Wanted - Information on the mammals of Kaeng Krachan NP, Thailand. (1 Viewer)

Hi Folks,

Having just spent a very pleasant period mammal watching and (birding of course) in Kaeng Krachan NP, Thailand including 4 days camping and three further day visits dawn to dusk I've come to the same conclusion as many others that this is an exceptional area. Although it does have it's problems regarding mammal watching, especially nocturnal work, the Thais fearing Elephants will trample someone to death, the rules are inconsistent and somewhat frustrating. I did however see an impressive array of mammals, to which I'll write a summary shortly but includes Cats, Gaur, Binturong, many Civets, Elephant, Dhole, Primates etc

Does anyone here know of any published paperwork involving a comprehensive list of the species occurring within the park, apparently 57 species?

The HQ had everything but mammals and trawling the web has so far proved rather fruitless.

Thanks

Mark

did you ever get anywhere with finding a mammal list for Kaeng Krachan? I was just trying to find the same thing and found your post instead.

Unfortunately not C' Although I've been back several times since and am in touch with various fieldworkers, there doesn't appear to be a comprehensive list, frustrating considering the obvious potential of the area!

thanks, I thought as much. I do wonder where the quote of 57 species originally came from because you see it written everywhere.

I haven't been there yet but its on the list for this year/early next year.

Any updates on this?

What are the Kaeng Krachan's "problems regarding mammal watching"? Are you allowed to drive along the road at night?

Thanks,
Ben

also, what is the park like for an independent traveller without his own vehicle?

Kaeng Krachan is a fantastic park for mammal watching, but it does come with problems. Most of the best stuff comes out at night, and you are not allowed to drive the road at night, spotlighting is not allowed, though I have done some away from prying eyes. If you are staying inside the park, at one of the two camps, these are usually gated between 7pm and 5am I think, sometimes not. You are not allowed to wander the road on foot at night, 'officially' though some do creep out as it were. The lower camp has many mammals within the vicinity, Civets, Porcupine, even Elephant fairly regularly. The Elephants are the problem with regards the rules, they do cause problems hence the rules after dark, but this is kind of defeated when one comes into camp and starts trashing the place, usually the plumbing. You can drive the road early morning and evening, the best times for Leopard etc. Tigers are rarely seen along the one road. Its very good for Gaur in the lower section, and they have opened up a few waterholes along the road which obviously attract the bigger game, I've seen Dhole a few times at the main one along with Elephant, Mouse Deer etc. The upper camp is a little bit more relaxed, perhaps because the Elephants rarely if at all get up there. They have allowed or just ignored me walking the road after dark. A lot of stuff comes to the camps at night anyway, behind both kitchens is always good and the guards, once they know you are interested, will often point out regular visitors. If you wish to camp further afield, at one of the mineral licks, you need to take an armed ranger with you. This can be arranged with the park service beforehand I believe, but not on the spot. Camping equipment is available for rent at both camps, I've never used them however as renting a 4x4 pick up is cheap, I usually just sleep in the back. Avoid Friday to Monday if you can. It is incredibly busy at times, with much traffic (remember there are up and down control times for the higher reaches). It usually takes a few days after for the terrestrial mammals to come close to the road again, in my experience anyway, of course there are exceptions. In recent visits I've seen Leopard, Marbled and Leopard Cat along the road in the early mornings. I frustratingly messed up what had to be a Clouded Leopard at night a few years ago. Dusky Langur and Lar Gibbon are fairly easy to see, Banded and potentially Tenasserim Langur are shyer and generally more toward the upper camp Panoen Thung. I've seen Stump-tailed Macaques a few times in the lower section. I've also observed Binturong a few times during the day in large fruiting trees, keep an eye on the hornbills.

You can visit the park without a vehicle, but you'd have to get a lift from the entrance gate. Covering the various zones without a vehicle would prove difficult however.

