Khao Sok National Park
Khao Sok,
Thailand
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Day 65 - Mon 5th July (Tynwald Day and Holly Moffitt's birthday)
After catching the 6am ferry, takng 2 minibus drives and waiting inbetween for 3 millenia (don't book with DEREK TOURS) we eventually arrive at Khao Sok.
Established in 1980, the 646km2 Khao Sok National Park lies in the western part of Surat Thani Province. It's a remnant of a 160 million year old forest eco system that is much older and richer than the forest of the Amazon and Central Africa. 160,000,000 years old, 200,000 times older than Angkor Wat and it's still alive.
Khao Sok is connected to two other National Parks (Sri Phang nga and Klong Phanorn) and two wildlife sanctuaries (Klong Saen and Klong Nakkha), together forming the largest and most vital protected wildlife habitats in SE Asia.
'Waterfalls and Gibbon Calls' is a lovely book on exploring Khao Sok, the author is the renowned international conservationinst Tom Henley. The following extract is taken from his introduction:
"By virtue of elimination these areas have become critical refuges, oases of life in landscapes that are now comparative biological deserts of oil palm and rubber plantations and logged over scrublands.
Khao Sok and the few places like it, stand apart in SE Asias geography of hope - hope for the regions last remaining wildlife, the worlds greatest diversity of plant life, and last but not least, hope for the human spirit".
Khao Sok is home to 48 species of mammal including Asian elephant, tiger, leopard, leopard cat, Asiatic black bear, Malayan sun bear, barking deer, common flying fox, gibon and long tail macaque. A major watershed for the south (3500mm rain / year) the park is filled with lianas, bamboo, ferns and rattan including the great rattan with its 10cm diameter stem. A floral rarity, Rafflesian Kerri meyer (wild lotus), the largest flower in the world, which in maturity can reach 80cm (2'8'' for those metrically impaired) in diameter. Among the reptiles species, to Rene's horror, there are 46 varieties of snake including reticulated python and King Cobra.
There now follows a small quiz. Below are some of the more unusually named of the 184 species of bird found at Khao Sok, see if you can spot the made up one:-
Intermediate egret Thick billed flowerpecker Dollar bird
Woolly necked stork Blue rumped parrott Hoopoe
Rufous bellied eagle Moustached hawk cuckoo Drongo cuckoo
Black thighed falconet Rachet tailed treepi Masked finfoot
Blue breasted quail Buff rumped woodpecker Rosy minivet
Ferrugunous wood partridge Cinnamon rumped trogon Tiger shrike
White breasted watercock Bluethroated bee eater Sultan tit
slaty breasted rail Pale legged leaf warbler Rosy starling
Bar winged flycatcher shrike Fluffy backed tit babbler Bronzed drongo
Eurasian woodcock Scaly breasted bulbul Magpie robin
Buff vented bulbul Asian fairy bluebird Dusky broadbill
Buff breasted babbler Hairy backed bulbul Blue winged pitta
Brown cheeked fulvetta Yellow eared spiderhunter Rufous piculet
White bellied yuhina Rhinocerus hornbill Whimbrel
Ruby cheeked sunbird Gold whiskered barbett Javan frogmouth
Red throated barbett Velvet fronted nuthatch Zitting Cisticola
Fulvous chested flycatcher
I had no idea ornithologists had such a sense of humour.
A good while back, before the Natural history section, I mentioned we'd arrived at Khao Sok. The minibus dropped us at Freedom Resort, it was cheap (150B), but mainly because Derek Tours had turned what should have been a 4 hour trip into a 7 hour marathon, and obviously had some sort of deal with Freedom, there was no way we were going to stay. It was also a bit of a building site. So we left, got a man in a pick up to drive us round (40B) and having looked ata couple of other places, we decide to stay at Nung House, mainly on the recomendation of 5 S.Africans who were leaving as we arrived. They said it was really friendly and the food was great, which was good enough for us. Our room is a lovely tree top bungalow with cold shower, toilet and sink ensuite and a big mosquito netted bed, which is always a bonus as it can be light the following morning by the time we hook and pin and tuck our own net in place. It's a bargain at 300B a night.
Over a cold beer we are introduced to Nung, the owner, his wife Tip, who runs the place, Om, who is the cook and cleaner along with Tip, Bom who's married to Om and is a guide in the Park and Bom's cousin O (concentrate). Nung and Tip have 2 boys who we hardly see and 2 lovely dogs, Bear and her puppy Milo. Bear is the size of and looks similar to an alsation, Milo is half the size, with huge ears and feet he has,'t grown in to. It's great when the place we're staying at has dogs, but it's a double edged sword. Rene's stroking Milo but I can tell she's drifted away and is back at Baldwin stroking her beloved Beryl.
