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Thailand

  

Khao Yai NP & the North

    

Sorry, no scheduled departures set for this tour. Check out our guided trips instead.   next tour

  

Tour leaders ; Tom Bex in cooperation with your TAT-licensed local guide.

 

Group size; max. 6

 

With a bird list of 981 species, including such delights as colourful Broadbills,

Hornbills, numerous Kingfishers, Pheasants and a host of elusive Pittas, Thailand’s

remarkably diverse avifauna has always been the prime Asian target for birders

worldwide.  This tour will take you to the famous Khao Yai and Doi Inthanon NP’s

but will also thoroughly cover some of the less well know but excellent sites in the

North.  Doi Lang, Doi Pha Hom Pok, Sakaerat… don’t feature on any other tour

company's itinerary.  We know Thailand best and that is why we can show you

something unique and different!

 

  

Star attraction at Khao Yai NP, the Great Hornbill.           Brown Hawk Owl on his roost.

 

Tour itinerary

 

Day 1

Arrival in Bangkok and travel to Khao Yai national park where we enter via the

by birders rarely used but interesting southern entrance road.  It’s a shorter

drive from the airport which enables us to still do some decent birding in the

afternoon.  Night is in a resort near the Pak Chong park gates.

 

Day 2+3

Two full days in Khao Yai NP is going to bring us up and personal with this

superb area of evergreen forest, grasslands and the wildlife that it supports.

 

Day 4

Siamese Fireback is rarely seen these days in Khao Yai but this morning we

will visit Sakaerat biosphere reserve, where these elegant pheasants are as

guaranteed a bird can be.

A short flight in the afternoon will see us arriving in the northern capital,

Chiang Mai where, depending on arrival time we might still do some birding

before a delicious dinner and check in to our hotel.

 

Day 5

Open countryside and woodlands are the habitats visited this morning.  Easy

enough to bird but surprisingly rewarding with some very nice species as

Painted Snipe, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Wire-tailed Swallow and Rufous-winged

Buzzard all possibilities.

Later we travel north to Chiang Dao where some rice paddies will be checked

for wetland species.  The evening is spend at Wat Tam Pla Pong, very birdy

temple grounds and we stay late to target Oriental Bay Owl, Javan Frogmouth,

Collared Scops Owl, Asian Barred Owlet, Brown Hawk owl and Spot-bellied

Eagle Owl.  Amazingly all found in this small area.

Tonight we reach our base for the next 5 nights in Fang.  We have chosen to

treat you with some real luxury accommodation here, which together with 4

excellent birding sites nearby will ensure for a most enjoyable stay. 

 

Day 6

Driving up a smooth dirt track will bring us to 1800m altitude on Doi Pha Hom

Pok where specialties include Cutia, Red-faced Liocichla, Chestnut Thrush,

Grey-sided Thrush, Chestnut-headed Tesia and Brown-breasted Bulbul.

Depending on participants abilities we might walk up a steep trail that brings

us to the summit at 2285m.  Views of the surrounding landscape are

spectacular from this second highest peak of Thailand.

 

Day 7

Something more classic today, Doi Ang Khan.  Quality of habitats and forests

are a far cry from those found on Doi Pha Hom Pok and Doi Lang but that

apparently doesn’t keep birders from finding good birds at the site.  Perhaps

this just reflects the high number of birders visiting and we will most likely

have to go check on the latest finds and stakeouts.

 

Day 8

We give the forests and mountains a break today with a visit to Chiang Saen.

Wetlands, woodlands and the mighty MekongRiver is going to be the backdrop

for some excellent birding.  We will be searching for the numerous wintering

ducks, waders, reed-warblers, buntings and harriers present.

 

Day 9

Doi Lang is our favourite bird watching site in northern Thailand.  Expect

extremely rich species flocks, easy roadside birding on a windy mountain

road that sees no traffic, bird activity throughout the day, a day list close

to 100 species, and target species that include such localized specialties as

Crimson-breasted Woodpecker and Crested Finchbill. 

Moss-draped and epiphytes & orchids laden old trees in this primary montane

forest make for a superb setting in which we spend this memorable day.

 

Day 10

This morning we visit the bird-rich grounds of the temple near Chiang Dao

again.  We’ve been searching for owls here previously but today we spend

time in search for Streaked Wren Babblers and a whole host of canopy species

with leafbirds, green pigeons, minivets, flycatchers and sunbirds the star

attractions.  Slaty-backed Forktail and Rusty-naped Pitta gets seen here on

a regular basis and thanks to our small group size we will be able to get a

decent chance of seeing these elusive forest birds.

In the afternoon we return to Chiang Mai and after lunch we visit Doi Pui

where we stay late to see our stakeout Hodgon’s Frogmouth.

 

Day 11

Green Peafowl have thrived in recent years in the secondary forests

surrounding the Huai Hong Krai Royal Project 20 km outside of Chiang Mai.

They are hard to miss and make for an easy mornings birding before we

head to our accommodation and base for the next 2 days.  In the afternoon

plenty of time will be left for some initial exploring at the lower altitudes on

Doi Inthanon.

 

Day 12

Today we make it up to the 2565m high summit of Doi Inthanon where we

bird the sphagnum bog, easy accessible from the boardwalk.

The highest of altitudes in Thailand has is specialties and we should encounter

Chestnut-tailed Minlas,  Green-tailed Sunbird (angkanensis ssp endemic for

Doi Inthanon), White-browed Shortwing and Ashy Wood Pigeon to name a few.

A number of other sites in the national park shall be visited later in the day.

 

Day 13

After a final morning on the mountain it’s time to return to Chiang Mai for

our afternoon flight back to Bangkok.

 

General info : Comfortable accommodation in good standard hotels with private

facilities. Transport by air-conditioned minibus.  Walking is easy and

most birding is done on level roadside/tracks/trails, but the occasional

steeper trail might get us to the best birds.  Weather is mostly pleasant

at this time of the year, but it can get fairly hot at noon in the lowlands and

cold early morning on the summit of Doi Inthanon.  The dry season has

started but an occasional shower can be expected.

 

   

Green-tailed Sunbird on Doi Inthanon.                     Up close and personal, Spot-bellied Eagle Owl.

 

    

View from the summit of Doi Pha Hom Pok.              Rhododendron on the Doi Intanon summit walk.

 

                           

       Purple Swamphen is common at Chiang Saen lake, with Racket-tailed Treepie in the nearby woods.

 

                           

       DI summit boardwalk.                                               Sign we love.

 

   

Our base for 5 nights                                                with luxe en-suite bathroom.

 

     

Collared Scops Owl                                                   Red-billed Blue Magpie

 

    

Sambar Deer is common in Khao Yai NP                     and Wire-tailed Swallow is scarce near Chiang Mai.

 

All photographs copyright Birding2asia.com