Khao Yai National Park – Thailand is a popular getaway for residents of the country and is a tourist hotspot visited by travelers from all over the world for its magnificent flora and fauna.
Location
Khao Yai National Park – Thailand is located in Southern Isaan, within the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. It is within the Sankambeng Mountain Range.
Getting There
The easiest way to reach Khao Yai National Park – Thailand is via Bangkok. From Bangkok, you can take a train or a bus going to Nakhon Ratchasima. The town closest to the national park, from Nakhon Ratchasima is Pak Chong.
From Pak Chong, ask around for a songthaew, a type of bus that you can rent for your group or share with other tourists. This can take you to the entrance into the national park.
What to See and Do
Khao Yai National Park – Thailand offers plenty of things to see and do.
There are more than 15 waterfalls covered by the park, of various heights and widths. You can walk along the banks of the waters surrounding the waterfalls; go bird-watching and even camping.
There are at least fifty nature trails around the park, ranging from easy to difficult so you can readily choose which trails are suitable for you and your group.
Kayaking and rapid shooting are also popular water sports in the park.
You might also come across a few animals while visiting the park, the most abundant of which are macaque monkeys. There are also gibbons, a few elephants and gaurs.
You can likewise go up the viewing towers for magnificent vistas of the forest.
From atop the viewing tower, this likewise gives you a good vantage point for spotting the animals living within the national park.
Brief History
Khao Yai National Park – Thailand was founded in the year 1962, on the 18th of September.
It is the first national park in the country. It ranks in second as the largest park in the country, covering an estimated area of two thousand one hundred and sixty-eight square kilometers.
Within the park are some three thousand species of plants, three hundred and twenty bird species, and sixty-seven species of mammals.
In the year 1984, the national park was declared as an ASEAN Heritage Park and on the 14th of July in the year 2005, the park was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Cost
To gain entry into the park, foreign visitors are required to pay an entry fee of 500 baht for adults and 200 baht for kids.
Other Information
Park entry tickets are eligible only for the day of purchase. If you leave the park and then decide to go back on the same day, you don’t have to get another entry ticket.