The Khao Yai National Park has been around since 1962, making it the oldest of the Thai national parks. It is located about 150 km northeast of Bangkok. Since we couldn't find a direct connection from Sukhothai, we chose the detour via Bangkok and stayed there for a night. Navigating the Thai transportation system without a guide can be challenging and nerve-wracking, wondering if everything will work out. So far, we always arrived, not always taking the fastest route, but we have always experienced that people are very helpful, even across language barriers.
Upon arriving at our beautifully located hotel, the landlord drove us to the scooter rental because the park cannot be explored without your own vehicle. We were expecting to see elephants, bears, deer, wild boars, porcupines, crocodiles, tigers, and more.Based on our experience in Namibia, we had high expectations and patiently waited.Unfortunately, we didn't come across an elephant for photography.The park offers a beautiful mountainous landscape with forests and meadows. There are marked hiking trails. WaterfallsSome of them are easily accessible. However, we were chased away by a species from the forest that we did not expect: there were blood-sucking leeches in some areas. Once we stopped, they approached from all sides, like little caterpillars, and tried to reach our skin by crawling into our shoes. Brrr!After leaving the forest and removing at least 10 of them from our bodies, the forest became off-limits for me.On the second day, we went on a one-hour night safari, which had moderate results, but nevertheless enjoyable.Our 'harvest' after two days in the park: monkeys, deer, almost tame deer, 2 porcupines, a wildcat, 2 monitor lizards, an unidentified snake, and a cobra. Not bad at all! We spent our third day lazily in the beautiful garden of our hotel.And then, in the late afternoon, there was another highlight: the flight of bats. At sunset, thousands of bats leave their cave in an endless swarm to hunt. This lasts for nearly an hour and is such an incredible spectacle that the trip to the national park is worth it just for that.But we also enjoyed the fresh air, green nature, and delicious breakfast at the hotel. We easily endured four nights there and were bid farewell by the incredibly friendly landlord with a hug.
