Our planet is a wonderful place, with countless treasures that remind us all the time that we must protect it.
To protect these special places, many countries have formed national parks. In Thailand there is a really beautiful one: the Khao Sok National Park.
Khao Sok National Park
This Thai destination awaits us between Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak and Kho Samui, In mainland. That is, right where the most popular destinations are concentrated, in the south of the country.
In the park you can walk through the jungle, go canoeing, see elephants up close and much more. It is a rainforest with a huge biodiversity of animals and plants. In fact It is the most popular national park on the mainland, and one of the few parks in the country to which accessed by public transport in a very simple way.
Obviously, if you are a tourist in Thailand, you will visit Phuket and Ko Samui, and just on the way you have the wonderful Khao Sok National Park. How do you get to the park? It is best to take a taxi, it's the best way to not waste time. A private taxi from the nearest airport, Surat Thani Airport, costs around 1.600 Baht, or a little more expensive to Khao Sok village.
Now, most hotels are in Khao Sok village, a few meters or a couple of kilometers walking from the park entrance, a few a little more. Of course you can always arrange with the hotel to take transportation to the park, but the price may not be convenient.
Advice? Pay close attention to which hotel you stay in because being a little smart you will have restaurants, pubs and the visitor center very close. What are the park entrance times and what are the prices? The price is around 22 Baht per adult and 100 Baht for children from 3 to 14 years old. Then you pay separately for the walk around the lake and it can be 300 Bahts for adults and 150 per child.
The good news is that Tickets are valid for several days, although that applies if you stay inside the park either in the houses on the lake or in the camping area. The park is open every day of the year between 6 am and 6 pm. You can enter later but only with a guide, to do the classic night safari, Visiting the lake is not allowed.
An interesting thing is that the park has WiFi. It's not the eighth wonder of the world but it works more or less well. Many resorts and restaurants offer free WiFi. Part of the lake even has mobile reception, from the AIS operator, whose coverage in most Thai national parks is usually good. If you stay in the most expensive houses on the lake, WiFi is guaranteed because there is electricity all the time thanks to solar cells. The rest only have electricity until 10 pm, through generators.
What are the most interesting and recommended places to visit within the park? The treasure within the treasure is the Cheow Lan Lake, a body of water with many tributary rivers and a hundred rocky outcroppings.
To get to its coasts it is advisable to take a taxi in any of the nearby towns, including Khao Sok. If you travel in a group and join one, there are minivan services from Khao Sok. You will not have any problem getting close to the lake.
On the lake itself, the small houses and attractions of the place are accessible by boat, long boats that depart from the Ratchaprapha pier. I would say that the best thing is to be able to spend a night here, but if not there are tours. Some tourism agencies offer walks around the lake, boat rides and visits to some nearby caves or panoramic points.
The area is the kingdom of many animals, Elephants, gaues (a type of wild cow-like bovine), macaques, bears, deer, gibbons, snakes and amphibians. There are some 90 species of reptiles, 400 species of birds, some very rare, and the best, the famous flower of the province of Surat Thani grows here, a huge flower that can reach 70 or 80 centimeters in diameter that blooms only around the month of February.
Among the latests Moravia's compositions water activities that can be practiced include swimming, there are some ponds along the Sok River and even in the lake itself, you can do rafting or canoeing. The Khlong Long River is the most popular tributary of the lake, on the northeast coast, about 15 or 16 kilometers from the lake dock. It is the site of caves and hills.
Among the caves we must highlight the Nam Talu Cave, a 500 meter long cave near the Klong Pey River. It has a very large entrance and a stream inside. It is about four kilometers from the lake. It is dangerous when it rains and people have died in 2007 because it floods super fast. It only opens between December and the end of May.
Another fabulous cave is the Coral Cave, a natural sanctuary. You arrive by boat, walk two kilometers and then arrive at the cave in a bamboo boat. Other caves are Pakarang and Diamante.
There are beautiful waterfalls that you can access by following some trails from the heart of Khao Sok. There are impressive limestone rocks and some fabulous caves around the lake that are reached by boats. The trail is seven kilometers long.
If you want to complement, there are many trails offered to do hikingMany, but very few a couple, can do without a guide. The others require the presence of a guide and tourists are not recommended to walk alone because they may get lost.
Finally, what else should I know about the Khao Sok National Park? There are two equally popular areas that are 67 km apart. An area is where the "headquarters" of the park is, it is usually called Khao Sok Village.
This is where many trails begin, you can visit the waterfalls and sign up for many activities on the river. The other area is the lake, to the east of the first, the part known for its nice little houses, its caves, panoramic points, trails, limestone hills and so on. To decide well what to see and how to get around, it is advisable to visit the official site and see the interactive map.
Information about Khao Sok National Park:
- It was established in 1980 and at that time it was park number 22.
- It covers an area of 739 square kilometers.
- It is part of the Khlong Saeng – Khao Sok Forest Complex which incorporates 12 protected sites covering a total of 5316 square kilometers, with some islands in the Andaman Sea included.
- The wet, rainy season is between the end of April and the beginning of December. The heaviest rains fall from May to October. The dry season is from January to March with temperatures that can be around 36ºC.
- The park has canyons, waterfalls, ponds, rivers.