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Thailand in 12 days - itinerary (1 Viewer)

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pluvialis34

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Hi all,

I'm planning for a short 12 days trip to Thailand in late december / early january, this is my first visit in South Asia and I may not have a chance to go back there soon so I'd wish to see as many species as possible without being constantly on a rush. I've no particular target species but the waders at Pak Thale, then I'd like to grasp as much as I can among Thai specialities.

I've basically envisioned 2 strategies, any advice about one of them and how to improve the whole thing?

Strategy 1

Day 1: Pak Thale
Day 2-4: Kaen Krachang
Day 5: fly to Chiang Rai and head to Doi Lang
Day 6: Doi Lang
Day 7: Doi Lang and/or Doi Ang Khang
Day 8: Doi Ang Khang or Doi Chiang Dao
Day 9: fly back to Bangkok and head to Khao Yai
Day 10: Khao Yai
Day 11: Khao Yai
Day 12: backup day for Pak Thale in case of failure on day 1

Strategy 2

Day 1: Pak Thale
Day 2: fly to Chiang Rai early morning and head to Doi Lang
Day 3: Doi Lang
Day 4: Doi Lang and / or Doi Ang Khang
Day 5: fly from Chiang Mai to Krabi and head to Khao Nor Chu Chi
Day 6: Khano Nor Chu Chi
Day 7: Phang Nga area
Day 8: Phang Nga area
Day 9: fly back to Bangkok early morning and head to Kaen Krachang
Day 10: Kaen Krachang
Day 11: Kaen Krachang
Day 12: backup day for Pak Thale in case of failure on day 1

Any advice much appreciated,

Thanks!
 
Recently been to Thailand and can endorse Doi Lang, Pak Thale & Kaen Krachan as excellent places to bird.

From conversations on and around the trip the following may be of use to you.

Could be worth making one of your visits to Pak Thale at the weekend, as there seem to be more folk out looking for waders and most people seemed quite happy about sharing gen.

Khao Yai seemed to be widely considered nowhere near as good as it used to be, so a visit there might be as good a use of your time as it might appear from trip reports from just a few years back.

Doi Inthanon was a real highlight of our trip, worth spending a day there, including scouring the boardwalk round the swamp for the highland specialities you get there (Dark-sided Thrush, White-browed Shortwing etc), and checking behind the cafe for Rufous-throated Partridge.

Of course these are just the musings of a Thailand novice; there are far more experienced SE Asia birders who will no doubt be along with advice at some point. I'll finish by saying it was an exceptional country for travelling and birding, I loved it, and I hope you have a great trip and love it too.

All the best, and I look forward to reading about it here when you get back!

James
 
Pak Thale - currently holds 3 spooners. I would spend two days there together, rather than one at the start and one at the end, to save yourself the journey twice. If you are driving yourself you might want to consider dropping in to look for raptors at Nong Plaa Lai which is not too far away.

Khao Yai - still has the key birds, but is over run with tourists, so avoid weekends and anytime around Christmas/new year. There are also stupid rules about entering the trails, but you can score the birds on the roads. Watch out for elephants - they have learned that hire cars make excellent skateboards!

Kaeng Krachan - avoid weekends/holidays if possible. Beware of elephants. Pretty fair chance of leopard in late Dec-Feb. But the birding is better later in March-May, so depends what you want to see.

Doi Lang is great and the only people you will run into are birders! Doi Chiang Dao is also good but perhaps easier to connect with the targets on Doi Lang (Fang side).

In the south - not sure I would prioritize KNC anymore!
 
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I second that your itinerary should NOT include Kaeng Krachan nor Khao Yai on Friday afternoon or during weekend. Lots of people and cars scare the birds. Pak Thale is fine on the weekend as birds are on salt pans and not scared. This and flight times are the only factors.
 
I feel your schedule is too tight. I would either skip Khao Yai or Kaeng Krachan, or I would skip the North.
I also recommend renting a car.

