WildAid and Spotlighting in Khao Yai National Park

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Today we went to the Bangkok WildAid office. After a lengthy cab ride across town - more than an hour - we entered the office and met several staff members, including Kanda who would be accompanying us to Khao Yai National Park. We learned about work they’re doing and some big needs they have. For example, supplementary funding for meals are needed for the mobile ranger unit to allow for rangers to be out on longer patrols - it's that basic. Rangers are paid a pittance and can't afford to purchase food to stay out in the forest for longer than a couple of days. WildAid also needs continued support for Songkran’s position as a community outreach person working in a village with a high degree of poaching. We have funded her position for the past year through the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium Conservation fund. Some alternative income approaches have been introduced like organic mushroom farming and tourism homestays. Although there are 110 villages surrounding the park, WildAid works closely with 3 of them. In one village, 100% of the adults are poachers.

We left Bangkok with Kanda and headed to Khao Yai National Park where Kanda heads up the carnivore research team. They're conducting field studies of small carnivores in the park. Khao Yai National Park is enormous! They receive about 1.4 million visitors a year.

We’re staying in some small bungalows in the park with cold water and no toilet paper. The windows are levered glass panes with thick screens on them, bringing the outdoors inside. On the patio, we saw a gecko catch a moth and savor it for a while before chomping the wings off at the base to flutter down to the floor.

We went spotlighting, essentially a night safari in the back of a ranger truck on bench seats with one person holding a large spotlight to point out the nocturnal wildlife. We saw sambar deer, barking deer and common palm civets. The smell of the tropical forest is difficult to describe, but at times it was like cinnamon. The air was crisp and brisk, and we were all glad to be wearing lightweight jackets. In the background, we could hear chirps of birds and croaks of frogs Wendy says sound like barking sea lions. We also met the new park superintendent who would like our advice on the Visitor Center experience after we go down there tomorrow. (Hard to imagine that happening at Mt. Rainier National Park!)

Isabelle is a young German volunteer staying in the park. She told us of her clouded leopard sighting about two weeks ago while riding her bicycle along the road to a waterfall at about 6 a.m. She turned a corner and there was a cat in the road - a big cat - and she slammed on her brakes. The cat looked at her and then ran into the forest. She did not know what kind of cat it was, but later determined that it was a Clouded leopard.

Near our rooms, a youth camp competed for airspace with the sounds of nature. They yelled and hollered. They sang “Singing in the Rain” and “Old McDonald Had a Farm” in English. As we drifted off to sleep snuggled under thick comforters, the sounds of frogs competed with E-I-E-I-O.

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