Located around 100 kilometers from Kanchanaburi, Sai Yok National Park is a lovely place full of waterfalls, caves, and wildlife. It is a great day trip option if you’re staying in the city. The park is very mountainous and much of it is coated in dense forest, which hides such a rich array of fauna and flora. A very popular place to visit, the Kwai River runs through it and there are loads of great trails that twist their way through the forest. With Sai Yok Yai waterfall and the huge Tham Lawa cave on offer, this national park will delight nature lovers with all the amazing scenery.
Wildlife
Mammal species found in the park include elephant, gibbon, macaque species, Malayan porcupine, slow loris, serow, barking deer, sambar deer, wild boar and many more. There may also be a smaller tiger population in the park.
There are two mammal species in Thailand argued to be the world’s smallest ones. One of them is a rare species of a bat called Kitti’s hog-nosed bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), it can be found in a limestone cave on a convenient walking distance from the visitor centre in Sai Yok. It is named after Kitti Thonglongya who found it for first time in 1973. These bats are weighing around 2 grams, have 2.5-3 cm body length and up to 10 cm wing-span.
Another quite unique and interesting species found in the park is a colorful queen crab (translated from Thai Poo Rachinee) species in red, white and blue. It was discovered in 1983.
Chances to see some of the interesting animals around the visitor centre area is quite rare because the area is quite commercialised. Water monitors and barking deer are the only interesting animals that can be seen along the river with a bit of luck. Most of the interesting animals hold to more remote areas along the border to Myanmar.
