Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand is a remote national park that is not really too far from Bangkok, but it is not really close either. The closest city would be Hua Hin. Hua Hin is a sleepy resort town three hours from Bangkok. I decided to rent a car in Hua Hin and make the trip there myself. Baan Maka Nature Lodge, which is right on the doorstep of the national park was to become my base to explore Kaeng Krachan for the next three days.
Super excited to have Baan Maka Nature Lodge as a base to explore Kaeng Krachan National Park.
From Bangkok to Hua Hin to Baan Maka Nature Lodge
I took a bus from Bangkok to Hua Hin, enjoyed a day at the beach, and picked up my rental car the next day. This was my first time driving in Thailand. Coming out of Hua Hin was a little hectic, but once I made it into the countryside the driving was simple and stress free. The only obstacle were the mangy dogs that seemed to inhabit just about every mile. There are no mile markers in rural Thailand, but you can measure distance by the number of mangy dogs passed. Fortunately all mangy dogs survived our interaction.
Hua Hin Beach
Related: Getting to Khao Yai National Park
From Hua Hin to Baan Maka Nature Lodge
Baan Maka was only a little over an hour drive from Hua Hin. I pulled into the nature lodge soon after leaving and checked into my room. My room was a cute shared chalet tucked deep into the jungle. Although the structure was shared, I had my own room and bathroom, with functioning air-conditioning, which was key. It was just short of 3 p.m., so I had plenty of time to do some birding before sundown. Baan Maka Nature Lodge has a book in English with detailed instructions on what one can do in the area, at the lodge, and at Kaeng Krachan National Park. This, along with their website, was very helpful when planning how I was to tackle birding my itinerary for the duration of my stay.
Baan Maka Lake.
Kaeng Krachan National Park and Baan Maka Nature lodge three day plan
I had done some research on Youtube and read through the Baan Maka Nature Lodge website, so I had a little bit of an idea of what to expect, but it is difficult to figure out a place like this until you get there. Once I arrived, I quickly came up with a plan. Day one would consist of hanging around the lodge and hiking their nature trails. Day two, I would drive to the national park myself and explore on my own. On day three, I reserved a private birding guide through Baan Maka Nature Lodge.
Enjoying a single in front of the chalet at Baan Maka Nature Lodge.
Day 1 – Baan Maka Nature Lodge nature trails
Once I was settled in my room, I started to walk around the grounds of the nature lodge. Baan Maka Nature Lodge is only ten kilometers from Kaeng Krachan National Park and it is mainly forested from the lodge to the park, so the birding at the lodge is first rate. Besides being situated in the jungle, there is also a lake onsite, so there are water birds like kingfishers, herons, and waterhens to be found as well. They have kayaks to use, but I felt like it was too hot to take advantage of. I did not want to be bobbing in the middle of the lake with the sun beating down on me.
The Baan Maka Nature Lodge welcome committee, two greater racket-tailed drongos.
Puff-throated babbler.
Black-crested bulbul.
Black-hooded oriole was another regular visitor to the Baan Maka Nature Lodge grounds.
While walking the grounds, I immediately saw some bulbuls, tailorbirds, and two beautiful greater-racket tailed drongos. These are somewhat common birds, but this was the first time I had seen a pair so close. Walking the grounds was fruitful as I saw several lifers including a lineated barbet, blue whistling thrush, and a puff-throated babbler.
Looking towards Kaeng Krachan from Baan Maka
After an a/c break in the room, I proceeded to go hike the nature trails. There is a small one kilometer loop that goes around the perimeter of the property and from there a Viewpoint Trail that goes up the hill and has several beautiful overlooks of the local surroundings. At first, I did not see a whole lot on the perimeter trail, but as it drew nearer to dusk, the birds started to come out. I saw white-rumped shama, a couple of dollarbirds, and the highlight was two oriental-pied hornbills. The hornbills were directly above me, so I got some great shots. I was under the impression that I had seen these birds in Sri Lanka last year, but those were malabar pied-hornbills, so these two oriental pied-hornbills was a new species for me.
Oriental-pied hornbill seen along the Baan Maka nature trails.
Two oriental pied-hornbills.
Evening at the Tingky Bar
From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Baan Maka Nature Lodge has a Tingky Bar where visitors can enjoy a sunset, have some drinks, talk about their day seeing birds, and even see a few more birds before the sun goes down. I thought many of the guests at the lodge would be here talking about the day, but when I got there around 6 p.m. it was only the bartenders and a few local Thai people. This was fine with me as I enjoyed a few games of pool with Eve the bartender and the other local Thai people. I then enjoyed dinner at the restaurant before calling it a night.
Wonderful meal at the Baan Maka Nature Lodge restaurant.
