Trip date – Beginning of November 2024
After a fun couple of birdwatching days in Kaeng Krachan National Park we headed to Khao Yai National Park. At 2168 sq km, Khao Yai is the third largest National Park in Thailand. It incorporates one of the largest primarily intact monsoon forests in Southeast Asia, which earned it the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site. The national park is dotted with popular, pretty waterfalls, adventurous trails and fantastic wildlife.
Around 150 km north-east of Bangkok, it took us close to half a day to drive between the parks. After a bit of research, we decided to stay near the north entrance, and follow the footsteps of Anjana and Rishi’s wildtales – we too booked our accommodation with Isaan Isaan resort. Even though we left early morning from KKC, it was lunchtime by the time we pulled into the hotel at the edge of Khao Yai National Park.
Information on accommodation
We stayed at Isaan Isan Boutique Resort, on the quieter fringes of the north entrance of Khao Yai National Park, and it turned out to be a great base for exploring the area. The architecture immediately stands out as deeply rooted in Isan traditions but with all the comforts of a proper hotel. The entire property has this cohesive theme—complete with woven fabrics, rustic textures, and design elements inspired by everyday Isan life, including traditional sticky rice baskets. It blends beautifully into the surrounding greenery, making it feel like a natural extension of the forest.
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From a wildlife trip perspective, it worked perfectly. Mornings were quiet and fresh, and it was a nice spot to return to after long hours in the park. The rooms were comfortable, clean, and had a bit of character thanks to the local design touches – exactly what you want after a day of birding or driving around looking for wildlife. The staff were also really friendly and helpful. Especially the guard who held the torch while Sunny clicked this Brown Boobook on a tree right at the gate of the resort :D.
The restaurant was another highlight. It has an open-air theatre that shows films every evening. It has exterior and interior sitting spaces. The food was genuinely tasty, with a good mixed menu of local dishes. After a long day out, sitting down to a proper, flavourful meal here just hit the spot. Overall, it’s one of those places that quietly adds to the whole experience—tasty, good food, nice vibe, and very much in tune with the surroundings. We especially enjoyed their breakfast spread, which had a large section of local delicacies and a smaller one of continental dishes.
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Overall, it’s one of those stays that quietly enhances the whole Khao Yai experience—comfortable, characterful, and very much in tune with its surroundings.
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Introduction to Khao Yai National Park
In November, Khao Yai National Park felt fresh with a hint of chill in the air. Not too hot, not too wet—just fresh, green, and alive. The park spreads across rolling hills and gentle valleys, a mix of evergreen and deciduous forests, broken up by meadows, salt licks, and the occasional viewpoint that reminds you how vast this place really is.
The forest here has layers—thick canopy above, tangled undergrowth below, and just enough gaps to keep you scanning constantly. One moment we were driving through dense forest, and the next, it would open into wide grasslands with tall, dry grasses swaying in the breeze. These open patches felt completely different—warmer, brighter, and perfect for spotting wildlife. The forest floor is dominated by wild ginger and bamboo.
The salt licks scattered around the park added another interesting element. They’re simple clearings, but you can tell they’re important spots where animals regularly come to feed on minerals, especially in the early mornings or late evenings. Hopefully, we would be there at the correct time to spot these events.
Streams and small water bodies were still flowing – November gets some scattered rain. The overall landscape felt healthy and active.
Wildlife-wise, Khao Yai keeps you on your toes. You’re always half-expecting to bump into an elephant around the next bend (and occasionally, you actually do). There’s something about driving through a forest knowing that large mammals are very much around, even if they’re pretending not to be seen. Gibbons were the real soundtrack though—their calls echoing through the forest are honestly, freeky.
Khao Yai is a bliss for birdwatchers. Hornbills casually flying overhead, barbets calling nonstop, and just enough movement in the trees to keep your binoculars permanently glued to your face. It has some extremely shy species within the deep forests accessible only by walking the trails.
There are frequent reports of Tiger sightings and wild Elephant encounters in deep Khao Yai. Most trails were made by wild elephants, and humans have not maintained it – frequently, people get lost or encounter Elephants. Hence, longer hikes into deeper forest require licensed guides. Nevertheless, we were able to walk around on the outskirts easily with no problem at all. Although I admit, our birding experience would have been 100-fold better if we had hired a bird guide for Khao Yai National Park, especially with the restricted time frame that we had.
On weekends, the park gets very crowded, especially during sunset. It’s a popular camping and picnic area. Khao Yai is popular for night safaris as well with abundant nocturnal wildlife navigating through the forest.
