The fishing port is vibrant with workers busy unloading the catch of the day. Most of them are Burmese labourers, cutting and sorting the catch. Scores of pickup trucks arrive and then dash away over the slimy ground with basketloads of seafood. We set out one afternoon to explore the mangroves, of which Ranong has extensive tracts, covering some 122,500 rai. The Mangrove Forest Research Centre, situated 15 kilometres southwest of Ranong town near Khlong Ngao, is perched high in the shade of lush forest vegetation.
Rock steps slide down to an elevated concrete walkway leading into a mangrove patch.
Along the walkway, tourists can stop at different spots to study illustrated information about plants and mangrove forests. On a mud plain, bright-coloured tiny crabs emerge from hiding holes. The walkway leads to a stop by a canal where we board a longtail boat gliding along the mangrove canal that curves into the sea. The boat stops on a mudflat near the estuary and we totter in the mud through mangrove bushes. A staffer of the centre leads us to a site where a mangrove tree called the Rhizophora, more than 200 years old, soars to a great height.