Day two – Exploring Kaeng Krachan National Park on my own
Breakfast at Baan Maka Nature Lodge
They have a great little continental breakfast at Baan Maka Nature Lodge. There is free coffee, bread, fruit, and other items. They have French press coffee or instant, so it was nice to enjoy some quality coffee. If you would like more, there is the option to purchase western breakfast. I walked around the grounds for an hour or so before heading into the park. I got much better pictures of the lineated barbet and saw a few more lifers including a crimson sunbird, scarlet-backed flowerpecker, greater necklaced laughingthrushes, and a beautiful blue-bearded bee-eater.
I love that the bee-eaters in Thailand have blue beards.
A much better view of a lineated barbet.
Scarlet-backed flowerpecker at Baan Maka Nature Lodge.
Crimson sunbird at Baan Maka.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is only ten kilometers from the lodge. In fact, there is only one turn. I entered the park and paid 330 baht for entrance fee and the fee for the car. There is only one road through the park and it is approximately 18 kilometers to the campsite. That is about as far as one can go without four-wheel drive. There Is what looks like a man made water feature after entering the park. I stopped to find a little egret, a little cormorant, and a cattle egret.
Little Cormorant near the entrance of Kaeng Krachan National Park.
The park is incredibly lush and the vegetation is super thick. There was a road and a carpet of green covering the hills with some enormous trees. This type of terrain can make it difficult for birding as there was not many places to park or walk around. One area was kilometer nine. I parked here and spent about an hour walking through the openings in the roadside vegetation. I saw a greater coucal, a distant woodpecker, a greater iora, and three Asian fairy bluebirds.
Asian fairy-bluebird in Kaeng Krachan National Park.
It is so green in Kaeng Krachan National Park that I had to tone down the saturation.
Ban Krang Campsite
After kilometer nine, I stopped a few more times, but I did not see much, so I drove the rest of the way to Ban Krang Campsite. From what I read about Ban Krang, I was not expecting for there to be much there, but I was really surprised at the level of service they had there. There was a visitor’s center, a restaurant, and a pretty nice campground. You could rent tents, sleeping bags, and ground pads at the visitors center. I have camped at Khao Yai National Park before, and they had the same level of service there, but I got the impression that Kaeng Krachan was more remote and therefore had less amenities.
Black-and-red broadbill.
Beautiful black-and-red broadbill by the river at Ban Krang Camp.
There were a bunch of photographers chasing around birds or a bird at the river. I went over there to see what they were looking at, and it turned out to be a couple of black-and-red broadbills, which was a lifer for me. They are very considerate birds that perch halfway up the tree and like to pose for photographers. They can be difficult to find, but once found, they are somewhat easy to photograph.
Monitor lizard on a tree in Kaeng Krachan.
Barking deer near a river crossing on the way to Ban Krang Camp.
White-handed gibbon just hanging around.
Black giant squirrel at Kaeng Krachan.
Giant golden orb spider at Ban Krang Campsite.
Incredible diversity of species at Kaeng Krachan National Park
The diversity of species at Kaeng Krachan was amazing. This was most evident in the incredible number of butterflies. They were everywhere at Ban Krang Camp. A negative aspect of this was the annoying amount of flying insects that were harassing me. There were not many mosquitoes, but many flies. Most of them did not bite, but they were really annoying. I saw a monitor lizard on a tree coming up the road as well as a barking deer. There were white-handed gibbons in the trees as well as black giant squirrels, and even a bear.
Malaysian sun bear at Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Malaysian sun bear
There is a short nature trail around the campsite, and besides the broadbills, I saw a troop of gibbons, giant black squirrels, and a Malaysian sun bear. The sun bear was at the hide near the restaurant. The ranger at the visitor’s center informed us that there was a bear making a visit. There was a bird hide near the restaurant and the bear was obviously drawn to the hide from the smells of the restaurant.
Both nights I ended my evening with beautiful sightings of oriental pied-hornbills.
Return to Baan Maka Nature Lodge
Although I saw quite a bit of wildlife on my solo venture into Kaeng Krachan, I did not see as many bird species as I hoped to see. This was partly my fault as I got to the national park a little late, but I was hoping for more the next day with a guide. When I returned to Baan Maka, I was relaxing in front of my chalet when two hornbills flew on to the trees across the road. This was a nice way to end the day. I retuned to the Tingky Bar for a couple of beers and more pool with Eve. I won a few games the night before, but that must have been beginner’s luck as I lost four in the row tonight.
Sunset at the Tingky Bar.
Eve schooling me at pool at the Tingky Bar.
Day three would consist of a full day of birding with a Baan Maka Nature Lodge guide. I was looking forward to this experience, and it did not disappoint. In fact, day three deserves its own blog post. I highly recommend Baan Maka Nature Lodge as your base to explore Kaeng Krachan. Staying here was just as an incredible experience as visiting the national park. Check out their website here.
Adventure on!