It's the rainy season, so the nearby river is fairly full and fast flowing. We ecide to go tubing. Nung House does a range of tours in and around the National Park, one of which is an hours floating down river on an inflatable innertube, escorted by an English speaking guide who will point out interesting flora and fauna on the river bank.
We didn't know you could have so much fun with an old car innertube, and the fact that our guide, we had learnt earlier, can't speak at all, didn't matter. The river was really safe and if we were heading in thr wrong direction O (our guide)would grunt and point until we were set right. He was too busy anyway, showing off, to show us any wildlife, but we saw some anyway. Rene spotted a black and yellow Mangrove snake , wrapped around an overhanging tree branch, she was a blur of hands in waver until sh'ed paddled clear. Halfway into the tubing we passed the base of a 200m high limestone, tree covered cliff, on the rocks at the bottom sit a number of Longtail Macaque monkies. They come here everyday, late afternoon, to feed and play. It's a bizarre moment as 3 humans sat in innertubes float quickly past as the long tal macaques look on incredulously.
Towards the end of the tubing we were treated to an eye level fly past by the red arrow of birds, in a spectular flash of red and blue, the unmistakable Kingfisher passed us and disappeared up river.
We were all smiles as we emerged from the river at the pick up point. Mr O (sounds better than just O), as mentioned earlier, can't talk. His real name is tattood on the inside of his forarm and would be worth about 8000 points in scrabble, so he is known as O. He is 24. Mr O seems to have some hearing and seems to understand what he is told in Thai, but he can't speak, he just kind of grunts, and if he gets in any way excited he kind of grunts extremely loudly. He communicated with sign language, not the "See, Hear" with a woman in the corner of the screen type of sign language, it's more like charades, in fact at the guest house it's a cross between charades and pictionary, if he can't explain with charades he draws it on a pad. A thumbs up and smile means we've got it, a frown and shrug means try again. He couldn't have been more excited about taking us tubing and we get the impression a lot of people don't have time for him, charades and pictionary aren't quick games to play.
Nung is meant to pick us up after tubing but there's no sign of him. We sit on our tubes and wait. It's very pleasant sat by the river, listening to the sounds of the forest while being air dried. Just behind us is another lodge with bungalows, which is closed during low season, it has a thatch roofed, wooden walkway, which runs through the middle of the lodge. Suddenly out from this walkway, running at fun pelt, with knuckles on the floor, comes a black, white handed gibbon. He runs straight to Mr O, leaps on him and Mr O is wearing a gibbon pupoose. The stunned silence was deafening. There's absolutely no one else around, we have a thousand questions but Mr O can't answer any of them. The gibbon can't be wild as she wouldn't come anywhere near humans, yet hear she is, no lead or chain and noone about.
There really are only two explanations. The pink fluffy explanation where the baby gibbon is in someway found abandoned and is rescued from certain death and hand raised. The other explanation is black and depressingly common. Humans are the greatest threat to gibbons; large eagles and pythons are their only other predators. The National PArks and wildlife sanctuaries are virtually the only places in Thailand where gibbons remain in the wild, yet due to lack of funding for more rangers, they are under intense poaching pressure. Mainly baby gibbons which are sold as pets in Thailand. To get a baby gibbon, the poachers shoot the mother, tearing apart an entire monogomous family unit. A gibbons social behaviours and foraging skills are all learnt from their parents, so it's extremely difficult to return orphans to the wild. This along with the fact gibbons have very low reproductive rates, means they won't survive long unless this illegal trade is stopped, or at least seriously reduced.
So was it rescued or was it bought? We just didn't know. Half an hour she stayed with us, playing with Mr O, leaping into the nearby rambutan fruit tree and leaping back down to carefully open and eat the fruit. It was incredible to see a gibbon close up, to be able to study her fingers, feet, face and fur. Her dark g\face was ringed by a tuft of white hair, she also had white feet and hands, hence their name. Surprisingly small and incredibly agile, she disappeared as quickly as she arrived, bracchiatering through the trees with the greatest of ease.
Mr O signalled for us to start wlaking, wearing only our swimming shorts and bikini (Rene was wearing the bikini today) and carrying an innertube each we set off along an orange dirt track. We slowly walked about a mile, it was hot, but we had a spectacular back drop of high, sheer, limestone cliffs. Rene wasn't watching, she was nervously figuring out how best to deal with a snake, barefoot and armed with an innertube.
After a quick game of charades we guessed we were at Mr O's house / wooden shack, and this was confirmed after speaking to his 6 year old sister, who amazingly spoke some English. Almost immediately Nung turned up, we loaded onto the pick up and drove back, glad at how late he had been.
Cold shower, cold beer, hot, hot ,hot Thai vegetable curry. Cicada buzzing (insect) induced deep sleep.
