Khao Yai is a favorite destination for people living in and around Bangkok, Thailand.
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 It is renowned for the slightly cooler weather one finds there especially during the winter months (Nov to Feb). People also like to visit Khao Yai National Park and the surrounding area to explore the natural habitat that has been so well preserved since the park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
Those who like the idea of jungle trekking but are not prepared to leave civilization far behind will be in for a real adventure visiting Khao Yai National Park. It only takes two hours to drive from Bangkok to Khao Yai. This may not seem very remarkable until you understand that this is the time it will take you to go from one of the worlds most dynamic modern cities to walking jungle trails made by wild animals such as elephants, bears, deer, packs of wild dogs,wild pigs and tigers. Yes, you read that correctly, tigers are still living in the wild only two hours from downtown Bangkok.
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The main entrance to Khao Yai National Park is 20km from the nearest town. There are buses and trains that go from Bangkok to Pak Chong. From Pak Chong, you can take a local taxi or mini bus to the park entrance where you will need to take another mini bus into the park.
As this is Thailand's second biggest park covering an area 2168 square kilometers, it's not a place you can simply walk into. The best way to enter the park is either by organized tour through an agent in Bangkok or one of the many resorts that surround the park, or by private car.
Once you have paid the entrance fee (approx US$7 per person and US$1.50 per car) the road immediately starts to climb steeply and continues upward all the way to the park headquarters. |
Before reaching the park headquarters there are a few very good viewing points that are usually frequented by dozens of gibbons looking for something to eat. It's forbidden to feed the animals, but many people ignore the regulations and encourage troops of gibbons to hang out by the side of the road.
You may also pass a few pick-ups parked at the side of the road. These are the transport for the early morning bird watchers. Khao Yai has hundreds of different species of birds, but it's most famous inhabitant is the Great Hornbill. If you are a keen bird watcher, I recommend going with a specialized tour so they can take you directly to the most accessible locations for viewing and photographing these magnificent birds. It's unlikely you will see these birds while walking in the jungle, but sometime you can hear one flying overhead. If the world still had Teridactiles, I believe they would sound similar to a Great Hornbill flying overhead.
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The park headquarters has a shop where you can buy last minutes provisions such as white leggings for spotting fleas or leaches. You only get leaches out of the dry season and they are pretty small ones, but annoying all the same. The officers will give you a small map that isn't much use, so I recommend that you ask for a park guide to accompany you even on the short treks. It's best to phone ahead and ask for an English speaking guide if you don't have a Thai speaker with you.
Inside the park entrance you will see a few poorly stuffed tigers, baby elephant and other small animals that have been killed or found dead. The two old tigers were killed by rangers after they attacked some local people. Once a tiger is too old to hunt for natural prey, it has no choice but to take what it can in order to avoid starving. The guide that I use each time I go trekking was attacked by one of these tigers and has some terrible scars on his arm to prove it.
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| There are several treks to choose from ranging from one hour to seven hours, but if you really want to experience the raw jungle you can hire some camping equipment and go for a more adventurous route. Overnight stays outside the recognized camping ground needs approval and a park ranger to accompany you |
The Peaceable Kingdom?
On my last visit, my friend and I had to take off our shoes and wade across a shallow river. On the way back we did the same then followed the river for a short distance using a well trodden path. Suddenly our guide crouched down and pointed to a small sand bank in the middle of the river.
We saw what he was pointing at, or thought we did. At first we saw a very large monitor lizard (over 6 feet long) standing on the bank, but then we saw some movement in the water just a few feet away from the lizard and saw a crocodile's head just coming out of the water.
I was down on my hands and knees, pulling off my camera lens in a split second. I was looking like there was going to a major fight between the two giants. The crocodile continued to advance up onto the embankment towards the monitor lizard, and just when you would think the fireworks would start, they both lay down next to each other and dozed off.
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Close Encounters:
During another recent visit to the park to take some photographs of a large pond at sunset, my wife and I had a disconcerting encounter with some of the park's inhabitants. We had walked off the main road down to the pond via a dirk track path. On the way back it was starting to get dark.
Early mornings and evenings there is a lot of jungle noise; mainly gibbons and elephants communicating between themselves. You really know you are in the wild when you can hear these noises nearby.
My wife, who was twenty meters or so in front of me at a turn in the path (photographers are always lagging behind) suddenly stopped. I asked her what was wrong as she hastily made her way back to me. She said she saw two strange looking animals about the size of dogs coming towards her. They cut across the path into the long grass as soon as they saw her.
When we walked further on we saw many (more than ten) sets of droppings that consisted of a lot of hair. Later on I showed my wife some pictures and she confirmed that what she had seen were two wild dogs, but from the number of droppings it looks like we narrowly missed bumping into a large pack of wild dogs. These wild dogs prey on fully grown deer and wild pigs. |
| In addition to trekking in the park, there are many other activities easily available within a short distance from the main park entrance. You can go elephant trekking on one of the trained elephants. Explore some of the territory on an all terrain vehicle (ATV), visit the local town and it's traditional market, go shopping at the extensive factory outlet shopping mall (Starbucks included), or at the replica of a small Italian village called Palio. There are four good golf courses within the area, all fairly mountainous so anyone with a bad slice should take plenty of spare balls. The local wine has won many international awards, and tours of the vineyards are available. |
Accomodations:
Khao Yai National Park has some cabins that can be rented, but you need to book well in advance. You can find the booking details on the official web page at:
The surrounding area has huge range of resorts from places where you can hire a tent to five star resorts. There are many web pages available for booking details - just type in "Khao Yai Accommodation" into your web browser.
If you decide to stay in the park either using a tent or renting a cabin, I suggest making your trip during the week as weekends the park receives a lot of visitors. There are some small stalls were you can buy cooked food and a few small shops, but they will close early evening. After that it will just be you and the animals!
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| PHOTO CREDITS: Christopher Riddler |
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