Khaosok Jungle Exploration from Khaolak

It was a fantastic day because it was quiet, having a private tour all day. Our guide Nine showed us so much and told us about everything. He knew all the good spots to spot animals and can tell a lot about the animals and plants in the jungle. Continued to enjoy a nice lunch in a local restaurant and continued the tour to the bamboo rafting, also really enjoyed the view here. And concluded with the monkey temple. The day was really fantastic. Recommendation!

+5

A fantastic all day tour from start to finish. Our guide, Nine elevated the experience because of his enthusiasm and knowledge. Lunch was provided by a local restaurant. It was delicious. We would highly recommend this tour.

We went on the Khaosok Lake full day trip with Mr.Ratchanon Henghasoon. From the start it was absolutely superb. He tailored every aspect of the trip to our needs and wishes. This included driving smoothly and sensitively for one member of the group who sometimes has travel sickness. He was highly informative about the rain forest plants, wildlife and Thai culture. Friendly throughout, he was unfailingly polite and always ready to provide us with water or ponchos at exactly the right moment. We had a long, full day out which could not have been bettered!

We were picked up from our hotel in Khao Lak as a family of 4 (2 boys 6/9) and did the full day excursion. Forest trek, bamboo rafting and monkey temple. Also stopped at a viewpoint and waterfall (wet season only). Pick up at 7.45 and an hour to the Khao Sok national park, we were greeted by gibbons in the trees! Rare to see so we were very happy. Then saw the other 2 types of monkeys wild in the woods. Lots of insects, tarantulas, black scorpions, caterpillars etc. (don’t worry you go to them so easy to stay clear if you don’t like them!). The trail is undulating and was fine for our 2 boys. Lots of paths next to the river which are very secluded, quiet and with stunning views through the forest. It’s a 3k hike out then the same back (longer than it sounds with heat/ humidity and stopping for animal sightings etc). Then onto a delicious lunch (included) and bamboo rafting which was actually our second time (Khao Lak before) and was a great experience past the cliffs and mountains. The monkey temple allows you to see lots of wild monkeys that jump in off the telegraph poles running alongside a temple, to feed and say hello. They are not captive/ circus type monkeys that some places would put in front of tourists. This was the real deal. Tony was brilliant as our guide and I’d recommend this to anyone- enjoy!

+5

A great personal day out with our guide Tony. We were a 4 person family with the tour just for us on this occasion. Tony took us to a local market, lovely waterfall, viewpoint lookout, monkey temple, a delicious lunch, canoeing down a river, and our family favourite, feeding and bathing elephants. We've now done elephant encounters 4 times, and this was the most authentic and rural style. Other organisations obviously need to cater for large groups with the elephant encounters, but on this occasion we were the only ones there. We walked down to the river with the elephant, and then straight into the river with her. She was vey happy to lay while we washed her, and scrubbed her, but she was also happy to splash some water around too. Finally, a bit of feeding at the end and then the walk back from the river. A terrific day out, thank you Tony!

+4

Our guide was very kind and told us a lot about the area as we drove; and educated us so much on the flora and fauna of the rainforest. However, this is a super long day, trekking 5 miles over 4 hours in 105-degree heat with 95% humidity. The description doesn’t mention that you’ll be taking a moderately challenging trail with lots of ups and downs and some detours that involve scrambling up inclines, which is tough when it’s that hot. This is not a casual, mellow, 2-hour animal-spotting amble. It’s long, finishing at the hottest part of the day, and you need to be relatively fit. There was no waterfall swim (something again that they did not tell us) due to low water levels, so we wore swimsuits for nothing (very uncomfortable) and there was no cool-down. BUT we saw a lemur, some macaques, areas where elephants had trampled through, loads of lizards, some snakes, various insects including scorpions and tarantulas sleeping in their holes, etc. And the scenery is beautiful. Lunch was great and in a pretty setting. Open air but we had some AC on the ride there to recover a little from the trek. Soup, two different kinds of stir fry, fried chicken, rice and watermelon. The bamboo rafting was an hour and through breathtaking scenery on the river— water levels very low but still possible to make the journey. There isn’t much shade so this is again very hot— a hat is a must. At the end just before getting back to the van we stopped and they made tea and coffee in a bamboo cup that we got to keep, that was very cool. Then on the way back we stopped at the monkey temple (lots of adorable macaques, 10 minutes but we could have stayed longer had we wanted to) and a viewpoint with mountain valley views (quick photo opp). All in all a worthwhile trip but the trek portion wasn’t adequately described as being as challenging as it was, and that level of exercise in the heat made the rest of the day feel like a little bit of a slog. We slept well, that’s for sure. One other thing, it’s advertised as starting pickups at 8 am, but they told us the day before that it would be 7 am instead. We got back to the hotel at 5:30, so it was a 9.5-hour day in all.

We had a brilliant day exploring Khoa Sok national park with Toni. Beginning with a 3 hour jungle walk we saw many different types of lizards, tarantulas, scorpion, birds, funnel web spider and a delightful otter family. Toni was brilliant at spotting wildlife which we would have never noticed on our own. Our children are aged 9 & 11 and he made a real effort to create an exciting route for us through the jungle which kept them engaged and excited despite it being very hot April weather. After a very pleasant lunch we thoroughly enjoyed the monkey temple where Toni guided us in to a temple cave where we were able to see roosting bats. Our day finished with a raft ride along the river where we were able to see monkeys taking a swim and culminated in a great cup of coffee heated in bamboo. A really great trip ideal for families.

+4

The excursion was perfect from start to finish! Our guide Tony had a lynx eye and was in the care. Lunch was delicious.

Extraordinary day thanks to our guide Tony who introduced us to the jungle and its inhabitants! Everything was perfect! Very warm welcome, very clean and comfortable van, kindness of Tony with small touches very nice, excellent and hearty meal in nice surroundings and very clean. I recommend +++

+2

It was a wonderful day. We saw a lot and learned a lot, our guide and our driver were great. Thank you for letting us experience this