The Amazon rainforest is known for it's biodiversity and untouched nature. What if I were to tell you, that there is a national park with a rainforest, that is even older and with more biodiversity? Does that sound tempting? That National Park actually exist and it goes under the name of "Khao Sok" National Park.

Is it as cool as it sounds and is it worth going there? That's what we are going to find out in this post. We're going to talk about accommodations, jungle trekking, tours and of course the beautiful nature and unique animals that it's home to.

About Khao Sok

The Khao Sok National Park is arguably one of Thailand's most beautiful National Parks. It was established in 1980 and draws about half a million visitors every year. Its area is about 750km², 165km² of which are occupied by the Cheow Lan lake, which is contained by the Ratchapraphra Dam. It is located in the Surat Thani Province in southern Thailand.

The national park is known for its impressive sandstone cliffs and biodiversity in the rain forest. Thanks to the big area, the national park can hold the many tourists, that visit it every year without taking too much damage. Most of the park is untouched nature with only few trails running trough it.

The park is estimated to contain over 5 percent of the world's wildlife species (which is a lot). Wild mammals include the Asian elephant, tiger, sambar deer, bear, white headed gibbons and barking deer. The flora in the park is also very diverse. The whole national park (except the lake and the cliffs) is covered in thick rainforest consisting of Bamboo, many different tree species and lianas. There are also many kinds of wild fruit to be found in the park. Khao Sok National Park is perhaps most well known for the Bua Phut.

The Ratchapraphra dam is one of the biggest power plants of the country. It was build with the intention to power the whole of southern Thailand. And while the construction of the dam resulted in the flooding and thus the destruction of a huge area of rain forest, the created lake leads to new opportunities not only in tourism, but also in biodiversity, since it holds a lot of fish.

My experiences in Khao Sok

Traveling to Khao Sok

I took the bus from Phuket town to Khao Sok. I did not know if there where any buses though and I didn't have anything booked. I just went to the Bus Terminal 2 in Phuket, and told the people at the ticket counter that I wanted to go to Khao Sok. Luckily for me, there was a bus going in the right direction and for about 40 Baht I could get on it. The bus took me to Phang Nga Bus station, where I had to wait for about 30 minutes until a minivan to Khao Sok picked me up. I don't know if I was just lucky to find that connection from Phuket to Khao Sok or if it is actually really easy to find one.

The first bus took about 2 hours and the mini van 3 hours. I arrived in Khao Sok at 7pm and payed about 350 Baht for transportation. Contrary to a bus ticket, I already had my accommodation booked. I stayed in the Jungle Hostel. Khao Sok village is not big and therefore finding your accommodation is very easy. Even more so, because the Jungle Hostel is located in the center of the village. As far as I'm aware the Hostel only has one dorm, but if you get a spot in it, you will have a great time there. The staff is nice and willing to help you when you have questions, it's pretty cheap and everything is pretty nice. You can also book tours at the front desk of the hostel.

Khao Sok

For the first day, I booked a jungle trekking tour through the rain forest with a guide. Normally I don't like to go on tours and prefer to plan and do my own tours. This one was different though. We were only 3 people and the hiking was not that hard, so I did not have to wait for slow members of the group. The guide was able to show us animals and plants, that I normally would just have walked past (and even if I did see them, I wouldn't have known what they were). The guide was also really nice and he seemed to be very excited to show us the forest with all its animals and plants. We hiked to a waterfall and could even take a swim there, which was really refreshing since it was really hot and the water was quite cold.

The hike took about 8 hours and it a bit less than 15€, which I think is a really good deal. The cool thing is that you can do the hike right from Khao Sok village. You don't have to drive anywhere. Halfway to the waterfall, there is a little shop, where you can buy food and drinks.

The next day I took the same way into the jungle again. This time it was just me and a guy I had met at the hostel with no guide. That hike was also pretty nice, because we were a lot faster than the last time. We didn't see as much wildlife, but we could enjoy the nature and landscaped a bit more, because we could just cover more of it in less time. This time we also went for a swim near a waterfall. Technically you are not allowed to go much further than the shop, but you can always just pretend you didn't see the sign that says to not go further and just go anyways.

Something most people do in Khao Sok national park is a tour on the Cheow Lan lake. You can choose to just do a day tour or to do a 2 day 1 night tour, where you sleep on little huts on the lake. Personally I didn't do any of them, but I think they are really worth it. Had I had more time, I would have definitely done one. People who did do it told me how great it was. The tours mostly consist of going on a boat on the lake, then going to the huts, where you get your own kayak and can explore the area on your own. Sometimes you will also be shown around one of the caves near the lake. Some of them are actually in the water, which makes it supposedly a really nice experience to explore.

Surat Thani

I went to Surat Thani, because I wanted to catch the train from here to Bangkok. I figured, that if I had to go here anyways, I could as well just check out the city. I also try to visit less touristic cities in every country to get an authentic experience and to see what it is like actually living there. Surat Thani has a population of about 130,000 and there is really not much for tourists to do here other than taking a ferry to some of south Thailand's islands. I stayed here for 2 nights, which was in hindsight about 1 night too much.

The first day in Surat Thani, I went for a little walk around the city, which covers a lot of the interesting things to see around. The city is definitely pretty nice. Especially the river flowing through it makes for some really nice atmosphere in the evening. However, there just is really not that much to see or do here.

For that reason day 2 was pretty boring. I walked around a bit more, but ended up just reading a book in a café until I had to get to the bus station to get my bus to the train station (which is quite far outside of the city).

What to do in Khao Sok

Khao Sok National park and it's surrounding is definitely a really nice area. It has tons of stuff to do - as long as you are into outdoor activities that is - and has a lot of things to see, that you might not be able to see anywhere else. My favorite things to do where

• Exploring the populated area of the national park
• Hiking deep into the jungle
• Swimming at the waterfalls in jungle
• Discover some of the rare animals and plants the national park has to offer
• Walk around Surat Thani

Conclusion

If you are in the area and like outdoor activities, I would absolutely suggest you to go to Khao Sok National park. In my opinion, you can stay anywhere between 1 night and 2 weeks here. There is so much you can (but don't have to) do.

For me it was definitely the place, where I saw the most wild animals and most interesting plants during my whole trip. I also really loved the vibe there. Everything is very laid back and chilled. It's not only a great spot to see some wildlife but also to just relax for a bit.