Why Khao Yai
During my permanence here in Thailand, I always had in mind to go visit its parks, but I never had the chance to plan, according to the job I had at that time. For those who don’t know me personally, I was/am a 3D Animator and I usually work with VFX Studios around the world. This job gave me the opportunity to visit many countries, but at the same time, it did not give me enough time to properly discover wild spots and to make photos I always wished for. This time is different, I took a break from my main job to focus more on this passion, and I’m trying to transform it a fulltime duty.
Coming back to Thailand and having free time, made this possible; I built this website, uploaded galleries, and collections, write this blog and managing the social accounts; while looks straight forward, building a business around photography it’s a tremendous time-consuming task. Despite the best part of this business is actually taking photos, the dark side of it is to promote your self online, and I’m not joking if I say that it needs more time spent in front of a laptop, working on keywording, photo selection, be active on socials such as Facebook and Instagram than actually stay on the field and enjoy the great fun of taking pictures.
How to reach Khao Yai from Bangkok
After reading a lot about all the parks and places to spot wildlife in the land of smiles, I found that the easiest place, to reach and to spend a couple of days just for making interesting photos of animals was the Khao Yai National Park.
I’m based in Bangkok, so I figured it’s not hard to reach with public transport, and rail connections, buses, and taxes they are not certainly a problem in this country. You can go basically everywhere if you plan it on time.
Khao Yai is located 3/4 hours (it depends on the transport you use) in the north of Bangkok; there are different ways to reach it and I personally preferred to use the train for many reasons: the train station is easier to reach than the Bus station that is located too far, it’s well-connected with the MRT and the BTS Skytrain and the trip is quite enjoyable and relaxed.
If you decide to take a bus, the departure station is far away from the center of Bangkok, located in Mochit Bus Station, reachable with a long Skytrain journey and with a taxi. The journey to catch it is far more complicated than the train because it will need more time to reach, more money and I honestly think that the bus is less comfortable and more dangerous. Moreover, keep in mind that the bus has to go through all the traffic, while the train not.
To reach the train station of Hua Lamphong and start your journey to this paradise, it’s pretty easy:
- Take the BTS and stop at Asok station
- As soon as you exit the Asok BTS station, follow directions for MRT Sukhumvit station; it’s easy to see the signs for directions.
- Buy a ticket for Hua Lamphong and take the MRT train that heads to Lak Song (it’s a pretty fast ride, 6 stops, around 10 minutes)
- At Hua Lamphong MRT station, follow directions for the train station
Buy a ticket at the train station for Pak Chong, the nearest village from Khao Yai National Park
As soon as you arrive at Hua Lamphong train station, go buy your ticket at the counter; you can check the departing schedule from the official website here and look for the train you prefer. They all take around 3:30-4 hours to arrive in Pak Chong, but in my experience, I found the slower train more comfortable and cheaper than the faster one. I paid 186 baht for a second class express route with the n71 train and reserved seat, while on the way back to Bangkok I paid just 36 baht! I don’t know if I was lucky, but the ordinary route had the seats more comfortable and spacious than the Express one. Up to you to pick the route you prefer, the travel is not too long and is quite enjoyable, also without the Air-conditioned. A little advice: If you don’t want to travel heavy, with many things in your hands, don’t buy water bottles or drinks before the journey, you will be happy to know that during the travel, many people will come to you offering fresh drinks, food and fruit, and at cheap prices.
Pak Chong train station
When I arrived at Pak Chong train station, there was a driver waiting to bring me to the guesthouse I previously booked. A lot of resorts and accommodations offer a free shuttle bus service, or they give you the right directions before you arrive, so don’t worry about this little transfer; they are all pretty organized and kind to help you in case you are stuck at the train station. I joined a group of other tourists and, as previously planned, I booked a tour with their guides. It was the only choice I had, as the first time in this park, I had no idea how to handle paths in the jungle, possible problems during my stay and logistic issues.
A piece of big advice
A piece of big advice I give to adventurer and backpackers is to never underestimate the dangers you can face on this kind of trip, especially if you go for wild routes. I heard that a lot of people get lost inside this park because paths are not well shaped and well signposted, and after I saw with my eyes, I can surely recommend a guide.
