Keang Krachan NP
First and last stops Keang Krachan NP
I guess I don’t need to describe this place those who have been there will know it and those who haven’t can find plenty of information here:
https://www.thainationalparks.com/kaeng-krachan-national-park
So a brief ‘what we did’, first stop: We had planned on 4 nights at Ban Krang and then another 4 at Phanoen Tung. After the first night at Ban Krang which was a Monday we were told that Phanoen Tung was likely to be crowded over the coming weekend and it would be better if we stayed there on weekdays. We took this advice and moved up on the Tuesday morning and moved back down Saturday morning. Our second visit on the way home we spent camped at Ban Krang and I drove up the road from there on 2 mornings.
Although there had been rain before we arrived the place was still very dry in the forest. On the way back in spite of daily showers it seemed even drier with less water in the streams. The place, as do most forests in Thailand, needs some weeks of heavy rain to see it over the winter and the next dry season.
It is 15 kilometers up a one way rough road from Ban Krang to Phanoen Tung that requires 4WD in places, as it is only a single lane road there are set times when you can go up and down. There can be birds seen in many places along this road and sometimes mammals, a couple of places are notable as they often produce birds. At around 9 Kilometers there is a sharp bend to the left round a steep gully here there are usually hornbill both flying and sitting in trees, this is where I got a good view of my first Wreathed Hornbill sitting on a branch up the gully.
About 3.5 Kilometers farther up there is a bird sign and a parking area which is known as the 27.5 KM area, from here an old road runs down to a stream where there are often a lot of birds. There is also a waterhole beside the road which attracts birds to bath and drink in dry weather, it is well worth sitting and waiting for birds to arrive as many species can be seen. There were at the time we were there nests of a pair of Long-tailed Broadbill hanging over the water and these beautiful birds put on a great show perching close to their nest and flying back and forth. I spent quite a bit of time there and added several new species to my collection of photos including Ratchet-tailed Treepie which is only found in Kaeng Krachan.
Around the Panoen Tung campsite there were Mountain Imperial Pigeon and Thick-billed Green Pigeons roosting in tall trees and barbets and bulbul flying around. A pair of Great Hornbill visited one day and on another a troop of Dusky Langur’s.
Our camp was visited in the night by a group of Malayan Porcupines looking for any food that had been left out but we expect this sort of visit and are very careful of food security.
Farther up the road past a lookout spot which is where most of the visitors go to look at the morning mists which hang in the valleys there is a side road on the right going up the hill to the Royal residence where the Royal family stays when they visit the park, there is a lookout shelter on the left of that road at the top of the hill where it is worth sitting and watching both down into the valley and the surrounding trees.
The road carries on up to a lookout and a steep trail to a waterfall. I didn’t go down this trail stopping at a parking area before the road goes steeply down-hill to the start of the trail, There were quite a few birds in the trees there as well as hornbill flying past.
On the way back down the road to Ban Krang there was a pair of Kalij Pheasants with a brood of young foraging on the road, difficult to say how many chicks there were for they were ducking in and out of the roadside vegetation but there may have been as many as 8. We also saw Red Junglefowl Asian paradise Flycatcher, Emerald Dove which are common, and other birds on the road.
Back down at Ban Krang there were Eyebrow Thrush feeding in the camping area and Laced Woodpecker, Yellow-rumped and Taica Flycatchers as well as other birds in the trees beside the stream, along with 3 Giant Black Squirrels. Pied Hornbill flew over on several days and Dusky Langur’s put on a great show of leaping from tree to tree across the road and at times crossing the camping area.
Porcupines turned up most nights at the restaurant looking for food scraps and on a couple of nights on our second visit a Sun Bear which also raided our camp in the night getting hold of an old army mess tin which had a little left over rice in the bottom and destroying the tin in the process of extracting the last grain of rice. I came across an Elephant on the nature trail that goes to the right from the camping area and it walked down the road that night and round our tent.
There was a Silver-breasted Broadbill nest above the road about 60 meters back down the road from the parking area before the start of the single lane road up to Phanoen Tung, the birds were very photogenic taking no notice of the sometimes large group of cameras focused at them nor did they take any notice of vehicles passing directly under the nest but carried on flying back and forth with food for their chicks. I watched for some time and was interested to see that the male was carrying insects and the female fruit.
On the road out from Ban Krang to the checkpoint (15KM) there was a fruiting Fig tree which attracted a large group of Stump-tailed Macaque’s, Great and Pied Hornbill, barbets and bulbul.
A great place and well worth the total of 12 nights we spent there. I will return.
Bird List (photos)
Ban Krang
Asian Fairy Bluebird
Black-capped Kingfisher
Blue-bearded Bee Eater
Bronzed Drongo
Greater-racket-tailed drongo
Crow-billed Drongo
Spangled Drongo
Chinese Pond-heron
Little (Striated) Heron
White-fronted Waterhen
Green –billed Malkoha
Dollarbird
Eyebrow Thrush
Forest wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Great Hornbill
Pied Hornbill
Greater Flameback
Greater Yellownape
Laced Woodpecker
Green-eared Barbet
Grey Peacock Pheasant
Indian Roller
Ochraceous Bulbul
Streak-eared Bulbul
Orange-breasted Trogon
Puff-throated Babbler
Racket-tailed Treepie
Red-wattled Lapwing
Silver-breasted Broadbill
Ticia Flycatcher
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
White-rumped Sharma
Brown Shrike
Banded Broadbill
Black-naped Monarch
Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta
Mammals
Dusky Langur
Stump-tailed Macaque
Malayan Porcupine
Sun Bear
Golden Jackel
Elephant
Common Tree Shrew
Giant Black Squirrel
Squirrel
Common Muntjac
Phanoen Tung
Ashy Bulbul
Flavescent Bulbul
Mountain Bulbul
Ochrceous Bulbul
Ashy Drongo
Bronzed Drongo
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
Chinese Pond Heron
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
Blue-throated Barbet
Great Barbet
Moustached barbet
Eyebrow Simitar Babbler
Buff-breasted Babbler
Emerald Dove
Little Cuckoo Dove
Mountain Imperial Pigeon
Thick-billed Green Pigeon
Great Hornbill
Wreathed Hornbill
Green Magpie
Forest Wagtail
Kalij Pheasant
Little Spiderhunter
Streaked Spiderhunter
Long-tailed Broadbill
Radde’s warbler
Ratchet-tailed Treepie
Red Jungle Fowl
Red-headed Trogon
Speckled Piculet
White-crested Laughingthrush
Asian Paradise Flycatcher