Thailand 2024 | Week 1

Images from the first week of 3 amazing weeks in Thailand, exploring an amazing new country, finding plenty of cool species, enjoying incredible food and taking a picture here and there :)

WILDLIFEBIRDINGMACROLANDSCAPEHERPINGTRAVEL

1/31/20256 min read

From the 13th of november til december 3rd I spent 3 great weeks in Thailand with my girlfriend and 2 friends. We set out with high hopes and plenty of targets. Snake numbers were rather disappointing, but besides that many targets were seen. We set up lists at the start in 11 species groups (some far more desireable than others) and most of us got at least half. The great exception being me, getting 0. No sad feelings though, plenty of other great stuff was seen. I've split the blog up into 3 parts, which I'll upload as I edit the pictures. In this blog images from the first week are shown off. We started off in the famous Baan Maka nature lodge, near Kaeng Krachan. Day 1 started off great, and after setting of into the less hectic than expected Bangkok traffic the first species were seen. Close to the lodge, our first snake on the road, and a great species at that! A small keeled slug snake (Pareas carinatus). Suitcases were opened on the road, to get out diffusers and camera gear. No good pictures of the snake unfortunately, as it wasn't very cooperative.. If we had known the snake numbers to come, we might've spent a bit more time with it... We also saw a cute little toad (Glyphoglossus guttulatus), which sat still a little better. Several night jars were seen on the road aswell, a great start to a great trip. A little walk around the grounds of the lodge (who needs sleep) delivered some other common amphibian species, such as several Mycrohyla, Kaloula pulchra and a large tarantula.

The next morning we checked out of the lodge, planning to camp in the national park Kaeng Krachan for 2 nights. I couldn't resist waking up at sunrise and walking the grounds of the lodge though. Parrots, bee eaters and drongos were readily showing themselves, allowing me to immerse myself in the Asian avifauna I had been reading about. After breakfast another small walk, with the first oriental pied hornbills of the trip being a clear highlight. Then it was off to the national park. During the half hour drive to the national park we saw plenty of great species, even a stop along a road with a lot of garbage to pick up some water at a small shop provided enough species for us to be unable to resist taking out the cameras. Once into the national park wildlife sightings came slowly but steadily, as per usual in the jungle patience is rewarded. Highlights of day 1 were the incredible numbers of butterflies (absolutely insufficiently captured by me, something to come back to I suppose), black giant squirrels, a massive water monitor along the road and several cool birds, including barbets and woodpeckers. After arriving at the campsite, we set up the rented tents while our first langurs were jumping through the trees above us. After dark, we set off to find snakes, with no succes. We did find a "chameleon lizard" according to an Italian who joined us, so that's a first for Asia. Highlights were mammals however, during lunch we asked the park ranger if the sun bears that this campsite is known for still visit, and before we even walked off to look for snakes, some signing with his flashlight made sure we noticed, that it was visiting right then! The great rarity came in the form of something different however. After returning from our unsuccesful herping walk, one of the rangers said something unintelligble. We followed him up and thought he said "elephants", after arriving near our tents however, we realised what he had said. In the headlights of one of the trucks a beautiful leopard. No good pictures, but what an experience, blessed fools! After waiting in the campsite toilet blocks for over an hour, we got permission to shower and head into the tents. A broken night followed, interrupted by very heavy rain and elephants far too close for comfort near the tents. The next morning, an unanimous vote decided to not camp in the park another night, but all of us agreed that it was a great experience (after a bit of anger from a leaky tent wore of for some of us ;)).

No spectacular images, but seriously cool sightings

The morning kicked off great with a small group of dusky langurs swinging through the misty valleys.  The rest of the day was filled with birds, bugs and several encounters with a large group of stump-tailed macaques patrolling the long road through the park. One of my favorite images from the trip was taken this day. An asian fairy bluebird in a fig tree on a white background (gotten by overexposing against the clouds). The image reminds me of Japanese lithography and it's graphic nature and simple colors really speak to me. While we hopped out the car for a small bird that flew into the bushes, we wandered around a bit and found several great hornbills in a fruiting fig tree. Incredible to see (and hear!) these giants in their natural environment. Bizarre how a bird of this size can easily be missed, which we definitely would have if we hadn't gotten out of the car for the small bird. That afternoon we got a great surprise, while wandering around the campgrounds again, we found the sun bear looking for food scraps. We got some great images in the diffused daylight and seeing this species multiple times in one holiday is simply astounding. That night we slept in a rather luxurious resort, getting the rest we all missed the night before. Blessed fools! 

The morning was spent chilling at the pool and generally relaxing. The afternoon we had planned to visit a bird hide, some of us mainly hoping that a mouse deer would appear (who cares about birds when there's enigmatic mammals available). The hide was wonderful, great photo opportunities (although very limited light), cool species up close, including some very elusive species like junglefowl, kalij pheasant and ferruginous partridge. The mammal lovers among us also got lucky, with a lesser mouse deer appearing several times. We were the last to leave. A group of British birders mentioned "and when it starts to get dark the crake apparently appears, like that ever happens". Five minutes after they left, a red legged crake showed up in front of the hide :) Blessed fools once again.

The next morning we got up well before sunrise, driving to a shorebird site in hopes of finding the enigmatic Spoon-billed sandpiper, Aarons main target. Sadly, the site was somewhat dissapointing and despite careful searching, no spoon-billed sandpiper or nordmann's greenshank. Asian dowitchers softened the blow a little, but disappointed was measurable (in the location for some, in missing the spoonie for others). We decided to try a local mangrove forest afterwards, which ended up being an amazing choice. A nice boardwalk with dappled shade provided great fews of mudskippers and plenty of different crabs. Some fun photos, despite the harsh light. The afternoon and evening were spent at the lodge. The next morning we would depart, leaving Kaeng Krachan behind and moving on to the next site. For me this was with a slightly heavy heart, as I really hoped to see gibbons in the wild at this site. A smaller, but still feasable chance remained, but we only had 1 day in the next national park.

A travel day is usually filled without many exciting things, and I wholly expected this to be the case. We started of the morning at a feeder getting some nice shots, before the girls woke up and we were on our way. Our few stops today delivered cool sightings every single time, the huge highlight being a pair of eastern barn owls roosting in a tree outside a cave. Also the coolest dragonfly of the trip in my opinion. A civet crossing the road at night made sure we had a mammal highlight once again. You guessed it: Blessed fools.

The day after our travel day, we visited Sri Phang Na national park. What an incredible place, almost no tourists, great views, great wildlife. We met a ranger/guide, who asked us if we wanted to see Malayan banded pitta. This being my main birding target, the answer was a resounding yes. We knew that there was a stakeout here and were quickly shown to it. While we waited for the pitta, the guide looked for frogmouths, this was about to be good. Sadly, no pitta, no frogmouths. But we wouldn't have time to be sad for long, noise in the trees above us revealed a small group of male gibbons. We were able to enjoy them (and them us, curious eyes often staring down at us) for quite a while. A swim under a massive jungle waterfall provided some respite from the heat, after which we met up with the guide again. He took us to a location for Large blue flycatcher, and after a bit of whistling from the guide, it actually showed up! To highlight how spectacularly rare this species is: it has no mention in our (pretty decent) field guide! Afterwards we were driven to a location for brown wood owl, which we actually saw as well, also the only Draco lizard of the trip, seen gliding by one of us! Aaron missed it sadly, as he was of in the bushes with the guide, doing something unknown. Another great day, lucking out with the ranger showing us around, blessed fools! The next day we couldn't try again for banded pitta sadly, as we were moving on to our next location already, more about that in the next blog (one day).