of the municipalities has the name of the sub-district.

References

External links

Kathu

Kathu is a town in South Africa, and the iron ore capital of the Northern Cape province. Its name means "town under the trees", after the Camel Thorn forest it is situated in. The phrase "the town under the trees" was coined by an engineer working in the town in the early 1990 as part of a tourist marketing drive, together with the accompanying graphic. It was intended to be a marketing slogan. The meaning of the word "Kathu" has anecdotically been attributed to a porridge brewed by the local population from the powder found in the pods of the Camel Thorn trees.

Kathu was founded in the late 60's early 70's.

Kathu is perfectly in between Upington and Vryburg with about a 2-hour drive to each. Kimberley is a 3-hour drive away.

Camel thorn tree forest

The Camel Thorn tree Acacia erioloba forest is one of only two in the world with the other being between Mariental and Rehoboth in Namibia. Its uniqueness was recognized in the early 1920s when it was declared a State Forest. In 1995 it was registered as a Natural Heritage Site. The Kathu forest is approximately 4000 hectares in size and these Camel thorns trees provide support for large Sociable Weaver’s nests and are used by many other bird and animal species. In fact surveys has shown a moderate to high diversity in animal and plant species, including several Red Data, endemic and protected species in and around the forest. Bigger trees in the forest are reckoned to be older than 300 years.

Kaṭha

See also