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An amazing experience. (1 Viewer)

Sorry if the formatting is not all it should be for this is the first time I have posted a blog on this site, I do so because I would like to share this great trip we had recently into the forest of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.

The camping ground is 9KM into the forest from the checkpoint and is surrounded by both second growth and virgin forest rich in animal and birdlife.

Huai Kah Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.
What an amazing place with 3 species of deer wandering the camping ground. Food security is very important there as were raided by monkeys during the day and wild pigs at night. Just on twilight one evening a large wild boar trotted past within 50 meters of our tent and when it saw me reaching for a camera gave a snort and departed at speed. A Hog Deer stag would visit me at breakfast time and try to get its nose into my plate, no way this is mine go eat grass.

We had planned to go and stay at the sanctuary for 3 or 4 nights and ended up staying 9, we would have stayed longer but had run out of some essential supplies. The weather was good for the whole trip with some rain when we arrived that cleared quickly and some light rain in the early morning of the day we left. The lady boss wants to turn round and go back for a month but there are some things that must be done this month so we will wait to see what the weather brings after that.

The staff there are very conscientious with strict rules as they don’t want to lose any ‘tourists’ (that was us) either in the forest or to wild animals. One of the rules is that nobody must go farther than 50 meters from a road without a staff member as a guide. As the lady puts it I am very naughty and as I have hunted all my life I am confident in my abilities in the forest so ignored that one. What they didn’t know didn’t worry them.

The only real danger there from animals are the elephants which are completely unpredictable and just as likely to attempt to stomp you as they are to run away. Everything else will run from people and that includes tigers, yes there are tigers not very far from the camp ground, we saw tracks in the river bed less than 200 meters from our camp and the staff told us one had taken a deer behind the toilets while we were there.

Elephants are also very close as we saw fresh sign of a large elephant in the river bed, it had been there only an hour or so before us, there is also ample older sign of their leavings everywhere we went. On several occasions I got a very strong smell of elephants, one of those was when we were returning in the evening from a lookout tower, a little farther down the track a large animal jumped out of a tree and ran off, very likely a leopard. Next a Sambar deer hind ran ahead of us. At this point the lady was getting very scared and almost climbing on my back.

There are many species of animals to be seen there, we saw herds of 15 to 18 Banteng on 3 occasions all from watch towers in forest clearings, whether they were the same herd or not we couldn’t tell although the last lot I saw was about 9KM from where we saw the first just a few days before. As well as the deer in the camp ground I saw Sambar deer on 3 occasions, Eld’s deer, Feas Muntjac and a very small deer that was probably a Mouse deer. There was a Golden Jackal that disappeared before I could get a photo, wild pigs were everywhere and were seen on most days sometimes in large groups. Two species of monkey, as well as the Macaque around the camp ground and elsewhere there was a species of Langur which was probably Pahyre’s Leaf Monkey as that has been recorded there before. Squirrels were also abundant with Giant Black Squirrel, Himayalan Striped Squirrel, Pallas’s Squirrel and several others I couldn’t get good enough photos to ID. Also a Shrew type thing on the ground and I saw rodents a couple of times.
There was a place where large cattle had been wallowing in a mud hole. They were probably Wild Water Buffalo as they are the only cattle species that would wallow.
Plenty of bird life about as well, I recorded over 40 species 8 of them new to me. They were sometimes in quite large mixed flocks with 3 or 4 species of woodpeckers, blue magpie, laughing thrush and drongo’s together. I was getting a bit picky towards the end “Ha just another Black Headed Woodpecker, Rufous Treepie or Golden Fronted Leaf bird”
Full list of birds :
Green-billed Malkoha, Greater Coucal
Sooty-headed Bulbul, Rufous Treepie
Black-crested Bulbul, Puff-throated Babbler
Stripe-throated Bulbul, Blue-winged Pita
Greater Yellownape, Tickells Blue Flycatcher
Greater Flameback, Golden Fronted Leaf Bird
Grey-headed Woodpecker, White-rumped Sahma
Black-headed Woodpecker, Hoopoe
Red-billed Blue Magpie, Liniated Barbet
White–crested Laughing Thrush, Coppersmith Barbet
Lesser Necklaced Laughing Thrush, Black-headed Oriole
Red Jungle Fowl, Velvet Fronted Nuthatch
Spangled (hair crested) Drongo, Oriental Magpie Robin
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Red-wattled Lapwing
Ashy Drongo, Blue-bearded Bee Eater
Bronzed Drongo, Collared Falconet
Indian Rollar, Pied Hornbill
White Throated Kingfisher, Asian Openbill
Great Lora, Common Tailorbird
Great Egret, Spotted Dove
Green Peafowl

There were also smaller birds present but very difficult to see let alone get a photo of.

For more information on the sanctuary look at : https://www.thainationalparks.com/huai-kha-khaeng-wildlife-sanctuary
 
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