Kaeng Krachan National Park

Although trails are poorly maintained, the scenery is beautiful. The park rangers are unfortunately lazy. Great campsite. Clean toilets. Must have 4 wheel drive to explore high up track.

This national park is absolutely fantastic for wildlife. It is not so great for humans who visit in the hope of seeing some wildlife! Kaeng Krachan is Thailand's largest national park. Of the 2,915 square kilometres which the park covers there is just one 36km road for visitors to use to 'explore' the park. 18km of this 36km road is inaccessible to visitors who don't have a 4x4 wheel drive with high clearance. In fact, only 15km of the road is really suitable for non 4x4 wheel drive vehicles because the other 3km beyond the first campsite is unpaved and has 3 places where you need to ford a river. On the 15km of road which is accessible to most vehicles, there are no pull-outs or viewpoints. The dense jungle comes right up to the road for the majority of it meaning you can't see much. It would be wonderful if one or two viewpoints could be created to give visitors views over the incredible landscape. There are a few trails, but most require you to hire a ranger to take you along them as it's apparently too dangerous not to (in terms of getting lost). There is a small, dilapidated visitors centre at the first campsite and a cafe where you can get a meal. The rangers here can arrange to hire a driver with a 4x4 vehicle to take you beyond here to the campsite at the end of the 36km road (21km from this point). The cost was 1600 baht to do this. We visited the park 2 days in a row, spending over 7 hours a day on that 18km road (as we managed to get across the fording points to the weir), watching, listening, waiting. We did see some wildlife, but given the number of species which live in the park we basically saw nothing. If there'd been an observation tower, a bird hide, some more accessible trails we may have been more lucky. Don't get me wrong - this place is incredible if you're an insect, bird, reptile, amphibian, mammal, etc. This makes it a perfect haven. But, as a human, don't be disappointed if you don't see much. This is even the case if you've paid a small fortune to visit with a guide who plays bird and animal calls at loud volumes to try to find some wildlife from the road for their clients to see. We didn't do this, but saw it in action. At one point we thought we heard gibbons, only to find that the calls were from a guides loud speaker. Sadly, no actual gibbons answered! We've visited many of Thailand's national parks. This one is the best for the animals, worst for the visitors.

Nature in its glory...but recommended for walkers and trekkers, birdwatchers and early risers. The access roads to the peak of the reserve for wonderful scenic views are not outstanding in quality and access is by very bumpy pickup trucks.

An awesome national park which is not far from Bangkok. There are many kinds of wild animals here including black panthers, leopards, elephants, ant eaters, etc. Of course, we haven’t seen those animals why we did hiking on the natural trail here. However we saw some foot prints though. We love the trail here because we have to walk across the stream several times. It is really fresh and nice. I wear a pair of water hiking shoes which is very practical for a trail like this. This trail is only 2.5 kilometers. We start from the tourist center at Baan krang (บ้านกร่าง) and finish at stream 1 (ลำธาร1). Our driver will drive there and wait for us. The minivan could not go further because the car will need to run across the stream. Only SUVs or trucks could go. There is no phone signal here, not from True. Dtac or even AIS. So it is not possible to call our driver at all. We just have to finish the trail. There are many beautiful butterflies here. Many signs tell all drivers to drive slowly and please avoid killing these butterflies. We visit here around the end of July. We enjoy our hike very much. It is not difficult at all. No steep path , just flat trail.

My first visit here. I didn't do any of the boat trips to the little islands in the lake but nonetheless enjoyed my time around the borders of the lake where there is plenty of parking and spaces for camping. Do go across the suspension bridge where you can walk or cycle a circular path. Bicycles can be hired for 30 baht/hour. There is a Caffe, Visitors centre and toilets on site.

World heritage Thailand National Park. Forest sightseeing , creatures , camping

Really enjoyed the experience. Butterflies were great. I wanted to do more hiking but realised the hiking and waterfalls you need to go further up for and you can't just do it without the proper vehicle so if you want to hike, make sure you make arrangements to go up further into the park, get permits and probably stay overnight in the park. Maybe that's just my experience or I didn't do enough homework prior to the trip but it wasn't as easy or permissible as I expected. You'll probably need a guide and to hire a 4 x 4 if you don't already have one. But well worth it. Butterflies, monkeys, bird life that we saw was worth it. The lake was magnificent! So scenic. Great place to explore. So much to see

Great place for a relaxing weekend in a hotel or even camping!