Khao Sok
Khao Sok National Park; Evergreen Rainforest Often Said To Be Older Than The Amazon; The Cheow Lan (Ratchaprapha) Reservoir · Phanom, Surat Thani
Khao Sok National Park protects a block of evergreen rainforest and limestone mountains in the west of Surat Thani province, midway between the Gulf coast and the Andaman beaches of Khao Lak and Phuket. The forest is often described as older than the Amazon, a loose claim that reflects how long this part of the peninsula has stayed wet and wooded. Most visitors stay in Khlong Sok village at the park entrance, among jungle bungalows along the Sok river, and walk the trails from the headquarters to waterfalls and pools, float the river on tubes or canoes and join night walks to spot frogs, snakes and insects. The other half of the park is Cheow Lan lake, a reservoir created by the Ratchaprapha dam in the 1980s, where longtail boats run from the dam pier between sheer karst towers to floating raft-house bungalows. From the lake, guided treks reach caves such as Nam Talu, which floods in heavy rain. Gibbons call at dawn, hornbills cross the valleys, and in season the giant rafflesia flower blooms. The drier months are roughly January to April.
Khao Sok National Park HQ, Khlong Sok, Phanom, Phanom, Surat Thani, 84250, Thailand
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the park HQ gate and visitor centre in Khlong Sok open from about 8 am to 4 or 5 pm daily with no closing day, and rangers have not let walkers start longer trails after about mid-afternoon, so the last realistic entry for the waterfalls is around 1 or 2 pm. At the dam pier boats leave from early morning, around 7 or 8 am, and day trips head back by about 3 or 4 pm. Nam Talu cave closes whenever rain makes it unsafe, which is most of the wet season. The traps that ruin a day are arriving at the dam at midday and seeing the lake in its dullest light, the cave closed by rain after you paid for it, running out of cash where there is no ATM, and a dead phone on a raft with no power until evening. Confirm current times before relying on them.