Hiking in Khao Sok National Park

With macaques en masse

Two minivan rides and an overnight train later, we checked into our rustic bungalow at Khao Sok Palmview Resort. Spread out over a large property nestled just outside the park perimeter, Palmview features a lovely outdoor restaurant with a German Shepherd mascot named Kho (like ‘Coca Cola, as the innkeeper noted). We enjoyed setting up a mosquito net in our room for the first time, and felt close to nature with the surprise bathroom ant invasion our first evening. At $15 a night, we would stay here again.

After enjoying some hydrating fresh fruit smoothies and lunch at the hotel, we threw on our hiking clothes and headed towards the park.

If you’ve been to Thailand in recent years, you’ll know that every natural attraction has an admission fee attached to it, and that fee is often doubled, tripled, or quadrupled for foreigners. Guides are either highly encouraged or mandatory for exploring many of Thailand’s national parks - which thereby employs more locals, and increases safety for park visitors. Our personal impression, however, is that guides are more often than not unnecessary, and a waste of money for a backpacker budget such as ours. As a result, we’ve been doing our due diligence to avoid guide fees.

Khao Sok National Park encompasses 285 acres of jungle, whose remnants are older and more diverse than the Amazon rainforest. This wilderness is home to more than 5% of the world’s species, including Asian elephants, gibbons, tigers boars, king cobras, along with numerous waterfalls, and not least of all, the coveted rafflesia (corpse flower, aptly named for its rotting flesh smell), winning the award for the world’s biggest bloom. A 1-day pass for foreigners set us back 300 baht. There is a compact trail map upon arrival in the park, stating that attractions beyond the 3KM mark should be walked with a guide. We did not heed this warning, and lived to tell the tale!

The ‘open’ 3K nature walk is a little hilly but highly trafficked with a wide, smooth dirt path. You’re likely to see packs of Lopburi monkeys (macaques) in the morning and late afternoon; they are comfortable with tourists and will walk right in front of you. Admiring a baby monkey clumsily foraging for berries under the watchful eye of its stoic mother, perched atop a park sign, was a highlight of our hike. Steven even got a little spooked when the baby monkey sprinted across the path to venture up a different tree, getting a bit too close for comfort! Later on, we spotted a pack of ~30 monkeys grooming, eating, and playing near the trail.

The end of the 3KM unguided trail also features a small jungle café, and a booth to hire a guide for longer treks. The signage implies that you must hire a guide, but you do not need to.

If you do decide to continue on unguided, we would recommend downloading some combination of AllTrails, Gaia, and Maps.Me (which works offline). The trails are much narrower, overgrown, and not clearly marked.

Made a friend on the trail!

After our hike, we grabbed dinner at “Family Restaurant You are My Family” which quickly became our go-to in Khao Sok. Expect gigantic portions and bold flavors. Family is also BYOB – Tiger beers certainly helped cool us down post-chili bomb.