Friday, June 13, 2014

An unforgettable day in the jungle of Khao Sok National Park


The day started at 08:00 o’clock with a one-hour drive north. Our target today was the national park Khao Sok. Our first stop was at the canoe station, from which we were paddled across the Sok river for about 1.5 hours. The paddle guides always kept their eyes open and showed us every animal they spotted. So we saw monkeys, some frogs, a black and yellow mangrove snake, a monitor lizard and countless butterflies and birds in the most beautiful colours. Smaller rapids made ​​the trip a memorable one.
After a short drive by minibus we arrived at the cave temple in Khao Sok National Park. This temple houses among others a mummified monk, who was very important for the native inhabitants. There was also a large Buddha statue inside the temple, as well as a few smaller ones on the outside. In front of the temple were a lots of monkeys which we could feed with bananas and peanuts. They were a little bit cheeky and tried to steal the whole bag of peanuts from me, but other than that it was a great experience to get so close to these still wild animals.
At midday we stoped at the georgeous Rock and Treehouse Resort in Khao Sok National Park. This newly opened resort offers accommodation in treehouse bungalows that fit perfectly into the jungle environment. We had a very nice buffet lunch in the resort with lots of Thai specialties such as the delicious Massaman Curry (curry with chicken, potatoes and carrots), fried vegetables, noodles and fried chicken.

After having fuelled up with that delicious lunch, we got back onto the minibus to reach our last stop of the day. Once we arrived at the elephant camp, we went up the platform and sat down on the seats of our huge jungle friends. I have to admit I was a bit scared when I saw, how high it actually was. But the fear was overcome by excitement just a few minutes after that. It was really a once in a lifetime experience to sit up there and see how these gentle giants cross all kinds of obstacles without making even one wrong step. After about half an hour we got down from the elephants so we could walk / climb to a small waterfall. Getting there was an adventure, but no problem with the help of the mahouts. After having seen the waterfall, we got back on top of our “jungle-taxi”. The mahouts offered us to sit right on the neck of the elephant if we dared. This was probably my highlight of the whole day. It was an unique opportunity to get as close as possible to these amazing creatures and definitely an unforgettable adventure.

To find out more about this tour visit our website or the Khao Sok tour page.