My schedule (having experience with a 14-day trip in January 2014) would be:

Day 1: Pak Thale + Laem Pak Bia + mid afternoon towards Kaeng Krachan. night in lower Kaeng Krachan campsite, try to see White-fronted Scops + Oriental Bay Owl around the campsite.
Day 2: 3 streams area Kaeng Krachan + check lower entrance road at dusk for Leopard.
Day 3: Higher elevations Kaeng Krachan all day.
Day 4: Morning start at lower elevations + bird for flocks on the way up again. Night in Baan Song Nok if no nightbirds needed
Day 5: back-up for SBS if needed, if not, bird hide outside the park arranged through Baan Song Nok. Short stop for raptors at Nong Plaa Lai, Short stop for Limestone Wren-babbler at Wat Phra Phutthabat Noi. End up at the entrance road for Khao Yai. Sleep in a hotel outside the park.
Day 6: Enter Khao Yai. Bird B-trail all day. Camp at Pa Gluay Mai campsite.
Day 7: Bird around Pa Gluay Mai campsite.
Day 8: Bird B-trail + loop trail + evening at open area with watchtower. camp at Pa Gluay Mai campsite
Day 9: Bird km33. Get out of the park. Drive to Mae Wong. Night at upper camp site.
Day 10: Birding Mae Wong
Day 11: Birding Mae Wong, optionally, visit Bueng Boraphet on the way back to Bangkok.
Day 12: spare day for either Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai or Mae Wong.
 
Note also that your choice of sites will dictate your choice of rental car: Kaeng Krachan probably needs a high-clearance vehicle if going to the upper camp site. Doi Chang Dao and Doi Lang (east side) definitely need high clearance.

Pak Thale, Khao Yai, Doi Lang (West side), Doi Ang Khang, and Mae Wong can all be done in a "normal" car.

Winter tends to be a time of the year when local and visiting birders focus on the northern part of the country (ie less so on the peninsular). The peninsular is typically better in the wet season (April-Oct).
 
The North is definitely a good place to be in December, but I would either do it well and do e.g. Doi Lang + Doi Inthanon + Mae Wong + golden Triangle, or skip it all the way and do the parks closer to Bangkok to avoid internal flights and have a good first introduction to Thai birding.

Most people go to the North to see some birds that are sometimes quite easy to see in e.g. NE India and Yunnan, so I wouldn't recommend going there on your first SE Asia trip if you only have 12 days. If you would have 20 days, yes.
 
temmie said:
Most people go to the North to see some birds that are sometimes quite easy to see in e.g. NE India and Yunnan, so I wouldn't recommend going there on your first SE Asia trip if you only have 12 days. If you would have 20 days, yes.
Click to expand...

The above is very true and lot of people waste valuable time searching for Thai rarities which are common elsewhere so don't bother looking for tough birds like Ratchet-tailed Treepie and Limestone Wren babbler.

Get them far more easily on a trip to e.g Vietnam.

Andy
 
But you aren't wasting time for Limestone Wren Babbler if it's on the way to Khao Yai, and you can find it within 5 minutes. Same for Ratchet-tailed Treepie, which should be a by-catch while scanning flocks with e.g. Collared babblers up in Kaeng Krachan. I had them at a site where Rufous-browed Flycatcher was singing in the bushes and a White-browed Piculet was showing territorial behavior, while Black Bazas where flying overhead.
Those are all birds that should not be real Thai targets, but while you are there...keep an eye out.

My point is that in general, you can't decently clean up on both central + north in 12 days.
 
temmie said:
But you aren't wasting time for Limestone Wren Babbler if it's on the way to Khao Yai, and you can find it within 5 minutes. Same for Ratchet-tailed Treepie, which should be a by-catch while scanning
.
Click to expand...

Things have changes since I looked for them then!!! Nine out of ten didn't get either of them.

Andy
 
A part of Mae Wong I like that is rarely visited is the Mae Wong River, houses for rent there and lots of woodpeckers (I have recorded 7 species) and laughing thrush on the road up the river with green pea fowl around the camping area.

Another favorite is Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary which is close to Wae Wong, again woodpeckers galore and laughing thrush up the Home of the Tiger Trail, hornbill around the HQ area, deer around the camping area and up the trail, wild pigs and monkeys can be a pest raiding camps. Banteng, green peafowl and sometimes elephants from watchtowers as well as the chance of other mammals
 
andyadcock said:
Nine out of ten didn't get either of them.

Andy
Click to expand...

Guess I was lucky with those 2! At least the Wren-babbler didn't seem to be hard: go to the rock, play tape, see the bird, take a picture of the temple, done!
The Treepie took a bit more effort but I guess I spent around 1-2 hours searching for it (while searching for a bunch of other birds that were new to me)
 
Actually I dipped the wren-babbler. But it might be better site on weekend than Khao Yai, when people were shouting from daybreak to dusk next to the Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo site.
 
Hi all,

Thanks a lot for all this, I'm gonna consider every advice and try to optimize my trip with it... I tend to give up with Kao Yai due to high risks of crowds - will dip the Wren-Babbler but I won't make my trip upon 1 single species.

A few weeks left to prepare this trip so if you have further comments that's still worth it :)

Will feedback on this trip through cloudbirders of course.
 
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