Day 3: Khao Yai National Park
May 27 - We woke up thankful to be warm and that it hadn't rained. Our driver met us at our campsite with our breakfast and we learned that no other tourists would be joining us today. So it was just Michael, myself, our guide Ben and driver! Score! Private tour! There were a few new trails that Ben wanted to take us on. As we headed on the first one, Michael asked if Ben had ever seen bears. He answered that in his nearly seven years of being a guide, he had seen bears on no more than ten occasions. Apparently sun bears are very territorial and can be highly aggressive towards single hikers. As we walked through the jungle we were very aware of our surroundings. We came across another troop of gibbons and watched them for a long while. According to Ben this troop was normally very shy but there seemed to be a territorial dispute in progress involving a lone male which provided enough distraction to keep the troop from fleeing our presence. We were so amazed as we watched them swing through the branches, effortlessly making their way from tree to tree. We also saw giant tree squirrels, exotic birds and some small lizards. We ventured deeper into the jungle, walking in a single file path, me in the middle. Suddenly we heard some loud noise, I had no idea what it was. Ben swung around and said "Bear! Run!" Thankfully we didn't have to run too far, before we hid behind a fallen log on the path. Ben explained that he thought there was a cub. We listened as the adult bear moved through the jungle away from us, and we could see the bear cub had run up a tree, right beside the path ahead of us. It called out to its mother, and we were frozen, not too sure if the bear would try to attack us. We heard the bear move further and further away, and then the cub climb down the tree quickly and run off to meet its mother. We waited behind the fallen tree for awhile as our hearts raced. Ben picked up sticks and hit them together to make some noise and continued to do so until he was sure that the bears were far away. At the end of the path we were picked up by our driver who told us that there had in fact been a snake sighting in the area that Ben had found the snake skin the previous day. We raced to see if it was still there. Hooray, it was! It was a green pit viper, curled on top of a branch, fast asleep with its eyes open (Michael informed me that it doesn’t have eyelids). Even though I am not the biggest fan (ie. I am terrified) of snakes, I still gasped in awe at its vibrant green skin and yellow eyes. Michael had left his tripod in the songthaew, but managed to get a few good shots in the low light (it was the afternoon, but the thick canopy of the forest blocked out a lot of sun). We headed back to the same restaurant for lunch as we had the previous day and thanked God for the blessing of being able to see so much wildlife, and that we were safe! We were told by our guide that after lunch we would try to find the lone crocodile that lived in the park. We drove to the river where it was often spotted. We hiked down a hillside and walked along the river, noting the signs "Beware of crocodile". We prayed for safety again and then walked along the path. We saw another photographer and his guide who told us that they hadn't seen the crocodile. Then, Ben motioned for us to follow - he had spotted the crocodile's eyes sticking out of the water. We followed him quickly and saw the crocodile swimming about 20 feet from us. Michael tried to find the best spot on the river bank for photos, and I backtracked on the path about 15 feet to see if I could get a better angle with my camera. As we took photos the crocodile stalked us, slowly moving closer to the riverbank. Eventually the crocodile grew tired of waiting for us to fall into the river (or get too close to the river’s edge) and crossed to the other side to watch some macaques who were playing in the trees overhanging the river. Not long after and to my utter astonishment, I saw Michael crouching at the edge of the riverbank, splashing a stick in the water. Michael was trying to attract the crocodile back over to this side of the river for a second photo-shoot! Suddenly, the crocodile flipped around quickly and dove underwater heading straight for Michael. I ran back towards Michael, but thankfully he saw the crocodile coming and was already in motion, retreating up the riverbank. The crocodile peered at us, but didn't come closer, thankfully. Once the crocodile was out of view, we climbed back up the hill and got in the songthaew. Michael requested to go back to the pit viper so that he could use his tripod and get some better shots. Our guide and driver agreed, and we drove quickly back to where the snake had been. Thankfully the snake wasn't too far into the jungle and hadn’t moved and Michael was given the time to take as many shots as he wanted while the guide and driver waited. After he had his fill, we got back in and drove to the exit of the park, stopping for a bit to observe the many macaque monkey families by the side of the road. As we pulled back into Bobby's parking lot, we said our good byes to Ben and our driver. After getting cleaned up, we enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal and marveled at how blessed we were to see so much rare wildlife! These last few days definitely topped our list of best experiences on our trip!
~ Leah
Got my leech socks on, ready for another day of hiking!
Three-horned rhinoceros beetle I had found the previous night
Three-horned rhinoceros beetle
Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak)
Black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor)
A spikey vine
Black-and-buff woodpecker (Meiglyptes jugularis)
Black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor)
Black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor)
White-handed or Lar gibbon (Hylobates lar) climbing through the tree tops. We encountered this troop of gibbons the second day of hiking. Normally this troop is very shy but due to a territorial dispute that was in progress we were mostly ignored.
White-handed gibbon
White-handed gibbon (you can see my camera flash in this video)
White-handed gibbon
Photographing the white-handed gibbons
White-handed gibbon
A standoff between a troop of white-handed gibbons and a male gibbon invader
White-handed gibbons
Large cicada shell
Crossing a fallen tree over a dry riverbed
This is a picture of a picture of a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus). We saw a sun bear with a cub while hiking along a path with our guide. Due to the very short duration of the encounter and the risk of attack, I (Michael) was unable to get any photos of the mother or cub. Our guide informed us that he had encountered a wild sun bear no more than 10 times in his seven years as a guide in Khao Yai National Park and he had never encountered a mother with cub. It was a slightly scary but exhilarating experience.
Green pit viper
Lunch - Pad Thai
Flying dragon (Draco taeniopterus or maculatus)
White-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus)
Flying dragon lizard
Haew Suwat Waterfall - unfortunately without falling water
The location from the movie, The Beach, in which Leonardo DiCaprio jumps off the waterfall into the pool below
Beware of Crocodile!
Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis)
Michael trying to attract the crocodile to come back across the river
Leah filming the crocodile as it responds to Michael’s simulation of an animal splashing in the shallows
Leah and I with our guide Ben (we would definitely recommend him!)
Northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina) grooming on the edge of the main road through Khao Yai National Park
Baby northern pig-tailed macaque
Northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina)
Baby northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina)
Photographing a green pit viper
Photographing a green pit viper using a tripod in the low light of late afternoon
Green pit viper
Supper back at Bobby’s Apartments