Thailand’s ‘big mountain’ park

In Photo: Khao Rom, the national park’s highest peak, reaching over 1,350 meters. The name means big umbrella.

Story and photos by Jonathan L. Mayuga

(Published in the Business Mirror, February 28, 2016)

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/thailands-big-mountain-park/

IT is called big mountain, or khao yai in Thai language. It is aptly named because Khao Yai National Park is Thailand’s third-largest national park.

Deer roam around the Visitor Center like tamed domestic animals.

Established in 1962, it is the first national park to have been declared as a nature reserve in Thailand.  

Khao Yai remains as one of Thailand’s more famous tourist destinations. Around a million local and foreign tourists visit the park with the aggressive ecotourism by the Thai government.

Ecotourism 

With traffic congestion in Bangkok not getting any better, a visit to Khao Yai is very popular among nature lovers who want to escape the stressful city life.  

The park is three hours away from the central business district that is Bangkok. It is ideal for rest and relaxation, nature tripping and exciting outdoor adventure into the wild, where man-eating tigers used to roam.  

On February 19 the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the state environment agency of the Thai government organized a field trip to the Khao Yai National Park for participants of the Asean Conference on Biodiversity 2016.

Six trails could be used in ascending Khao Yai, with each offering a unique experience with varying degrees of difficulty and challenge. The trail from the Visitor Center to the Kong Kaew waterfall nature trail, a 1.2-kilometer (km) walk, takes a one-hour trek. The trail is quite easy because it is a concrete trail with fixed boardwalk to guide the tour.  

A monkey stands by at the Khao Yai National Park Visitor Center.

The trail from the Orchid Campsite to the Haew Suwat waterfall, with a 3-km distance, takes two hours to conquer. The trail starts from the campsite leading to the waterfall. It is also a concrete trail and easy to conquer. The Nong Pak Chi wildlife watching tower trail requires a 3.3-km walk. It offers tourists a tour that passes through big trees and wildlife.

The Dong-Tiew Saisorn Reservoir or Mo Sing To walk, with a distance of 2.7 km, meanwhile, passes through a mosaic of scrubby secondary forest and grassland to the dam wall of Mo Sing To or Saisorn Reservoir. It takes less than two hours to hike.

A challenging trail is that from the Dong Tiew-Nong Park Chi wildlife watching tower.  It takes a three-hour walk to complete and passes through grassland and secondary forest overlooking the Khao Khieo mountain. The trail offers an opportunity to encounter or see wildlife.

The most difficult trail is that from the Visitor Center to the Haew Suwat waterfall. The terrain is steep at some portions.  Fallen trees and streams along the way are extra challenges. The 8-km trail takes a five-hour walk.

Tourist attractions

Bird-watching is a common activity in the park. Some locals say tourists would sometimes encounter wild elephants crossing the road, as other wildlife animals thrive in the park. 

Around 400 elephants belonging to at least five family groups live in the jungle, a reason wildlife authorities regularly caution visitors of the danger as there has been isolated cases when elephants become aggressive. This year there was a report of an elephant attack on vehicles passing by the road leading to the visitor’s park, prompting authorities to impose visitor-entry regulation for the safety of the entering and existing tourists.

A tour guide uses a knife to peel some cinnamon from a fallen tree.

But not all animals in the park are wild. The park’s Visitor Center is now frequented by deer and long-tailed macaque, mingling with tourist even during the day.

In an interview, Assistant Park Superintendent Nattapong Banterng said the Sambar deer and long-tailed macaque have become an added attraction to visitors even before their real adventures start. “Before, they only come at night. But they become tamed and no longer run away even with people nearby,” he said.

The park has campsites and lodge, and rents out bikes for those who wish to do early-morning trips by pedalling their way along the road that cuts through the forests to the main road to and from Pak Chong and Prachin Buri provinces. The park has several small restaurants, snack bars and souvenir shops.

Life support

According to its web site, Khao Yai National Park provides a life support system in the region and even extends beyond Thailand’s borders.   The park’s overall healthy condition, hence, is important to the people as it assures adequate supply of water for their domestic and irrigation needs.

There are five main rivers that originate from the park—Prachin Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Lam Ta Kong, Praplerng and Muag Lek. The Nakhon Nayok River in the southern part of the park is important for local agriculture. It is connected to Bangpakong River that leads to the Gulf of Thailand. The Praplerng River, in the northern portion of the park, also provides irrigation to Korat Plateau. It connects to the Moon River, the main river of Southern Isan that drains to Khong River.

Meanwhile, the Muag Lek Stream in the northwest part that goes to Pasak River in Muag Lek District is the source of irrigation water and provides support to the cattle industry in the area.

Biodiversity

The park has one of the highest concentrations of flora and fauna in Thailand, making it a key biodiversity area. While tigers no longer exist in the jungles, hundreds of elephants still give it the touch of the ancient times.  

Wild boars and Asian wild dogs, along with other wildlife, still thrive in the park.

Situated in Nakhon Ratchasima province, the park has a total land area of 2,168 square kilometers. It extends up to Prachinburi, Saraburi and Nakhon Nayok provinces. 

Khao Yai is part of Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, a World Heritage Site covering five protected areas from Khao Yai to the Cambodian border.

The other protected areas are Pang Sida National Park, Thap Lan National Park, Ta Phraya National Park and Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary. Besides being part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site, the Khao Yai National Park has been declared a Heritage Park by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Director Kriengsak Chaturasuksakul of the Department of National Park Wildlife and Plant Conservation of Thailand said around 2,000 plant and tree species can be found within the park. Its vast forest is host to a total of 64 mammals, 315 birds and 750 reptiles, Chaturasuksakul said.

It is home to thousands of different endemic bird species, including the hornbills, although some species of which are classified as globally threatened.

During a briefing for ACB2016 participants, Chaturasuksakul said they are looking into the possibility of reintroducing tigers into the park. This, however, will require more study to make sure that releasing tigers or reintroducing tigers into the park will not put them in danger.

He said nature takes care of itself at the park. Left alone, he said, the ecosystem’s life support system is enough for wildlife to thrive. “There is no problem as long as there’s no human intervention,” he said.

Protected area

The Khao Yai National Park is a protected area. Its operations require an annual budget of 40 million baht (approximately $1.12 million). Half of its 400 employees and forest guards conduct regular routine patrol in the park to protect tourists against wildlife threats, and to protect the forest and the wildlife against loggers, hunters and other illegal activities.

Chaturasuksakul said forest guards are on the lookout against illegal loggers who target the rosewood tree, which is very expensive. A cubic meter of rosewood tree, which is used for furniture making, could easily reach up to a million baht.  

Another tree species being targeted by illegal loggers is the mihom tree. Its wood is sold at 10,000 baht per kilogram. It is said that the mihom tree is an effective herbal medicine and cures malaria. The cinnamon tree is another threatened species in the park. Gatherers would cut a three, which wood costs 1,000 baht per kilo. Banterng said there are still a few hunters who sneak into the park to hunt wild animals.  

“Sometimes it happens. But we have many guards. Hunting is no longer a problem because people living around the park are busy with their businesses,” he said.

People living around the park, he said, operates hotels or restaurants and are no longer heavily dependent on the forest’s bounty, which lessens human pressure on the park.

Vastly unexplored

According to Banterng, the Khao Yai National Park is so vast that exploration is not a simple walk in the park, so to speak.  

He said lack of budget to do more research is a hindrance in coming up with a management policy that will ensure the full protection of the megadiverse species of flora and fauna that thrive in the park.  

After all, Khao Yai National Park is truly a big mountain park that has never been conquered except by the wildlife that thrives within.