Expenses: Taxi 350B, sandwich 80B, boat and bus 900B, tubing 600B, food 395B, accom 300B.
Day 66 - Tues 6th July
200B each for a 2 day pass into Khao Sok National Park. There are several trails to walk and we choose to head for Ton Gloy Waterfall, which follows the course of the Sok River. It's 9km. It doesn't sound far. In my backpack is water, binoculars, camera, guidebook and some fruit. It's low season, there's no one about. The path starts off reasonably wide, even I can tell Rene is anxious, but fairly soon it narrows and is often overgrown. The forest in Khao Sok is dense, dominated by towering emergent trees, which are often supported by buttress roots. The upper and lower canopy levels, or middle storey of the forest, is joined vertically and horizontally by an ariel tangle of woody liana vines. The understorey is made up of many species of palms, tree saplings and endless huge bamboo and palm, that often cover the path in a snake like style. I'm walking slightly ahead of Rene, I'm trying to check every branch above, on either side and on the path, it's painfully slow, I need more eyes. Rene is freaking her boots.
After two hours and about 4km and with the path narrowing we turn back. Rene's devastated that she has no control over her phobia. She wants nothing more than to be here, enjoying being in an evergreen rainforest, but being here terrifies her to tears. What to do?
We head back disconsolate, but careful. We did see a long tail macaque and 2 squirrels (15 types of squirrel in the Park, no idea which we saw), and the rainforest and river are beautiful.
Back at Nung House, and despite having our trousers tucked into our socks, Rene has been bitten by a leach on her ankle, it's rainy season so the little bleeders are everywhere. They are common leach so are harmless. Mr O explains with his hands, that rubbing tabaco on your legs, or in your socks is a good leach deterrant.
The afternoon is spent drinking tea with Tip, Mr O and Om and discovering the internet isn't working in Khao Sok.
Nung House has a website, which was set up by a former guest. Tip can speak basic English, but has great difficulty reading any. She relies on guests to read and reply to email enquiries. We are her only guests so duly offer to help tomorrow, if the line is back up.
At 6pm we head to a bar which overlooks the Sok River, from here you can view Long tail macaques on the far bank, we also saw another Kingfisher, completely red this time, and discover later it was a Ruddy Kingfisher.
Expenses (70 baht / pound): Accom 300B, Park entry 400B, Guide Book 470B, Water 10B, Toiletries 67B, Drinks 130B, Food 575B.
Day 67 - Wed 7 July
It monsooned with rain last night. The alarm gets me out of the mossy net at 6am. We've got a much better chance of viewing wildlife with an early start, only we've become I've. Understandibly, Rene's not too keen, she tells me to be careful and goes back to sleep.
So wearing my trusty Solomans and looking like a gimp with my trouser in sock leech protection, I set off. I'm taking the trail to Sip Et Chan Waterfall which follows the Bonghaen River for 4km to the base of the falls.
Just before I reach the Park Entrance, which is 5 minutes walk from Nung House, I get chased by 4 angry stray dogs, ankle snappers, looking for trouble and a meal. The escape jog makes me sweat, after all the rain it's very damp and muggy.
It's just getting light when I enter the forest, but very quickly it's dark again as the path is enveloped with ferns, palms, saplings, bamboo and vines. The first part of the trail is a concrete path, suppusedly easy going, but it's overgrown and slippery. At the end of the concrete path, I have a drink, I'm sweating like a blacksmith.
Through a gap in the canopy, I can see in the distance one of the dramatic karst formations, which Khao Sok is renowned for, covered in foliage, with morning mist, sitting amongst it. Everything is still and quiet, a magical moment, it could be the dawn of time, only I'm here, so it can't be.
The path turns to mud, as it climbs a ridge and dips in and out of ravines, it's treachorous in parts where the heavy rain has washed the path away. The vegetation is so dense it's difficult to see the upper canopy, this is where I'm most likely to see gibbons. When I see the River, I know I won't be able to make it the Waterfall, six river crossings are required to reach it and after the rain the river is a raging torrent. A little further on and the path is blocked by a large fallen trree and the bamboo it flattened, this isn't your sweet pea support bamboo, it's huge 4" diameter bamboo. I climb over and meet a scorpion sitting on the trunk, he's a blue colour and puts his pincers up. He asks to see my park pass, then lets me through.
The path flattens out, deep sticky mud makes my shoes heavy, I'm surrounded by dense forest, I'm soaking wet with sweat, from head to toe. Suddenly, just to my right there's a huge clattering, I jump behind a tree with my heart in my mouth, I peer round to see a long tail macaque with her baby, climbing high into the canopy. How she made all that noise I'll never know, but she spooked my boots. I'd been hoping to see gibbon or maybe a hornbill, it hadn't entered my head that I might see anything bigger, but the clattering, I was certain, for the few seconds i was behind the tree, was a bear or a tiger. What if it had been, what's the protocl, run like the wind, lie down and play dead or scream like a hyena? People say I'd love to see a tiger or a bear, what they really mean is I'd love to see a tiger or bear whilst sat in a landrover.