A day of birding in Khao Yai National Park
Now, to some juicy details of our trip inside Khao Yai National Park. Please note the map below for easy reference –
We entered Khao Yai National Park as soon as it opened with the first ray of blue morning light. The tickets bought are valid for multiple entries on one day. No one can enter the park out of 6am-6pm window. People can exit at any time.
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The road is winding and uphill till the first viewpoint and it’s very much in the national park so animals very freely cross the road. You just need to Google “Elephant sitting on car in Khao Yai” to see how this road can easily turn dangerous if visitors are speeding or not careful on this road.
A family of pig-tailed macaque were doing their morning routine on the fence of the road. From a distance they look very similar to our usual Indian Macaque, but as we drove closer and got a good look at their faces, it seemed like Indian maquae but one which had successfully cured the burnt red face and instead have put on some face powder and eye makeup. Offcourse the obvious tail difference were also apparent later. A car overtook us and hand popped out of it with some fruits for the monkeys. A common Asian scene. IDK what to say, except – STOP feeding WILD ANIMALS !@#!#!
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We were soon at the Km30 viewpoint – Dong Phayayen viewpoint. It’s a world heritage point, and the view of the valley and rolling hills from this viewpoint is truly magical. Washrooms are available here, although so early in the morning – they were shut.
It became better with the orchestra of the hunting party. The two tall blooming Saptaparna/Blackboard trees right at the viewing platform attracted a plethora of birds like leaf birds, Ashy drongos, Black crested bulbul, Buff vented bulbul, Imperial Pigeon and Fairy bluebird. The flock of swallows playing the usual musical chairs while hunting for flying bugs was very entertaining.
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Thana Rach road further south from the viewpoint goes through dense forest, making it hard to spot birds from the road. The hike on km33 is said to be extremely productive for birders and can be done till half a KM without a guide. The forest looked too dark for me to agree to walk even 5 steps in it. The continuous howls of gibbons echoing in the stretch were not helping either. It was very intimidating and scary! and lets not forget all the venomous crawlies… eeeks! It was difficult to convince Sunny, but we carried on driving and kept this hike for another time when we have a guide with us.
The forest opens up suddenly into vast grasslands with pockets (ditches more like it!) of salt lick. Nong Pak Chi grasslands were lush and golden. Around the road bend, a muddy path branches out, on which visitors can walk 15 minutes towards the Nong Pak Chi Wildlife Watching tower. It overlooks a waterbody/marshy spot. We tried to look in the direction from the parking lot, but didn’t spot anything interesting instantly, except a large group of noisy tourists with children walking towards it. Not wanting to waste precious cool mornings, we decided to head further south on Thana Rach road towards the Khao Yai National Park visitor centre and headquarters.
The visitor center/headquarters is a fairly large complex with museum, washrooms, shops, cafes and forest offices for permits etc. The smell of coffee attracted us immediately as soon as we parked at the visitor center and like bees to the pollen we found ourselves next on the coffee counter. Magically, two Thai breakfast plates appeared too with the iced coffee and cappuccino. 😀 . The café seating is along Lam Tak Hong river. It’s a great place to spot tiny flycatchers etc.. People have sotted wild dogs here with a kill. Huh! How our luck sucks. Anyway, we saw giant monitor lizards… if that counts! There are many good trails that start from this area. They are safe to walk around up to a couple of meters without guidance. Although dense forest makes it challenging to do self – birding.
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By the time we crossed Sai Sorn Reservoir, noon sun was already out and burning away happily. It was time to head up to a higher altitude – we decided to end our morning birding session up on Kao Kheow hill. We turned towards Khao Khiao Grasslands, we spotted an interesting flyby by Crested serpent eagle and Pied Hornbill. Wind blowing gently through the tall golden grass and Sambars grazing quietly added a certain calm to the scene.
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As we climbed up the hill on the winding roads towards Phao Diao Dai Nature trail, a frail expectation began to rise. We had not yet spotted a Siamese Flame-backed Pheasant. It is known to showup in the grasslands and up this hill. But it was not the infamous ‘March-April-May’ pheasant mating season and we were very close to noon. Not ideal to spot one of the reclusive species. Yet, fingers were crossed for a fleeting glimpse.
