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.

Khao Lak Safari- Jungle, Beach and Elephants

For those who are looking for a mix of jungle, beach and elephant trekking look no further- the Khao Lak Safari is exactly the right tour for you. To find out more about this diversified tour, read the article written by our intern Sina:

On my second day of work with Khao Lak Land Discovery I had the chance to get to see more of Khao Lak and its surroundings by joining todays Khao Lak Safari. My colleague Ben, who will be today’s tour guide will teach be about some factors that will lead to a successful tour.

Most important factor? Happy guests that are ready to enjoy a lovely day in the outdoors with us.

So, together with our friendly driver Suriya, Ben and I make our way to the hotels to pick up the customers. With eight smiling faces on board of our bus, we are ready to head to our first stop of the day: 

15 day old turtle hatchlings

The Turtle Nursery in Thap Lamu is definitely worth a visit. 

Here you can see the development of the Green Sea Turtle. The smallest ones are just a few days old, while there are also a few which are already fully grown up to 1 meter. While looking at the turtles, Ben feeds us with plenty of information about the animals and about the Nursery Station. After having seen all the different sized turtles we head on back to the bus, as we still have lots to see and do today.

Bamboo raft through the jungle

Our next stop is the Bamboo Raft Station. On our way, Ben tells us about the importance of rubber export in Thailand and we even stop to have a closer look at one of the trees to see how the collection of latex functions. Once we arrive at the bamboo station, the rafts men already await us and we can hop on the rafts two at a time. The 45 minute ride on the Wang Khiang Koo river anticipates an amazing jungle feeling. We listen to the sounds of birds and cicadas and look out for sleeping snakes in the trees, while the rafter tells us about flora and fauna with a mix of Thai and English. 

Small Sandy Beach

Back on shore again, we have gotten a little bit wet on the ride, it is just the right time to go to the beach to dry in the sun or to get even wetter while having a swim in the beautiful waters of idyllic “Hat Lek” or “Small Sandy Beach”. With the minibus it only takes about ten minutes to reach the entry of Lamru National Park from where we take a short jungle walk down the hill. The sound of the jungle is astonishing and reaches from the shrill chirping of the cicadas, to yelling monkeys and finally, as we get closer to the beach, the breaking of the waves.  Once we arrive there, we realize: We are the only visitors this afternoon. The only other person at the beach is an employee of the National Park, at whose bar some of our guests treat themselves to a fresh coconut. 

After one relaxing hour on the beach, we make our way up to the minibus again, which takes us to the restaurant at Ton Pling waterfall. A delicious Thai lunch is served here, including Massaman Curry (curry with chicken and potatoes), spring rolls, Thai omelet, vegetable soup and of course rice.  After all guests have finished, we treat them to some fresh watermelon for dessert and a cup of coffee before slowly heading to our next and last stop of the day. 

Elephant trekking at Sairung Camp

The elephant trekking is the highlight of the tour for most of our guests… When else do you get the chance to trek through the amazing jungle on a 3 meter tall animal? As big as the elephant might be, it is astonishing to see how gentle they are and how well they can balance their huge feet.  The ride might be a bit shaky at first but you will get used to it very fast and then you can just enjoy the lovely ride, passing by many rubber and palm oil plantations.  After the one hour trek, our guests have the chance to thank their “jungle taxi” by feeding them some bananas or pineapples, before we all head back to the hotels in Khao Lak.

After having dropped off all our customers, I can look back on a great tour: we had perfect weather, an excellent tour guide and most importantly: super happy guests.

Sounds interesting? Find out more about this tour, prices and other Khao Lak tours.

If you want to find out more about us and our other tours, please visit also our Website.

Phangnga Bay - So much more than just James Bond Island

After plenty of days of summer, sun, beach and ocean I wanted to do something different. Therefore, I have decided to visit Phang Nga Bay with Khao Lak Land Discovery.

James Bond Rock

Phang Nga Bay is famous for the so-called James Bond Island from which Richard Moore, in the movie “The Man with the Golden Colt”, 1974, dramatically escaped the villains. But Phang Nga Bay has so much more to offer, which I would like to share with you.

