One of my great passions is walking in the National Parks of Thailand. Especially in mixed evergreen forests as they, along with the moist evergreen forests in the south, can be truely described as "jungle". There is something primitive about them, they hide themselves in full sight and support a massive diversity of life and species.

Thailand is blessed with an astounding number of National Parks, Forest Parks and Sanctuaries but getting reliable information on them and their nature trails, tracks and routes is not easy for the expectant visitor. This is why I am sharing all of my GPS data, maps, tracks and trails in the hope that others will share also and we can all gain knowledge the tracks in certain parks before setting off on a visit.

You can see the GPS trails by clicking here. I have included a map of the trail, an elevation profile, a google earth view, the GPS track file (.gpx) for you to download as well as describing the trail, its length and the normal time to walk it and what precautions you need to take in terms of water, food, etc. I have also introduced a simple rating system of easy, moderate, hard and ouch.

The purpose of "Exploring Natural Thailand" is to share information on and introduce people to the beauty of Thailand's nature, wildlife and national parks and to, hopefully, help people to explore Thailand’s sights, parks, forests and trails themselves.

Thailand is blessed with many natural gifts as well as one of the most extensive National Park and Sanctuary systems gazetted by any nation. For the English speaker it’s hard to find accurate information, especially on trekking trails, so I will use this site to share some of my own experiences, opinions and photographs. There is also a forum for everyone to share experiences and information on Thailand’s national parks, their fauna, flora and trails.

This is a follow-up from my previous (see here) thoughts on the flatid nymphs that one constantly sees throughout Thailand's forests. Most people who have walked the forest and jungle paths will have come across them and will always remember them for their outlandish white "hairy" looks. I have seem them in virtually every park I have visited BUT I have never before seen adult flatid plant hoppers with the these nymphs. Just recently I was fortunate to see two separate counts of adult flatidae on the same bushes and vines as the nymphs on the same day. Both were in the forest surrounding the Huay Nam Yen waterfall in Pang Sida National Park. I think its fairly safe to assume that these flatid planthoppers probably are the mature adult of the nymphs in these photographs, in Dong Phaya Yen at least.

The attached sequence of photographs occurred in Khao Yai National Park and depict a group of wild sambar deer, cervus unicolor, females that were feeding at the edge of the reservoir. The group consisted of two fully grown females, 3 juveniles and a younger doe. One of the adult females took the youngest of the deer into the reservoir, seemingly for a swimming lesson. She clearly teased the young animal out of her depth whilst keeping a close contact. One of the other juvenile does also kept a close watch and seemed to be assisting. They took the young animal out until it was actually swimming, with a panicked look on her face but as soon as she had proven she could do it, she was ushered back into the shallows and back to the grass. Was it a swimming lesson? Was it a lesson in cooling off on a hot day? Was it both?

The Asian or Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus), is one of the three living species of elephant (worldwide), and the only living species of the genus Elephas. Asia is home to the 4 known living subspecies of Elephas, from the 25 known to science. All the world elephants are listed as endangered with habitat destruction being their main threat.

Elephas maximus indicusis the largest living land animal in Thailand. It is endangered, with up to 25,000 left in the world and approximately 1500 wild animals left in Thailand. This animal had been widely domesticated, and has been used in forestry in South and Southeast Asia for centuries. However, one must not mistake the supposed gentleness of the domesticated animals with the wild elephants. Wild elephants are perhaps the most dangerous mammal in Thailand and have killed humans in both Thap Lan National Park and Kaeng Krachan National Park, of Thailand, in recent years. They present an outstanding forcefulness and mastery of their territory to those lucky enough to see them in the wild. Thailand is blessed to have surviving wild populations of these magnificent creatures.

Here is a small sample of my sightings of wild elephants:

To see more images of wild elephants in Thailand, click here

When is the best time time to visit Thailand's National Park's?

Every year I ponder this a little a more as the common view is that the best time is December, January and February. Indeed trekkers all over Thailand are all eagerly awaiting the winter season so their camping and trekking can begin. This annual pilgrimage to the forests by many is based on one factor in my opinion and that is because it is the cool season. But is it it the best time to visit a national park in Thailand?

Thailand is a country that is blessed with large tracts of limestone throughout its borders making it a veritable treasure trove of caves, flowstones, stalactites, stalagmites, and other underground formations. Limestone has a quality in that whilst pure water cannot dissolve it rain water can because it has picked up carbon dioxide from the air and soil and turns the limestone into calcium bicarbonate. That process of dissolving creates, river paths, sink holes, swallow holes, grikes and when these areas collapse some spectacular cave systems can be formed. It is estimated that there are around 4000 known caves in Thailand, but even more are undiscovered in the forest protected limestone peaks of the country.

Here is a small sample of their beauty:

To see more images of caves in Thailand, click here

For those willing to make the journey (a 12 km hike) to Lanhindard in Pang Sida National Park (see route to the crocodile release area here), the wild Cirrhopetalum lepidum orchids are now in bloom (November 2009).

Lanhindard has an area that is strewn with various wild orchids but it is not possible to tell what species until they bloom. This is the first I have seen in bloom in the area, and as you can see its quite different from your commonly cultivated Thai orchids. To locate the site head for the siamese crocodile release area and you will find the orchids on the trail in the last 100 meters before the release pen.