Still our eyes scanned the undergrowth for any movement. The temperature had dropped a bit and the dark forest created dark shadows on the road as well as undergrowth. While we were on the last turn before the parking lot for the nature trail, a sudden rustle in the bamboo thicket caught our eye and breaks were hit. We were alone on the road the rustling grew louder. Yet our eyes could not clearly figure out the cause for it as we stared downhill into the dense forest. Suddenly, the hurried realisation was upon us – a wild elephant was grazing right next to the road where we were parked but below our eye level. It was just behind a couple of layers of bamboo yet we could not identify its shape and size till it actually moved. Thankfully, it was in a good mood and was agreeably too hungry to notice us. We decided not to wait too much there, in case it changes its mind, and after a couple of photos, decided to drive off as fast as possible. It was a superb sighting, nevertheless.
Phao Diao Dai Nature trail is a well-kept boardwalk over a swampy section of the forest. It loops around a cliffview point with the same name. swampy quality of this forest and relatively lower temperature due to altitude give rise to a different kind of ecosystem. The Boardwalk has info plaques which help ID the surrounding trees and undergrowth.
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We were surprised to spot a Red headed Trogon sitting right next to boardwalk. This forsest is a bit dense so it gets too dark to photograph birds on the lower branches. Unfortunately we could not photograph the front of this bird as multiple hanging branches obstructed the front view. We also spotted the Orange-breasted Trogon a couple of steps ahead. Apparently, both boys were in aggressive conflict. We assumed the reason was either a girl or the territory. They are very territorial. If it was not for such a restrictive view due to boardwalk and dense hanging branches, we would have had a superb fighting match to watch.
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Once both chased each other out of sight we started looking out for any more interesting sightings. We spotted Yellow browed wabbler, a couple of Puff throated bulbul. We truly loved this trail and decided there and then that it is definitely worth exploring again the next morning before we leave Khao Yai National Park. Even now, after a couple of years have passed, I can not emphasise enough – the area from Khao Kheow Grasslands till this Phao Diao Dai Nature trail and the trail itself, is pure gold. It is in our ‘go back to it’ list.
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Happy with our explorations but with a hint of sadness on not spotting the Siamese flame back, we descended down hill spiralling through the thickets checking every stream and low branch. Every rustle and call. Couple of cars had now stopped where the Elephant was still enjoying it’s brunch. There was a traffic jam so we had no choice but to wait and enjoy the circus. Sadly, many people were out of their cars and too close to it with phones and huge lenses pointed towards it. They should feel lucky that it decided to go deeper into the forest to get some peace rather than towards them.
Sun was getting too hot for us to continue our birding, so we turned back towards our hotel for lunch. We wanted to pick up some snacks for the next day and fill up our petrol tank too. The park is famous for its night safaris, which we definitely wanted to experience. So we stopped over at the visitor centre to book the whole vehicle for ourselves. We were given a paper token with a vehicle number.
After a quick break at the hotel we decided to hit the park again. We could use the same entry ticket, as it is valid for the whole day. The golden grasslands were glowing in the setting sun. We joined the crowd around Sai Sorn Reservoir to enjoy the setting sun. It was very pleasant and calming. In the rush to chase birds and wildlife and views we forget to just absorb the environment. Sit and stare into nothing and just breath. Not thinking of what has to be done next or where to go or what to photograph. Just be.
Just kidding, of course, we knew where we were once the sun set. We had to be at the visitor centre at 6 pm for our night safari! We still had some time to kill before that, so we headed towards the research centre/heritage tree/helipad where our drive was interrupted by a family of full grown Asian Porcupines crossing the road and busily hobbling towards the backyard of the research centre. They were literally chunky busybodies. They were looking so cute and cuddly (if you ignore the hundred pikes coming out of their backs!)
The night safari is a very popular activity. Many open roof jeeps line up at the visitor center at 6pm, drivers calling out their numbers and checking every group’s paper token. Soon we saw ours and jumped in one of them. Even though we were one among many, we were alone on the road. All jeeps take randomly different routes and we were not very bothered by too much crowding. The guide was holding a large torch, swinging from one side to another as the jeep rattled slowly along the grasslands.
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It was refreshing feeling the cool night wind on our faces after the long hot day. The jeep went in circles on various roads. We spotted the usual Sambar and barking deer. But the highlight was the lone Golden Jackal out and about for it’s night hunt. We saw a couple of Gaurs around the salt licks too, but they were too far for night photography. The forest sounds were enchanting and we just wanted for it to go on and on.
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Sadly, it got over in an hour, and we returned to the second batch (7pm – 8pm), waiting eagerly for their round. Driving back to the hotel through the dark forest was exciting! We stared at the edge of the road where the headlights faded off for any wild jumpers. Groups of deer peering at us as we cross them. Thankfully, no traffic came from the front. We were glad to see the Brown Boobook was sitting on the same tree where it sat the night before, just outside the hotel gate. Silently judging.