Canoeing

Our trip has started with a 45 minute drive to the harbour where we have swopped the minivan with a typical Thai long-tail boat. We drove past limestone’s and mangrove forest on our way to our first stop – the kayaking station. Lightly drenched from the ride on the long-tail boat (the swell was slightly stronger than expected) we have made our way on a canoe into the mangrove forests.The best part was that we did not have to paddle ourselves, but were paddled by a nice Thai. Thus we were able to enjoy the view and to capture the memories on camera. There was plenty to see. For example, we have seen amazing limestone rocks which are partially protruding up to 300 meters high out of the bright green water. Also, we got to see stalactites and stalagmites along the way. To get into the lagoons we sometimes had to duck in the canoe to pass the narrow passages. 

 

After the canoe ride, we continued our journey with the long-tail boat to follow the footsteps of Roger Moore. The James Bond Island seemed to be drastically smaller than you would expect it from the movie. Moreover, the stunt of the action hero Richard Moore did not seem as dramatic and dangerous anymore. But still, it was very nice to look at.

Koh Panyee School

Koh Panyee village

Nobody had to go hungry, because our next stop was Koh Panyee, a gypsy village which was entirely built on stilts. Moreover, up to 2000 people life on this stilts village that also provides a school, a mosque and a soccer field which hosts a well known soccer team that is famous all over Thailand. After we walked through the "small town" and visited the Koh Panyee School, we had lunch with a variety of typical Thai-Muslim food. The treats that we had eaten have strengthened us for the rest of the day. This made it easy for us to enjoy the rest of the long-tail boat ride back to the pier.

Tuesday Buddha

Back on the mainland, our nice driver has taken us to the Suwanakuha temple. There, I decided to get blessed by a monk. A bit of luck never hurt anyone, right? After I have felt blessed I marvelled at the huge Buddha statue that can be seen in the temple. It is covered in gold. Our tour guide told us that this is the Tuesday Buddha, which is presented in a lying position. Furthermore, we were able to see and feed monkeys that chose the temple as their headquarters. Before we’ve left the temple I had to get a prophecy that will lead my future. Apparently, if your prophecy is bad you have to leave it behind in the temple. But as my prophecy was outstanding I took it with me outside the temple that it can become reality.

All in all, it was a great day with Khao Lak Land Discovery to explore the Phang Nga Bay. 

Written by Diana Schob

2 Days in pure nature - Khao Sok Lake Explorer

We got picked up at our hotel at 7.30 AM to go on a two days trip to the Khao Sok national park. We were about to spend the night at the Cheow Larn lake in a floating raft house.

After a short stop at a viewpoint, we visited the headquarters of the national park. Here we were welcomed by a big, fat python snake which was relaxing in the foliage. That surely gave us our first jungle experience. The next stop was at a small local market where we shopped for the last time before we were moving towards the solitude. From a small landing place we got onto a long tail boat and experienced the incredible landscape of those million years old limestone formations for the first time. The most impressive part about those huge cliffs is the brought variety and great development of vegetation that is growing on the limestone.

 

The boat stopped and we had the possibility to cool down by jumping into the green and most inviting water. We climbed the cliff, jumped into the water, swam around and relaxed in the sun, before we continued towards our raft house. Shortly before we reached the accommodation, one spotted a few monkeys along the waterside. While watching the monkeys, it slowly started raining and only 2 minutes later, when we reached the raft house, it was pouring.

Therefore we did not reach all dry, but had the best atmosphere for our first lunch at the lake. Soon we realized that rain will be our background music for the next two days. But not only that the calm lake was troubled by straight raindrops that fell into the water, the vegetation that was heated up by the sun, cooled down because of the rain and mist raised and surrounded the limestone formations. That was a beautiful natural spectacle that we were able to witness over and over again.

We realized that even that the rain was slightly cooling, the water temperature of the lake was still quite high and invited for a dip. One realized “it is not just raining from above; it is also raining from below, just like in Forest Gump”. So we spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing in front of our bamboo huts before we sat all together at the main hut to listen to some guitar play of the raft house owner. It was a very familial atmosphere and continued after dinner, when we sat on the floor, had some drinks and shared a few stories. A great surprise was the visit from a small fogy. At 11 PM the electric generator got switched off and the only light was given through a few small candles, we felt so close to nature than never before. Since it was still raining it was not possible to see a single star which is most probably the case when being in such a natural environment.

The next morning we woke up at 6.30 AM, grabbed some coffee and got onto our long tail boat to observe animals in the morning. Of cause it still rained so we did not see any. We only heard a hornbill but did not see one. I was quite disappointed about that, because that would have been my personal highlight. 

