National Park Tour Thailand

In November and December 2023, we spent 3 weeks in 6 different parks for watching and photographing the amazing wildlife in Thailand. Find below some short descriptions on the visited parks and the pictures.

Khao Yai National Park

Thailand’s first National Park was established in 1962 and is situated mainly in the Nakhon Ratchasima Province. It covers an area of 2,168 km². The altitude ranges from 400 to 1,351m. The major ecosystems are evergreen forests, rain forests and grasslands. Khao Yai is part of the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex; a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO, covering 5 protected areas from Khao Yai to the Cambodian border.

Kaeng Krachan

This National Park, established in 1981 and listed since 2021as a World Heritage Site is the biggest, one of the wildest and best parks in Thailand. It covers an area of 2,914 km² and is situated at the border to Myanmar. It is part of Western Forex Complex, covering around 19,000 km² between Thailand and Myanmar. The highest elevation is around 1,500 m asl.

The park has still an outstanding biodiversity and is a well-known hot spot for birders worldwide with nearly 500 species. It has also an amazing diversity of reptiles, butterflies and mammals.

Kui Buri

This park was established in 1999, covering nearly 1,000 km². It is known as the best elephant watching spot in Thailand. It is also the home of the biggest gaur populations in Thailand. The mountains are part of the Tenasserim Hills Range spanning over many protected areas in Thailand and Myanmar. The major ecosystems are dry and moist evergreen forests.

Khao Sam Roi Yot

is the first marine national park of Thailand and covers about 98 km². The park is located on the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province south of Hua Hin at the gulf of Thailand. We visited first the Thung Sam Roi Yot freshwater marsh by boat. It covers 37% of the park and is the largest wetland area in Thailand. It is also a hot spot for birders.

Climbing up to the Khao Daeng view point, you have a great outlook to the Gulf of Thailand east and the iconic limestone mountains west.

Khao Sok

Established in 1980, it covers 739 km² including the Cheow Lan Reservoir. One of the most popular parks in Thailand. The construction of the the Rajjaprabha Dam has started in 1982 by diverting the Klong Sang River. An area of 185 km² was flooded and 385 families were resettled to realize this multi-purpose project – power generation, water for the intensive farming (rubber trees, oil palms) near the park, flood control and fishery. Meanwhile it is an overcrowded tourist hot spot as it’s close to Phuket and Kho Samui, not only for nature enthusiasts.

The iconic limestones – former mountain peaks and dead tree trunks looking out of the water are the witnesses of the devastation of this former ecosystem.

Kho Phra Thong

is an island in Khura Buri District on the Andaman sea. It has an area of 88 km². The island is part of the Mu Ko Ra National Park, established in 2001. It is flat and the major ecosystem behind the uninhabited beaches is a savanna – the biggest in South-East Asia. On the East Side is a small village with around 300 inhabitants of Moken, a semi-nomadic hunter- gatherer lifestyle heavily based on the sea, though this lifestyle is increasingly under threat. This island without roads and with a very basic touristic infrastructure is perfect for nature lover and relaxing.

© 2024 Uwe Schmidt