Next morning was our last one in Khao Yai and we wanted to make the most of it. We headed out pre-dawn after gulping down a pre-packed 7-eleven breakfast in our room with instant coffee. We were the first ones in at 6am sharp with our new tickets for the day. Today’s plan was straight forward. We were going to Khao Kheow again and walking the Phao Diao Dai Nature trail in search for the two Trogons and Siamese Flame back Pheasant.
While we crossed the grasslands, we had a bit luck spotting a barking deer only to be distracted by the haunting calls of Giant Hornbill flying above us. Tracing it’s flight we drove up to the tree where it settled and had an excellent sighting.
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Sometimes some sightings make Sunny and me feel very overwhelmed with disbelief followed by immense gratitude. We feel privileged to be able to see the rare wildlife in our own country as well as beyond. This moment was one of those. As we slowly walked on the descending boardwalk of the Phao Diao Dai Nature trail, we heard some rustle in the shadows of the trees ahead of us. We were immediately alert and walked even more silently, curious to see what we may find. On first sight we thought there is something foraging behind a black mid size boulder making the sound. But suddenly the said boulder moved! Our mouths dropped open – it was a mother Serow caressing a stumbling baby Serow (such a cutie pie!). Oh gosh! What a moment! Adrenaline flew through the roof. After some time we realised that we had a camera and we could capture this moment forever. So we did. As nicely as we could. Without getting close or making any large movements. With hundreds of branches obstructing the view, and shadows dense as ever. Later, we spotted the father too, just busy foraging in the shadows, looking pretty with its little horns.
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Leaving the Serow family to their peace, we continued birding taking a second round on the boarded trail. It proved to be a good decision. We spotted some superb birds like the Golden Leafbird, Green Magpie and Black throated Laughing Thrush.
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On our way down the hill, we had something sweeping low across the road ahead of us and vanishing into the dense forest. Just a motion blur and enough to trigger our curiosity. We parked and walked silently, peering into the forest trying not to spook the bird. I am happy to state, we saw it. The national bird of Thailand – Siamese Fireback Pheasant. It’s right in the name! It’s Siamese! Not the best photos, but we saw it nevertheless 😊
This downhill road wasn’t done with us yet. I watched all the low-hanging branches like a hawk for any sign of bird movement. A sudden flash of deep red on a branch right next to the road caught my eye, and I pinched Sunny to hit the brake quickly. Traffic prevented stopping, and by the time we walked back to the branch, the male Red Headed Trogon had flown deeper into the forest. Before returning to our car, we checked a nearby stream and found a female Red-headed Trogon sitting quietly on a branch over the stream (very typical!). Maybe the male we saw earlier was her partner and must be sitting around, hiding in plain sight. But our time was up. Check-out time looming over our heads, we had no choice but to head back to the hotel.
We decided to cut across the park once again from the North gate and exit through the South gate for our onward journey to Bangkok. Enjoying the bright, hot Sun!.. EEeeks!
Some observations
During our one-day trip, we saw a LOT of lifers and rare birds; most of the birds we photographed we had seen in India before, but we still thoroughly enjoyed watching them here in Khao Yai National Park. Each of our sightings was very memorable. The birds were not shy, maybe because it’s the busiest National park in the country, and birds are used to human movement. We definitely recommend hiring a bird guide for the best birding experience. We will definitely do it next time too. Ah! and yes, best season to visit is March-April, but November was not that bad!
The main road throughout the park is well-maintained, and most birdwatching can be done from the road. But trails, especially the area in and around Pha Diao Dai Nature trail and Km33 is excellent. Wild Asian Elephants and Gaurs frequent the roads, so walking around alone might get dangerous. To spot some elusive and exclusive birds walking on trails is recommended with a guide.
Some important links worth going through –
https://www.thaibirding.com/locations/north_east/ky.htm
https://www.khaoyainationalparktour.com/khao-yai-national-park-map
https://www.thainationalparks.com/khao-yai-national-park
https://www.khaoyainationalpark.com/en/plan-your-visit/thing-to-do/bird-watching
https://www.wildtales.in/khao-yai-and-kaeng-krachan/
I hope this blog has inspired you to start making plans for your next birdwatching trip to Khao Yai National Park in Thailand When (you are) on a Break!
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Awesome ..the description created the picture of Khao Yai National park ,golden grasslands ..in such picturesque surroundings birds n wildlife sightings are added rewards…beautifully written.