For the first half of the day, I joined a group for an easy tour inside the famous caves where more than 2 million bats live, to then watch at sunset their extraordinary show, where, together, from the dark of their home, they fly out to hunt during the night.
The scenery I found at sunset was truly impressive, the light was shaping the sides mountains in the background, and from my right side, I had millions of bats flying in line, like a black ink waterfall creating draws in the sky. It was not only visually amazing but also the sounds of their wings, their callings and movements added a final touch at that perfect moment.
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 rocks
The day after, I planned to do a private tour with a guide; I woke up at 5 am, and I was already inside the park at 6:30 am. As soon as I arrived I started hearing so many sounds, from all over the high trees of the jungle. Nature was the main actor, I soon realized how much I missed all of this; staying in a big city let you forget all the things we give as granted every day. But staying in the middle of the jungle, walking as slow as possible and listen to the melody of gibbons calling or just the wing sounds of Hornbills have no price for me.
I spent all day with the guide to find the wildlife around, from snakes to reptiles, to all kinds of birds you ever imagined. The best moment was when we spotted a family of gibbons, they gave me some good photographic opportunity, and luckily I brought with me a 1.4x teleconverter. I thought my Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 was enough, but I was wrong. Most of the animals and birds were too far from me, and the hope of getting some good portrait was vanishing.
I mounted the Tamron TC-X14 over the 150-600 and I got 840mm to work with. It saved the day I can say, but it was really hard to handle the light; in the jungle, you can find high contrast and high dynamic range situations, from strong light to completely dark spots on the same subjects.
With the 150-600 and the 1.4X teleconverter attached to it, I had also to manage the shutter speed as better as I could. It was not an easy job, keeping your ISO as low as possible, watching the shutter speed to maintain a decent sharpness and focus at infinite distances with an 840mm. I did not mention that for this trip I left my tripod in my country. yes, you can blame me, you are totally right. That was the most stupid choice I ever did during the last 2 months.
I asked at the guide to bring me a tripod and he gave me an old Manfrotto with a ball head that was not keeping the lens perfectly steady. I had to predict the position of the subject before tight the screws on the head and predict the joggling it was doing. I kindly thank my guide (Thanks Mr. Nine!), because without it I maybe missed a lot of shots.
Another lens I found very useful for the close-up shots, was the Tamron 90 macro. I own the old version of this lens, bought it from a good man in South Australia who sold it at the super cheap price of 250$! It was a lucky deal and the lens was as new. I owned many macro lenses during my life as a photographer, using and selling them to build my final equipment; however, I still have a big regret; the Tamron 180 macro lens. If you ever get the chance to buy it, do it and never sell it.
Anyway, this little 90mm macro gave me very good results, it’s a light lens, sharp as the Canon and really easy to use handheld for most of the situations. I capture the White-lipped Pit Viper and the Oriental Whipsnake with this lens and I’m amazed by the detail I got from a 250$ glass.
Moving on the main road of Khao Yai
I spent half of the day inside the jungle trails and the other half in the car, looking for wildlife around. I got some good shot of the Northern pig-tailed Macaque and some of a White-handed Gibbon. I saw many species of birds that I’m still trying to find the correct species name for all of them; soon I will upload all the photos to a collection on the website.
This place is a gem in the heart of Thailand
Despite you are a wildlife photographer, a bird watcher or just a nature lover, the Khao Yai park deserves to be visited at least one time in life; it’s not difficult to reach, there are many organized tour for people of all age, and it will be a good excuse to breath a fresh colder air of the beautiful nature that will surround you all the time.
The accommodation choices are varied
From fancy expensive resorts to cheap guesthouses or hostels; being one of the oldest National Park in Thailand made tourism services easy to find and comfortable. I spent just 200 baht (6.5 dollars) a night to sleep in the guesthouse, it did not offer the comfort of a nice fancy resort, but I went there for one purpose only, make good photos and I’m satisfied for what I got in just 1 day and a half; I wish I stayed more and next time I will take an international car license to be able to drive and be more independent.
I’m a little sad I did not see wild elephants for which the park is famous for
But I’m confident to see them the next time I will go to visit this incredible corner of paradise.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure; if you are interested to buy one of these images, please browse my Right managed Galleries and my Prints dedicated galleries, I will keep writing here to share with you all the adventures of my Photowild Journey.
