Sai Yok National Park

Sai Yok covers about 500 square kilometres of limestone hills and teak forest along the Khwae Noi river toward the Myanmar border. Sai Yok Yai waterfall is its signature - a fall that drops directly off a bank into the river itself rather than into a pool, with a suspension bridge over it. Raft houses moored along the river, some available to stay in, are a long-standing local form of accommodation. Two other things matter here. Kitti's hog-nosed bat, the bumblebee bat, which weighs about two grams and is among the smallest mammals in the world, was described from caves in this area and roosts in them still; the caves are sensitive and disturbance is a real conservation problem, so access is restricted. And the park contains sections of the Burma Railway route and the Hellfire Pass area lies nearby, so the wartime history of the valley is close at hand and treated seriously locally.

What you actually see

• Sai Yok Yai - the waterfall dropping straight into the river.
• The raft houses - moored accommodation along the Khwae Noi.
• The bat caves - roosts of Kitti's hog-nosed bat, access restricted.
• The teak forest - limestone hills and river valley toward the border.

When to go

November to February for the weather; the falls run strongest at the end of the rains. Raft house stays book out at weekends and holidays.

Honest expectations

Bat caves are sensitive and access is limited - disturbance harms a threatened species. Roads within the park are rough. The waterfall is modest in height; the setting is the appeal. Foreign entry fees are higher than Thai.

Nearby

Hellfire Pass and Thong Pha Phum are further up the valley; Kanchanaburi town is south-east.