Khao Yai National Park

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Alright guys so here is the scoop on my first trip to a National Park in Thailand. My friends and I decided to go big and hit up the number one national park in the area, so Saturday morning we all took off from our respected areas and headed to Khao Yai National Park.

We were staying at a little place called the Greenhouse Guesthouse, and if you are ever in the area I totally recommend it. They pick you up from the bus stop, the rooms are clean and adorable, attached is a restaurant with AMAZING food and they offer tours as well. Throughout the day people from our group showed up and by the late afternoon the whole crew was there. Due to some delays a tour was not to be had on this day, but tomorrow we were headed out into the jungle.

So not really into the jungle just yet, but rather into the bat cave... literally. Mid afternoon the gang climbed into a song taew (a taxi truck thing) and headed into the park. The weather was a bit chilly for us and it was slightly drizzling but that was ok because we weren't spending much time outside, we were headed down into the caves.

Here I was in paradise. Why you may ask? Well it wasn't for the bats although they were pretty cool, instead it was because of the different bugs that our guide kept finding. They included centipedes, millipeeds, tarantulas, and scorpions. I was like a kid in a candy store, being the first (and sometimes only) person to raise their hand when asked who wants to hold them.

From the cave we moved on to a different location. Here we were to watch as thousands, literally thousands, of bats came flying out of the cave. It was an amazing site to see, as the swerved this way and that in huge clusters. What was equally awesome was the Shikra (type of raptor) that came out and made a meal of a few of those bats.

We didn't stay here long, but instead headed off to a little pool. Being late and chilly we had the place to ourselves. We all jumped in, swam around a bit, shivered a lot and then headed back to our guesthouse.

Although we had a tour early the next morning we did not make it an early night, spending out time drinking and talking about the last six months. We joked around and all around had a blast.

For some the next morning was a bit painful, for myself it was a dream come true. Grabbing breakfast and heading off we boarded the same song taews. Right off the bat we were fortunate enough to see two Great Hornedbills, but I realized we were going to have some issues. My tour guide kept taking my camera and taking pictures of things!!! I suppose I could have protested more, but the first time I was in shock and from there I just tried to dodge him. (I will admit right now that I deleted all of his photos immediately so I wouldn't confuse any of his for my own so all photos are my work.)

The hike began with a light mist falling upon us. The mist felt nice but it began to make our path a muddy mess and when we had to hike UP a mountain this became somewhat difficult, pretty hilarious, and extremely MUDDY. We didn't see much on this hike mostly because it seemed we were power walking and for the most part a group of 15 can not hike through a forest unheard by critters around them.

That was ok because once on the truck again we saw deer, birds, gibbons and a handful of monkey's. Although we search high and low for elephants we weren't lucky enough to come away seeing any.

Overall I would rank the tour as a success if you aren't looking for anything to serious. I would have enjoyed a slower pace, smaller group and a bit more information, but it wasn't bad. The only other issues was the fact that these guides clearly didn't realize that we are Thai and need to have a snack every 3 hours. Our afternoon snack consisted of soda and a slice of watermelon... a snack in Thai is NOT soda and you need to have at least three types of fruits to make it an official snack in Thai. Since that was the case, we were all starving you would have thought we hadn't eaten all day. Maybe that's how they get you to order two dishes each at there restaurant? Hmmmm......

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Photos

Scorpion
Can we say heaven?

Comments

[Peg Rynshall]

better u than me
amazing photos, reallyy enjoy seeing those creepy crawling things in pictures,glad there are people like you brave enough to take them.

[Ed Griggs]

Scutigera centipede
I've seen these in caves in Thung Salang Luang National Park. They are the top predator in many cave environments. I know about them because I worked with a British Volunteer(European Service Organization(EUSO)) who was a cave expert told me all about them. I have a picture of one in my Thailand Insect Gallery.

[Steml02]

Choop maak!
I love these guys, I worked with them in Costa Rica and find them so interesting!