After a bus break down and some intense travel hours up to the northeastern plateau around Korat from Kanchanaburi via Bangkok I was finally here: The Khao Yai National Park, a Thai national and UNESCO world heritage site. I enjoyed every minute of my three days stay. And it was the most amazing nature experience ever.
I stayed at Khao Yai Garden Lodge, where I didn't only had a wonderful time with lots of interesting people I met, but also the most friendly and hearty welcome and service. I can only recommend the place with their experienced tour guides, who made the tours an extraordinary experience.
On the first day we (two french couples and me) took of with our tour guide and our pickup truck right into the park. We deboarded the car to trek a couple of hours on jungle pathes our guide knew. Our guide grew up in the region and had plenty of experience when it came to wildlife. It was amazing how he saw and heard animals in the jungle and we just followed their tracks until we saw them, mostly wild monkeys, but also snakes, wild cats and lots of birds and incredible insects. Unfortunately we didn't see one of the 400 wild elephants still living here, but saw plenty of their leftovers :-). I was impressed by the beauty, freshness and liveliness of the forest with all those different kinds of plants. We learned lots about their different natural effects on healing people and ate fresh jungle pepper. It really is hard to describe the feeling of being right in the middle of such an untouched nature where you can feel, this could be the place where everything started on this planet. After visiting the rain forest I must say that mankind has to intensivate the effort to preserve the global rainforests. We have to save these paradises and springs of life for future generations and the future of our planet!
I was happy to be here during the rain season, to see all the plants green and fresh and the rivers full of fresh spring water. There were some side effects during this time though besides the rain. We all had to wear special socks because of the leeches. They were everywhere! Jumping from the grass and the leaves on to my juicy body and crawling on our clothes to find a way to get in. And of course monster mosquitos I have never seen before. But I wore my special impregnated trekking clothes, so they had no chance and I didn't take one souvenir out of the jungle! Our first day ended at some of the many wonderful waterfalls in the park. I wonder if you can recognize this one on the picture from a famous movie about backpacking Asia? Leonardo di Caprio had a nice stunt there...
After seeing all this fresh water we wanted to swim in it of course and on the second day we finally had the chance to do it. We visited a fresh water spring and swam in crystal clear water. It was the appetizer for a far more amazing nature experience to come...In the late afternoon we went to a bat cave near a Wat, where monks come to to meditate. You can also see the Bats hanging there side by side. At almost the time every night millions of them swarm out together for hunting. It is an event you just have to witness yourself. It takes about an hour for the millions of bats to come out and we witnessed it all! The sky gets dark because of all the bats and the line of them coming out of that cave just doesn't end. They do this to be safe from predators like eagles, that are in the sky above trying to hunt bats that get separated from the swarm. And after swarming out every bat goes on on its own, coming back one by one to the cave after the night and to the same spot to sleep...
All in all these were my most amazing three days of the trip so far. I could have stayed some longer, but it was time to move on north. I'm writing this from Phimai, a small town northeast of Korat. They say it is the Angkor of Thailand and the model for the Cambodian Angkor. I will visit the historical site today and stay over night before I head further north to the Laotian border and the Mekong...
After a bus break down and some intense travel hours up to the northeastern plateau around Korat from Kanchanaburi via Bangkok I was finally here: The Khao Yai National Park, a Thai national and UNESCO world heritage site. I enjoyed every minute of my three days stay. And it was the most amazing nature experience ever. I stayed at Khao Yai Garden Lodge, where I didn't only had a wonderful time with lots of interesting people I met, but also the most friendly and hearty welcome and service. I can only recommend the place with their experienced tour guides, who made the tours an extraordinary experience.
On the first day we (two french couples and me) took of with our tour guide and our pickup truck right into the park. We deboarded the car to trek a couple of hours on jungle pathes our guide knew. Our guide grew up in the region and had plenty of experience when it came to wildlife. It was amazing how he saw and heard animals in the jungle and we just followed their tracks until we saw them, mostly wild monkeys, but also snakes, wild cats and lots of birds and incredible insects. Unfortunately we didn't see one of the 400 wild elephants still living here, but saw plenty of their leftovers :-). I was impressed by the beauty, freshness and liveliness of the forest with all those different kinds of plants. We learned lots about their different natural effects on healing people and ate fresh jungle pepper. It really is hard to describe the feeling of being right in the middle of such an untouched nature where you can feel, this could be the place where everything started on this planet. After visiting the rain forest I must say that mankind has to intensivate the effort to preserve the global rainforests. We have to save these paradises and springs of life for future generations and the future of our planet!
I was happy to be here during the rain season, to see all the plants green and fresh and the rivers full of fresh spring water. There were some side effects during this time though besides the rain. We all had to wear special socks because of the leeches. They were everywhere! Jumping from the grass and the leaves on to my juicy body and crawling on our clothes to find a way to get in. And of course monster mosquitos I have never seen before. But I wore my special impregnated trekking clothes, so they had no chance and I didn't take one souvenir out of the jungle! Our first day ended at some of the many wonderful waterfalls in the park. I wonder if you can recognize this one on the picture from a famous movie about backpacking Asia? Leonardo di Caprio had a nice stunt there...
After seeing all this fresh water we wanted to swim in it of course and on the second day we finally had the chance to do it. We visited a fresh water spring and swam in crystal clear water. It was the appetizer for a far more amazing nature experience to come...In the late afternoon we went to a bat cave near a Wat, where monks come to to meditate. You can also see the Bats hanging there side by side. At almost the time every night millions of them swarm out together for hunting. It is an event you just have to witness yourself. It takes about an hour for the millions of bats to come out and we witnessed it all! The sky gets dark because of all the bats and the line of them coming out of that cave just doesn't end. They do this to be safe from predators like eagles, that are in the sky above trying to hunt bats that get separated from the swarm. And after swarming out every bat goes on on its own, coming back one by one to the cave after the night and to the same spot to sleep...