After breakfast we decided to still go onto the promised jungle walk, even if the rain would probably still continue. After half an hour walk, we sat onto a bamboo raft and crossed the lake. We than entered an incredible cave with fascinating stalagmites and stalactites. For a while we switch off all our torches and cameras and experienced the pure darkness. I thought that it was absolutely dark at the lake the night before, but in this cave you could see absolutely nothing. I never thought that darkness could fascinate me that much. On our way back through the jungle, we met quite a cheeky monkey, sitting high up in the tree and throwing fruits at us.

 

Back at the raft house, we showered, relaxed for a while, packed everything and enjoyed a last lunch in the lake atmosphere before we went back to the landing place. It were amazing two days with unforgettable impressions. The best part was living and experiencing the nature so closely and living only on basic supplements without much electricity, internet, hand phones or TV.


If you want to know more about our tours at Khao Sok National Park, please click here.

by Charlotte Franke

Post from Khao Lak, Thailand

One Day at the stunning Similan Islands

This is a holiday just as you know it from a postcard. At 7 am we got picked up by a minibus at our hotel and drove to a small private harbor for about 20 minutes. Very relaxed, we had the possibility to enjoy a coffee while the tour guide explained to us how to behave on the boat and in the national park. He informed us about ever necessary security details that were important for the day. From the harbor we got on the speedboat which took us through the mangroves right into the Andaman Sea. 

With two engines of 450PS the drive itself was worth getting up early in the morning already. The boat jumped the waves while in front we were able to enjoy the first early sunbeams. However what was coming up was not to expect. Even our tour guide said that we were extremely lucky that day. Right next to our boat, two dolphins were suddenly jumping out of the water. First we saw only those two but after a while of observing the water we realized that there were 6 all together. They followed us for a while and we were able to take great pictures.

Little by little the main land disappeared behind us and all around the boat was simply water. At the horizon the first island was vaguely recognizable but still mystically hidden in fog. As we came closer, the unexpected beauty of this impressive landscape became more visible to us. Right in front of the first amazing granite cliff we made our fist snorkel stop. The minute we stopped the engine a turtle came very close to our boat. After we all got into the water, the turtle followed us and it seemed like she told another turtle to welcome us, too. After a short time in the water we had two turtles that were sniffing us, which were just as curious about us as we were about them. For half an hour we were able to explore the fish world at this spot.

After the first impression we drove into the Donald Duck Bay, which got its name for the cliff formation right at the front, which looks like a duck head. The beach here was unbelievable. Well, if you imagine soft sand and add some white paint to it, you will probably come close to what the sand at this bay is like. The crystal-clear water that runs over the stunning sand adds up to its beauty. However there is not just sand but also granite cliffs. Huge rocks that look like they are put on each other with great care. Exactly this cliff we started to climb. On top of the rocks we had a stunning view across the bay and over the national park with its other islands. From the top it got even more obvious how crystal-clear the water is.

After a very relaxing stay at the beach we went back to the speedboat. We drove to the next island where we had lunch at the honeymoon bay. For lunch we had rice with three different dishes of fish and meat as well as one vegetable and watermelon for dessert. For lunch we sat at wooden tables, under large trees and were therefore well protected from the sun. After lunch we took a walk through the jungle towards the other side of the island. From huge holes at the tree roots we were able to see that the Chicken Crab lives here. Sadly we did not see any however the sizes of the holes were already enough for me.

At the other side of the island we found another beautiful beach. It is no surprise that the Thai princess owns a summer cottage over here. That is also the reason why this beach is called the Princess Bay. In slightly orange colored trees, flying foxes where hanging and protecting themselves from the sun. It was cute to look at, how they were hanging there upside down, stretching themselves once in a while.

After this stay, we continued our tour with the speed boat towards our next snorkel stop. A great amount of different corrals and even more different types of fish species that could not have been any more colorful, were present at this bay. Here again we had the chance to observe another turtle. It is very interesting so see how other fish embrace the turtle and look for its protection. Other guests even saw a moray, a water snake and squid. After that, we stop for another time. Here were many impressive fish species for us to be seen as well. Furthermore I now know who we have to thank for the amazing sand. I was able to observe the parrot fish while he was using the toilet so to say. This fish eats mainly seaweed and corrals and the leftovers are then the impressive sand. Not such a nice thought but even more interesting to observe.

On our way back, the water was very calm and the drive therefore very relaxed. At 5pm we reached back at Khao Lak. It surely was a great day.  

Want to experience the same great trip? For more information on the Similan islands tour, click here.

Charlotte Franke