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BUTTERFLY PARADISE
Nobody knows how many wonderful butterflies Thailand has, but there are well over 1,200 species. All that is certain is that there are more of these delicate ephemeral creatures here than in almost any country in the world. Their dispersal is so broad that you can go almost anywhere to enjoy their brilliant profusion.
If you visit Thung Yai Naresuan and Huai Kha khaeng wildlife sanctuaries, now World Heritage sites, as the prairie flowers blossome you will see the whole expanse of grassland shimmer with a dazzling range of vividly hued butterflies.
If you visit the mud flats and wetlands along the coast and particularly in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, you will find to totally different yet equally copious assortment of species feeding on the nectar of the grasses and sedges as they flower.
In the forests, whether evergreen or deciduous Thailand’s astonishing abundance of flowering trees calls forth an answering wealth of birds, butterflies and bees. If you are out in the forest at night, you could well see the world’s largest moth, spectacular both for its bold brown and cream markings and for its incredible eight-inch wingspan.
As they flutter their jinxing flight in the bright morning sunlight, paradise comes down to earth when Thailand’s glorious butterflies are out. What fantastic beauty!
That’s a slight exaggeration, of course, but Thailand is a bird-watcher’s paradise with about 1,000 spices in the world, and more birds than in the whole of Europe. The best place to see them is at Khao Yai.
This national park, some three hours drive from Bangkok has a confirmed 318 species within its borders. Most famous are its four species of hornbill, but look too for the silver and Siamese fire back pheasants, several species of pigeon and owl, and perhaps the world’s fastest bird, the brown needle tail.
Among winter migrants, staying mostly from October to April, are the Siberian blue robin, mountain hawk eagle and several leaf-warblers, wagtails and stonechats.
The next best bird haven has a very different range of species. It is Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park in Prachab Khiri Khan. It contains Thailand’s most important wetlands: Extensive freshwater marshland, coastal mud flats and mangroves. It harbors an amazing variety of water, wading, shoreline and sea birds, both residents and migrants.
Among its 275 confirmed species are painted storks, several different kinds of herons and egles, harriers, stilts and egrets. The spotted greenshank is one of the park’s rarer visitors. The park now provides hides for seabird watching. Its mangroves should be carefully investigated.
Another bird watcher’s treat is Kaeng Krachan National Park just west of Hua Hin on the rugged border with Myanmar. It has 250 confirmed species, including an astonishing number of great hornbills along with serpent eagles, scarlet minivets, kalej pheasants and several kinds of peacock. Kaeng Krachan is also one of the last refuges for the woolly-necked stock.
Birds, is it? Central Thailand is certainly the place.
It’s Level 5, the toughest there is for whitewater rafting, and there are several more hours of it, rapids swirling through breathtaking country all at the same steep pitch. If it’s excitement you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.
That can be either the wild Kang Hin Peung river through the open jungle of Khao Yai National Park, the turbulent river Kwai in Kanchanaburi’s rainforest or, most challenging of all, the steep upper reaches of the Mae Nam Phetch or Phetchaburi river in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province.
Whether you choose inflatable dinghies at Khao Yai or on the Mae Nam Phetch, or a bamboo raft on the Kwai river, you need to be here between July and October when the rivers have been swollen by rain.
That is when much of the hinterland of the national parks becomes impassable. That is when, moving in by four-wheel drive and on foot, you will find one of the greatest thrill of your life.
Make sure your tour guides train you first. They should tell you what to expect, explain the safety equipment and run briefly through the procedures. Then you step aboard your raft and you’re off on the turbulent rushing river.
You probably get more of a kick with an inflatable, but bamboo rafts offer the additional challenge of handling a set of bucking poles that have been lashed together and are themselves awash with the river. This is the way it used to be done. Armed with only your paddle, you’ll need all your energy just to stay on board!
Level 5 means a river in spate with a wild, rapid current and difficult rapid. Many of these are steep. But there are quite moments too when you can pull ashore for a meal or a rest or just to soak in the majestic tranquility of the deep forest.
At those times, you’ll feel that cities, clocks or cars never existed.
Genesis Stock Photo
You wouldn’t think skeletons could be attractive, would you? Yet people come from all over the world to dive on marine exo-skeletons (that’s a skeleton built up outside the body, like a lobster) in the Gulf of Thailand. Actually, these skeletons are usually called coral.
Unless you decide to snorkel or have your own scuba equipment, you may want to start at Pattaya where most of the dive shops are. They have the gear and the expertise and they knowwhere the best coral is. Just follow them.
But if you are on your own, here is a good tip: Go as far away as possible. In Thailand’s central region that means Ko Chang National Park in Trat province down by the Cambodian border or Khao Laem Ko Samet National Park in Rayong province.
It takes most of one day to get to Ko Chang, about half a day only to reach Ko Samet. Either way, if you have the time, it is worth it. Diving or snorkeling amongst the coral at either place is stupendous fun.
Ko Chang National Park is of course better. It consists of about 50 islands scattered over about 650 square kilometers. Dive shops can be found across Ko Chang itself. Spectacular dive sites on the west of the islands are just 20 minutes away while Ko Wai, Ko Hradat and Ko Mak are all good. If you know your way around the sea, try to get out to some of the smaller islands. Then settle down for some serious enjoyment.
The amazing range of colours and shapes you will see delight you, both hard and soft corals being found here. Shifting in and out of the coral in the filtered sunlight, you will also find little schools of brightly coloured tropical fish.
It won’t take long to dazzle you, dumbfound you, turn you into an exo-skeleton freak. Happily these ones, by their outgoing nature, don’t lurk in cupboards.
