If you haven’t heard about Pig Island yet, don’t worry. It’s a pretty new discovery…locals and tourists alike have only started visiting in the past 6 months as stories began to travel about the community of pigs living by the beach on the secluded island.
Where is Pig Island Koh Samui?
Koh Madsum
Pig Island is originally known as Koh Madsum, it’s a little slice of paradise off the coast of Koh Samui. On the island lives Mr. Kitt, he runs a small beach bar on the island with his wife and family. Our story begins with Mr. Kitt and his big heart. Koh Madsum
How did the pigs arrive on the island?
As you may have guessed, the pigs of Koh Madsum didn’t always live there. Pigs don’t typically roam free on the beaches of Thailand. Monkeys sure, but pigs are a pretty unusual animal to see sunbathing on the beach and paddling in the ocean.
That is until Mr. Kitt was making a trip to see his family on the mainland in a town called Surat Thani. On his trip, he travelled through a market where fresh fruit, vegetables and livestock were being sold. Mr. Kitt wasn’t looking for livestock, the market just happened to be on the way to his family’s home.
K.Kitt on his boat
He couldn’t help but notice four pigs huddled together away from the rest of the pigs being sold to farmers and butchers that day. They looked underfed and scared. There were two big pigs and two small pigs. He later found out that the larger pigs were male and female, and the two smaller pigs were their piglets. They were a family.
Something about the way the pigs were huddled together pulled at Mr. Kitt’s heart strings, he knew a family when he saw one. He made the decision right there and then to keep them together, and to keep them alive He bought the pigs that day, loaded them onto his boat and sailed back to Koh Madsum.
Rescued pigs
Support the sustainability on Pig Island
As you can imagine, Mr. Kitt had never owned any pigs, he had pet cats and chickens, but never any pigs…let alone four! He realized that they needed a lot of food! That is where GoJo Tours joined forces with Mr. Kitt. We created Pig Island Koh Samui Tours to help support him and the pig family.. We decided to bring visitors to the island, once on the island, they could feed the pigs and learn the story of how they got there.
A visitor feeding the pig
To this day we are the only tour group to work directly with Mr. Kitt and the pigs of Koh Madsum, we provide feed for the pigs and donate a percentage of each tour ticket to the local community.
And the pigs? They are thriving, the original family of 4, are now a happy family of 12 pigs. A total of 3 generations. They spend their time napping in the shade under big coconut trees, cooling off in the ocean and playing with island visitors. GoJo Tours brings visitors from Koh Samui to the Pig island every day, when they hear our guides calling them they come running because they know we bring their favorite snack, corn and watermelon!
Happy pig family & visitor
How do we get to Pig Island Koh Samui?
Getting to the island has never been easier. Visitors can choose to make the short journey in small groups by traditional long-tail fishing boat or if you fancy traveling in style; there is the speedboat option which is fast and super comfortable. For those wishing to experience Pig Island with their family and friends on a private trip, that is also available. Both speedboat and long-tail experiences can be booked for private groups.
Traditional Longtail boat ride
Join us on a Pig Island Koh Samui Experience on your travels, click here to find out more!
