manders Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Recently went hiking in Khao Yai national park about two hours north of Bangkok, Thailand. This time we went off the beaten track somehwhat and hiked up through some less visited parts of the forest. Pretty hard going and not the safest place to be, more on that later but heres some photos we took allong the way, apologies for some not so good photos, but was hot, bothered and knackered most of the time. Sorry to say couldnt take a pooh up there without killing of at least 50 D burmanii and countless utrics, sorry folks Literally Acres of utrics up there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stairs Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Looks like a beautiful spot; it's interesting how uniform the range of Indochinese Utrics seems to be at localities from Thailand through to Vietnam and Cambodia - once you descend past the Isthmus of Kra into Malaysia, it's rather different. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 They look like nice pictures to me! I look forward to your next post to hear where you went (did you make it up Khao Samor Poon this time?) and the safety aspect. I'll be heading in that general direction for a week or so in January and am trying to decide which spots to focus on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel G Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Lovely pictures and plants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Rohrbacher Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Oh! Very beautiful place, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted October 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) They look like nice pictures to me! I look forward to your next post to hear where you went (did you make it up Khao Samor Poon this time?) and the safety aspect. I'll be heading in that general direction for a week or so in January and am trying to decide which spots to focus on. Numpty, at least in Jan it should have stopped rainng and there will be fewer leaches! The problem with the usual tourist trails is that there are few orchids etc left at a height were you can see them. The dangers if you go into the forest on the mountains is real but if your sensible can be minimised, in any event you have to go with rangers who will look after you. Pit-vipers and other snakes are a real danger as are some of the larger animals, elephants, bears, buffalo... Some of the time we were in flood plains and if there is any heavy rain you need to move on pretty sharpish. We were never in any real danger though as far as i know... The trail up khao samoor poon is not to be taken lightly, its 800m up at a 45% angle, climb 10minutes, stop for five etc and you have to do the whole climb in one day. Even the soldiers find it hard going. Its easier to see bigger animals and birds though in the main part of khao yai not far from the roads, like gibbons, elephants, hornbills etc. Edited October 24, 2011 by manders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Nijman Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Well you have to be carrefull with wild elefants! They can be very dangerous. Alexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted October 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Elephants, bears, kraits, pit vipers, buffallo, all dangerous. I suspect though that dengue fever kills more people and thats endemic in major population areas, kills 1-5% of people that catch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 The dangers if you go into the forest on the mountains is real but if your sensible can be minimised, in any event you have to go with rangers who will look after you. Pit-vipers and other snakes are a real danger as are some of the larger animals, elephants, bears, buffalo... Some of the time we were in flood plains and if there is any heavy rain you need to move on pretty sharpish. We were never in any real danger though as far as i know... Thanks for the info! Which area of the park did you visit, if you don't mind my asking? When you say you "have to go" with rangers, does that mean that park regulations require visitors in remote areas to be accompanied, or is it just that you probably wouldn't see anything and might get into difficulty if off the beaten track? Last time I was in the park, before my interest in CPs, I went wandering around and camped on some of the smaller trails, but that was still within several hours' walk of the main area. I imagine even the trailheads would be relatively remote for some of the walking you did? And I guess you didn't see any Neps, or you would have posted pictures already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted October 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 You are right the main areas of the park are open access, you just pay the entrance fee. Some other areas you need to go with a ranger, i think because they are 'more' protected, i'm not entirely sure how they distinguish the two to be honest. There is a lot of poaching going on and the rangers have their work cut out to protect the forest, all kinds of stuff ends up in bangkok market and trees get cut down illegally and sent to china to make furniture for export, theres probably illegal hunting as well. There are supposedly 5 tigers left in the park but i think their days are numbered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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