Kaeng Krachan National Park

Kaeng Krachan covers a wide block of the Tenasserim hills west of Phetchaburi, forest running unbroken over ridge after ridge, and most of it has no visitor access at all. What people use is a single rough track climbing from the reservoir to camps at Bang Krang and Phanoen Thung, and the interest is on that road: hornbills crossing at canopy height early and late, gibbons calling from the slope below, butterflies massed on wet gravel at the stream crossings, and cloud filling the valleys under the upper camp at dawn. Elephants use the same track, which is why traffic runs in timed one-way slots. Big cats are present and almost never seen.

History

The area became a reserve in 1964 and on 12 June 1981 Thailand's 28th national park, covering some 2,478 square kilometres, and in December 1984 it was enlarged by about 437 square kilometres along the border between Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan; it is also an ASEAN Heritage Park. Thailand first nominated the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex for World Heritage status in 2011, the committee turned down a third bid in 2019 over outdated boundary information and a lack of local community participation, and on 26 July 2021 it voted 12 to 9 to list it, despite concerns raised by the UN human rights office about the rights of the indigenous people who live in the park (Wikipedia, Kaeng Krachan National Park).

Highlights

• Dawn from Phanoen Thung - cloud lying in the valleys below the upper camp.
• The stream crossings - butterflies gathered on wet gravel near Bang Krang.
• Hornbills - several species crossing the road above the canopy in the first and last hours.
• The one-way climb - a rough mountain track driven in timed slots to keep vehicles apart.

When to go

The park usually shuts for the wet months and reopens around November, and the dry season through to April is when the upper track is drivable. Cloud below Phanoen Thung is a cool-season thing, best in December and January, and seeing it means sleeping at the camp. Book accommodation ahead, since both camps are small.

What to expect

The track is rough, dusty and slow, and taking an ordinary car up it is a bad idea. Camp facilities are basic, cold at night and often full at weekends. Wildlife is luck: plenty of people drive the road for two days and come away with leaf monkeys and little else. Leeches appear after rain.

Nearby

Phetchaburi town and the Gulf coast at Cha-am are an hour or two away.

Key facts