Khao Yai

Joe and I headed north to Khao Yai a day later than planned after one final breakfast at le bon pain. Sometime in the middle of the day we arrived at the far southern tip of the Issan region in a small town called Pak Chong just outside the park. We settled into our room, had a yummy soup lunch and then just read and relaxed all afternoon in preparation for our trek through the park the following day.

The next morning we started out toward the park at 7:30am in the back of a songthaew with a family of four from Denmark (mother, father, and two daughters ages about 18 and 7). They were very lovely people with excellent English and we couldn’t have asked for better company. Our guide was also amazing at spotting wildlife even as our truck wound its way on the main paved road through the jungle.

Our first stop yielded a few giant black squirrels high up in the trees. They really do mean giant-although you can’t tell from the photo, these suckers are about a meter long! Nearby we also saw some mini brown squirrels, but we were not fast enough with the camera.

Several times throughout the day we also saw macaques, although they weren’t difficult to spot since they like to sit near (or sometimes even on) the main road.

Another animal that we twice caught in the act of crossing the road was this monitor lizard.

Much more elusive were these white-handed gibbons. Our guide saw them way off in the distance and quickly set up a small telescope so we could glimpse some more detail. This photo was taken through the telescope.

We next stopped at the visitor center where our guide gave us a little bit of history about the park and a choice between two treks to take before lunch: one that was fairly long and quite well traveled or another that only he used and was about an hour shorter but more interesting. Of course we chose the second and were not disappointed. All of the trails through the park were originally elephant trails. (There are many elephants in the park, although they are difficult to spot during the rainy season. There are also tigers, but they are almost never seen.) You would think that this would make the paths wide and easy to walk, but elephants are actually quite nimble, and the trail we took was very narrow at times and required a decent bit of climbing and scrambling, most of it through the rainy-season mud.

Throughout our hike there was one creature that we truly experienced first hand: the leech. The forest was brimming with tiny black leeches about as thin as a piece of spaghetti and an inch long. They stand on one end on the forest floor while the other end reaches upwards; ready to attach itself to anything tasty that crosses its path. For this reason, we wore leech socks over our regular socks and pants in order to prevent getting bitten. The socks, however, did not prevent the leeches from trying and we were constantly flicking the little critters off of ourselves and each other as we walked. I pilfered a this picture off the 'net because I didn't want to stand in one place long enough to take a picture.

Luckily the next creature we encountered was not as forward as the leaches. Our guide noticed a green pit viper sitting curled up on a too-close-for comfort branch. The snake was very obliging and we took several pictures as our guide informed us that if it were to bite we would have 4 hours to get to a hospital before there would certainly be permanent damage and a possibility of death.

Our trek next brought us to two beautiful waterfalls, the second of which was featured in the movie The Beach. It was here that we took a break at ate our lunch on the rocks at the foot of the fall.

The afternoon was spent in pursuit of the Great Hornbill, and our patience finally paid off when we spotted about 10 of them flying over our lookout (this was not an official lookout, just a spot in the road where our guide had seen the birds lately). Again, this was not something I wanted to miss fumbling with the camera. In fact there were several other animals throughout the day that were either too fast, too far, or too fascinating to capture good photos of including barking deer (which we actually heard bark), a fox, giant black squirrels (a meter long!), mini brown squirrels, and quite a few beautiful species of tropical birds.

After the cool ride back to headquarters, Joe and I were happy to just relax with good food and beer before cruising back to KK the next day.