Day 43: Pak Chong - Bats Everywhere

Since we hadn't booked accommodation for the next night, we flipped through our two travel guides during breakfast and found a guesthouse on the edge of the national park. It offers very affordable overnight stays and tours through the national park. So we booked two nights and a half-day tour in the afternoon for today, and a full-day tour for tomorrow with the help of the hostel owner. Once everything was sorted out, we just had to get to Pak Chong. So off to the train station to catch the 11 o'clock train. Arriving at the station at 10:30 am, we found out that the train was running 2 hours late, so we could no longer make it to the half-day tour. We walked back to the hostel, asked the owner for her phone again, and called to let them know that we would arrive 2 hours later. Luckily, 4 other people were also late for the tour in Pak Chong on the same day. So a slightly delayed tour was organized for us.

Finally, the bus came and we reached Pak Chong. We were taken directly to our accommodation by a shuttle from the guesthouse, and no more than 5 minutes after checking in, the tour started...

First, we visited a cave where countless bats lived. The cave was full of bats. Our guide told us a lot about the life and behavior of the animals. Then we visited a large Buddha statue on a hill. From here, we had a truly beautiful view of the landscape. But now came the highlight of our tour: the emergence of 2 million bats flying out of a cave to hunt. These 2 million bats fly through a small hole in the mountain within an hour in the twilight and at night to hunt mosquitoes and similar creatures. A never-ending black band formed in the sky, consisting solely of bats, very impressive!

To end the tour, we went swimming in a natural river pool at night. At first, it felt strange to swim in the dark, but eventually we started to enjoy it. Now we were completely exhausted and returned to our guesthouse, where a delicious dinner awaited us.