With its majestic scenery and biological diversity Khao Sok National Park is one of the most beautiful national parks in Thailand. It has everything from thick native rainforest, waterfalls, to majestic limestone cliffs, and an island stubbed lake.
Cheow Larn Lake with its majestic limestone mountains rising hundreds of meters above the turquoise waters of crystal clear lake is the most beautiful part of this national park. And Cheow Larn lake is where you will spend two serene days on this tour.
We will pick you up anywhere in Surathani and make a two hour drive with songtaew to Cheow Larn dam. At the dam, we will take a long tail boat to the lake, making stops on the way to go for a swim, watch the wildlife, or even go rock climbing. Our destination are floating bamboo bungalows on the lake where we will spend the night in the most breathtaking part of Khao Sok national park.
In the morning you wake up to the sounds of the rainforest and calls of the endangered Gibbon Monkeys. We can go canoeing on the lake, or just spend a lazy day enjoying the amazing scenery and wildlife before we head back to Surathani.
Some of the animals that can be seen in Khao Sok national park are:
- Barking deer
- Clouded leopard who gets its name from the distinctive cloud like markings on its body, head, legs and tail. Clouded leopards are believed to be related to the Sabre Tooth Tiger.
- Elephants
- Gibbons who live high in the canopy and are hard to see, but easy to hear.
- Malaysian sun bear, the smallest bear in the world, whose only predator is man, since their bile is used in Chinese medicine.
- Malaysian tapirs, with a black front end and white rear end, acting as camouflage, breaking up the overall outline and making them look like a rock when they are lying down.
- Tigers
- Spectacled langurs which are easily spotted around Cheow Larn Lake
- Variety of birds
- Cobras and pythons
Some of the plants you will see while in Khao Sok national park:
- Bamboo
- Banana
- Coconut
- Dipterocarps that grow between 40 and 70 metres in height with trunk diameters in excess of 2 metres
- Liana vines
- Tropical Pitcher Plants or Monkey Cups, carnivorous plants which eat insects, but are rumored to eat an occasional rat as well!
- Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, can grow up to 90 cm in diameter. The flower is like a giant red bowl lined with yellow spotted petals. The flowers exude a strong smell – similar to the smell you would expect to find near a rotten carcass or a dustbin.
- Buttress roots which grow out horizontally from trees, with shallow vertical roots. It is believed the buttresses also act as a strengthening mechanism, preventing the trees from blowing over in the wind. Trees that host butress roots can often reach gargantuan proportions, but they rarely last more than 150 -300 years.