I walk on slowly with a head like an owls. I spot 3 more macaques then decide I'd better head back, it's 8.15 and it's going to take at least 2 hours to get bcak, I'm hot and hungry.
The forest is alive with jungle noise and butterflies on the way back. I pass again giant palms, dense bamboo and huge butressed rooted trees, there is an amazing diversity of plant life. The rainforest here is incredible, the infrastructure of the Park isn't. The maintenance of the trails and signs is abysmal, the place feels run down and neglected. I feel knackered and head back for breakfast.
With muddy, sweaty clothes removed, I realise I've been leached, on my ankle and somehow on my bum. Rene finds 3 more when she shakes my socks.
Leter with Tip in tow, we access and reply to her emails, booking confirmations and enquiries. She shows her gratitude by feeding us Thai delicacies throughout the day, including:- 2 types of sticky rice, deep fried bananas, jackfruit, langsad, rambutin, sator (bean), steamed bamboo cooked in banana leaf, raw morning glory and papaya with red hot chillies, which was hot, hot, hot!
During a late afternoon walk, looking for a cave, we cross the river by a wood and wire bridge suspended between two huge trees. Shortly afterwards we come across a fig tree that's alive with long tail macaques feeding on the fruit. They take no notice whatsoever as we stand and watch.
during the evening we have an extensive game of charade pictionary with Mr O. Explaining with actions and drawings that he had a friend from Chang Mai, who'd married a German girl, and they now lived in a bungalow on Ko Tao, is no mean feat, we were all exhausted by the end.
Expenses: Food 610B, Accom 300B
Day 68 - Thursday 8th July (Tom P's birthday)
A couple of hours on the internet was followed by a little moped touring. In a speed tourist blur we visited a cave temple and a waterfall, neither of which inspired us to get off the moped. Then we headed off to revisit the spot where we'd seen the gibbon, the real motive behind the moped hire. We were hoping somebody might be about to shed some light on why she was there, but once again the place was deserted. We stayed for a while, sat by the river, then returned to Nung House.
Tea and talk with Tip. Then Mr O appears, we've no idea where he goes on his moped, he just seems to come and go as he pleases. We ask him through Charictionary if he could take us to see the gibbon again, we're determined and very curious. Once again Mr O seems delighted to have been asked and celebrates by riding all the way there in George Formby style.
This time there's a truck outside and some people, the black gibbons there too. The man and woman obviously know Mr O, we say hello and as we're about to ask if they speak any English, two golden brown coloured, white handed gibbon, come swinging down the walkway behind them and jump up on to the lady. Gobsmacked would sum it up. The couple are about 60, he speaks very good English, she doesn't speak any. Over the next 10 minutes we politely ask him lots of questions, which he very politely answered. He was warm and friendly and not at all put out. He explained that the black gibbon had been rescued from the river next to his lodge, following torrential rain and flooding. He and his wife had taken her in and hand reared her. One of the brown gibbons had been found as a baby, only a few days, old with no hair, at a nearby elephant trekking centre, after an elephant had somehow spooked the mother and she had dropped her baby and disappeared off into the forest. The other had been rescued from another flooded river. Both were brought to them to be hand reared. He also had a rescued hornbill (who wasn't around but out feeding in the fruit trees) as well as cats and dogs. He told us the gibbons are totally free and all three together disappear into the forest for days on end, but always come back. They treat his wife as their mother. He had to leave after that and unbelievably the black gibbon leapt from a nearby tree straight onto the drivers seat of the truck, jumped onto the passenger seat, the man got in and off they went.
We were left with old mother gibbon and her two beautiful daughters, who were sat, one on each shoulder with their arms wrapped tightly round her head. The man, despite my deepest cynicism, did seem genuine. The truth is we'll never know whether they were rescued or bought, they at least were happy and playful and obviously doted on their adopted mother. She in return treated them like babies.
We spent an unforgetable half an hour with the gibbons, what ever the circumstances of them being there, the fact is they were there and there wasn't much we could do about it.
We swap the moped for my passport and return to Nung House. We attempt to do more of Tips computer work but once again the line isn't working, we've no idea how she's going to respond to emails she can't read.
We've grown fond of Tip and her extended family, especially Mr O, Om, Milo and Bear. I love it here but having run out of reading material, Rene's ready to move on, so tomorrow we're heading to Krabi.
Expenses: Moped 150B, Lunch 200B, Internet 500B, Water 20B, Cocktails 180B, Food 250B, Accom 300B.
