Bueng Boraphet

Bueng Boraphet covers around 220 square kilometres in the wet season, which makes it the largest freshwater lake in Thailand. It is not entirely natural: a low dam built in 1930 to raise water levels for fisheries flooded an existing swamp and created what is there now. Some 106 square kilometres have been a non-hunting area since 1975 and the lake has been a wetland of international importance since 2000; it is a major wintering ground - somewhere around two hundred bird species have been recorded, with large numbers of ducks, cormorants, egrets, jacanas and terns, and the cotton pygmy goose and grey-headed lapwing among the birds people come for. Long-tail boats are hired from piers on the southern shore for trips out through the lotus beds, best early in the morning when the flowers are open and the birds are active. A freshwater aquarium sits on the shore. The lake is the only known site of the white-eyed river martin, not seen since 1980. The lake is shallow, the water level varies enormously with the season, and boats are informal with limited safety equipment.

What's there

• The lotus beds - flowering across the shallow water, open early in the day.
• The wintering birds - around two hundred species recorded, peaking in the cool season.
• The boat trips - long-tails out from the southern piers.
• The scale - the largest freshwater lake in the country.

When to go

November to February for wintering birds; the lotus is at its best from December into February and the flowers open early, so go at dawn. Water levels drop sharply in the hot season.

Things to know

Boats are informal with limited safety equipment and are hired by negotiation. Birds are distant - bring binoculars. Water levels vary enormously and a dry-season visit shows a much smaller lake. Little shade on the boats.

Nearby

Nakhon Sawan town is west; Mae Wong National Park is further west toward Kamphaeng Phet.

Key facts