Hope this helps

Indochinese Leopard from this year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atfazc9ZH_M

As Mark says Kaeng Krachan is great for mammals but as he says moving within the park without a vehicle would be problematic.

Mark, great footage of the Leopard

that sounds fantastic....I shall have to figure out a strategy for doing it without a vehicle, or maybe lucking into hooking up with someone with a vehicle.

Thanks for the great information! Do you know if it's worth camping at one of the mineral licks? What's seen there, and how often?

Ben88 said:

Thanks for the great information! Do you know if it's worth camping at one of the mineral licks? What's seen there, and how often?

Click to expand...

I know of friends that have done it and seen very little... it seems the good stuff waits for folk to leave and then perform in front of the camera traps :smoke:

viator said:

Mark, great footage of the Leopard

Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. I've seen a couple there now, still waiting for a melanistic one which is reportedly the more numerous morph :smoke:

Have you been to Kui Buri NP? Is it worth going for mammals (or birds)?

I haven't I'm afraid. It does apparently still hold Tapir so the forest must be fairly good but I don't know anything about the place other than a loose mammal species list. Certainly not as potentially good as KK can be. HKK is probably the best for mammals but restrictions apply.

Hi Mark,

Thanks again for the terrific information. I've bought my plane tickets and am planning to go to KK for about a week in mid January (all weekdays - shorebirds on the weekend). I've got a couple logistical questions. Are there restaurants serving food near the campsites all week long? I've seen conflicting information. If not, can I rent a camping stove at the park? Also, where do you recommend I rent a 4x4 pickup in Bangkok?

Thanks,
Ben

Ben,

I have never had problems getting food at either camp during this period, in fact I'll be there again just after you leave by the looks of it. I always call at a seven eleven (they are everywhere, including one fairly close to the park entrance) before hand and stock up on goodies, chocolate, drinks etc as this sort of stuff is rather limited in the park. Remeber if you leave the park, you have to pay to re-enter, if you stay inside, its just the one fee. Top camp has better supplies due to being very popular because of the 'sea mist', many of those visitors don't stop at Ban Krang. Both camps do a variety of rice and meat dishes, omelettes, hot and cold drinks etc
Alcohol is not allowed to be taken into National Parks though they've never checked my vehicle.

As for vehicles, there are many hire companies so shop around, they are competitive and reasonably priced. 4x4's or yutes are widely available. I would recommend getting one with a Sat Nav for an extra ten bucks or so. I normally get mine, pre-booked from the airport or delivered to the main airport hotel.

A lady was killed by elephants a few days before my recent visit.And it is on CCTV news when I'm back in China now.
Birding was very slow due to dry and cold weather for over a month.Thai friends say that we used up our luck because we saw good mammals such as Tenasserim Langur and Leopard.

I spent several days at Kaeng Krachan last month with Dom Davidson, looking for mammals and birds. The highlight was close and extended views of two young Leopards resting together in the middle of the road somewhere around km 22-25 just before noon.

As there was a recent elephant related fatality, the park rangers were very strict about leaving the campground in the evening. However, we had no problem problem departing around 5:00 AM. We went on pre-dawn drives several times and saw almost nothing besides a few Sambar at a watering hole. Our guess is that the unusually cold temperatures (about 10 degrees celsius) resulted in decreased activity. It was substantially warmer in the evening, and driving then may have been more productive.

We also stopped by the water holes below the first campground on a couple afternoons. This was not as productive as we had hoped, but we saw a pair of Crab-eating Mongooses and had very poor views of Gaur just after dusk (this was the first afternoon, and we were reprimanded multiple times by the park guards for staying out after dark).

Spotlighting around the lower campground was very productive. The park staff leave food out behind the restaurant, attracting several species of Civets and Porcupines.

I regret not spending much time around the upper campground, which can yield Tenasserim Langur and Fea's Muntjac.

My photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tremarctos/


1. Northern Treeshrew - common.
2. Dusky Langur - common
3. White-handed Gibbon - commonly heard from the stream crossings up. Seen once.
4. Large Indian Civet - a few seen around the campground, came in occasionally to food behind the restaurant
5. Masked Palm Civet - same as 4
6. Common Palm Civet - same as 4
7. Crab-eating Mongoose - a pair seen at a water hole
8. Leopard -see above
9. Lesser Mouse Deer - one came in to the Lung Sin blind, another was seen at one of the large water holes.
10. Red Muntjac - A few seen along the road and at the water holes. A couple tame individuals frequented the campground.
11. Sambar - common
12. Black Giant Squirrel - a few sightings near the stream crossings
13. Variable Squirrel - very common at the hides.
14. Western Striped Squirrel - a pair at Lung Sin hide, and a few other sightings
15. Indochinese Ground Squirrel - a few seen at the hides
16. Malayan Porcupine - a constant presence behind the restaurant in the evening. Also seen along the road and in the campground.
17. Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine - one walked behind the restaurant on a couple evenings, but did not seem interested in stopping

Mammals seen elsewhere in Thailand:
1. Pallas's Squirrel - Doi Inthanon
2. Red-cheeked Squirrel - Doi Inthanon (behind the buildings at the summit)
3. Yellow-throated Marten - a pair at Doi Lang
4. Chinese Goral - four at the Kiew Mae Pan cliffs at Doi Inthanon. I had hoped to see Serow here, but the (required) guide indicated that they were very rare. A ranger who counts the Goral daily had only seen one a few times.
5. Lyle's Flying Fox - thousands flew overhead at dusk at Laem Pak Bia

I'm going to post my bird sightings in this thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=275883

this is what I saw in seven nights at Kaeng Krachan. I was on foot so didn't get around as much as someone with a car would have (I never visited the waterholes down the road before the lower campsite, for example) so didn't see any of the larger mammals except an elephant. Because of the danger of running into elephants on the road at night I didn't do any spotlighting at the lower campsite except around the camp itself, but even there I came across a big bull elephant in the car park early one morning. Everywhere seemed pretty quiet actually, even amongst the birds during the day. I didn't see any civets around the lower camp at all (although a couple of other people saw large Indian civets there). The brush-tailed porcupines have their home under the second toilet block (not the one nearest the office and restaurant, but the one on the lower section of the camp-ground). There's a big hole in the foundations and if you stick your head and a torch inside you can see the whole underside of the structure. There were at least five porcupines living under there.

At the upper campsite there are no elephants but I only got one night without rain so didn't see anything anyway except what was at the camp (civets and rats). Nobody cared that I was going out at night. Even at the lower campsite the barriers remained up every night so there would have been nothing stopping someone with a car going spotlighting.

I was disappointed not to see crab-eating mongoose which it seems is commonly spotted, or Fea's muntjac. Apparently the leopards which were being very showy about a month or two ago are not being seen now.

Upper campsite area:
Banded Leaf Monkey
Dusky Langur
White-handed Gibbon
Northern Tree Shrew
Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel
Grey-bellied Squirrel
Himalayan Striped Squirrel
Polynesian Rat – they live under the shelter in the campsite
Large Indian Civet – behind the restaurant

Lower campsite area:
Elephant – a bull in the car park at campsite one morning
Crab-eating Macaque – seen low down the access road on the way in
Dusky Langur
White-handed Gibbon
Himalayan Striped Squirrel
Grey-bellied Squirrel
Bicoloured Giant Squirrel
Malayan Crested Porcupine – behind the restaurant
Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine – they live under the lower toilet block
[Large Indian Civet – I didn't see them down here but others did]

Not bad Chlid considering the footwork only. Were the Banded Langur rather pale on the legs etc. I'm still confused by the all dark Langurs which many called Banded yet fit the supposed id of Tenasserim according to some literature but not others. If they are Banded, what are the silver thighed animals that are occasionally seen.
One I filmed recently - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMHZ_pj0UQ