Khao Sok National Park is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world and is a truly unique place to visit in southern Thailand. There are two parts of the park. The jungle is easily accessible by vehicle and is good for hiking, wildlife spotting, and kayaking. Cheow Lan Lake is a more remote destination that typically requires visiting with a guide, often as part of a stay in one of the floating bungalows. Khao Sok is best accessed from Krabi or Phuket – it is about a 2.5 hour drive from either city.
Picking a Tour Company
I did a lot of online research and found numerous tour companies that have packages offering both lodging in the jungle and an overnight floating bungalow option on Cheow Lan Lake. After refining our itinerary, we’d decided we wanted to stay one night in the jungle and one night on Cheow Lan Lake.
I came across Our Jungle House, which has unique treehouses and bungalows tucked into the dense rainforest. The property has limestone cliffs and a river running through it. They also offer several packages and jungle activities you can add on.
Getting There
We flew into Krabi and made a detour to Sametnangshe Boutique Hotel for a night. This detour added about two hours of driving, which was completely worth it in my opinion. From Sametnangshe, we had a 2.5 hour drive to Khao Sok. The roads were all in great shape and we had no issues driving. There weren’t really any quick eating options along the way, so we stopped at a 7-Eleven to grab some sandwiches for the drive. The drive is pretty, and it starts to feel more jungle-y as you approach the park.
Our Jungle House also offers private transfers to Khao Sok from Krabi, Phuket, Surat Thani, Phang Nga, and Khao Lak if you are not comfortable driving.
Itinerary
This is not quite the itinerary we did, but our itinerary felt very rushed, and Mike was sick so we had to rearrange our plans a bit. This is what I would recommend based on what we ended up doing!
Day 1
Elephant Experience
Our Jungle House has an activity called the Elephant Experience you can add on. A driver picked us up from Our Jungle House in a songthaew (a converted pickup truck with benches in the back) at 3pm to take us to Khao Sok Elephant Conservation Centre. Khao Sok is home to about 200 wild elephants, but it is rare to actually see them. If you want to see and interact with elephants, an ethical sanctuary is a good way to go.
Our experience lasted about two hours. It started with a guide giving us a background on elephants in Thailand and their sanctuary. There are many domesticated elephants in Thailand, and ethical sanctuaries rescue some of these elephants from owners who can no longer take care of them or non-ethical camps where they were mistreated. After the learning experience, we got to make food for the elephants and feed them. We were in a group of about 15 people interacting with three elephants.
Next, we walked with the elephants to a different part of the property where we watched the elephants give themselves a mud bath. Elephants cover themselves in mud to help cool down. They gave us the option to get in the mud with them and help rub them down if we wanted.
The best part of the experience was getting in the river with the elephants. The elephants really seemed to love getting in the water and we could get in and help splash them and get the mud off.
At the end of the experience, the guides gave us some snacks and drinks while we waited on our driver from Our Jungle House to pick us up. What a great experience!
Stay in a Treehouse
When we arrived back at Our Jungle House, we checked in and found our treehouse. There were a couple of mischievous monkeys in the reception area that were digging in peoples’ unattended bags looking for snacks.
The treehouses are located mostly along the river, which is a little bit of a walk from the reception area. Fortunately, since the treehouses are literally up in the trees, the staff helps bring your bags up the steep steps to your house.
We were greeted by a ton of monkeys on our porch. Staff had warned us to keep our doors and windows closed and locked or the monkeys would find their way in and trash the place! The treehouses do not have air conditioning, but the temperature dropped quite a bit overnight and there was a large fan to cool the space down. The treehouse was also open air, so bugs were able to get in and out, but there is a net you can put over the bed. I would describe this as a glamping experience. Each treehouse has its own bathroom with a shower.
That evening, we had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. The pad Thai was really good!
Day 2
Breakfast
If you want breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, make sure to order it the night before. We both got the American breakfast and it was good! I also got an iced Thai tea, which was becoming one of my favorite drinks.
Canoe through the Rainforest
Our next activity was canoeing through the rainforest. Our driver met us at the reception area and drove us for about 15 minutes, picking up our river guide along the way. The guide sat in the back of the canoe and did all the paddling, so Mike and I just got to enjoy the views. This was one of my favorite activities of the trip! About two minutes into the paddle, we saw several monkeys playing along the shore. The guide said he doesn’t always see monkeys, so we got lucky.
As we went farther, the views of the limestone cliffs got better and better. We saw several frogs and birds along the way. We stopped near the end of the trip and another canoe guide with two other guests caught up with us. Everyone got out of the river and they made a fire and heated up some water in bamboo and proceeded to make us coffee and tea. We really loved this whole experience!
Have Lunch in Khao Sok Town
Before you head out of town, stop for lunch at Family Thai Food. We both enjoyed our food here!
Drive to Cheow Lan Lake
We were originally planning on doing the overnight trip to the lake with Our Jungle House. However, Mike was still really sick, so we changed the trip up a bit. We cancelled our overnight experience and drove to the town closest to the lake in Surat Thani. I found an affordable hotel called Takhun Mountain View Hotel. The rooms were a good size, they had AC, and a nice pool. The beds were hard as a rock, but we were so tired that we still slept well.
Dinner at Chef Ja
We found a nice restaurant nearby. I got the pizza, which was actually pretty good, and Mike got pasta. We really liked the vibe of the restaurant and the waitress was very nice. We went to bed early that night as Mike wasn’t feeling well and I had an early morning.
Day 3
Tour of Cheow Lan Lake
I ended up booking a private sunrise tour of the Cheow Lan Lake. I had come all this way and didn’t want to miss out on seeing this beautiful lake. The tour was through Get Your Guide. I drove 20 minutes to the Cheow Lan Pier, which was the meeting spot for the tour. I arrived just before 5:45am. You generally have to pay for parking, but there was no one around, so I got away with not having to pay.
The organizer found me waiting and showed me where my driver was. We took off just before 6am, while it was still pitch black. It was almost a little eerie being by myself on a boat in the dark, but the sun started to rise shortly after, and it was an incredible experience. The driver was local and didn’t speak any English, but he was very nice.
He took me to several beautiful stops and took my picture each time without me having to ask. The lake is insanely gorgeous. It’s actually manmade and was created in the 1980s when a dam flooded the valley, leaving behind hundreds of limestone peaks rising out of the water. The sunrise trip was extremely peaceful, and we only saw a handful of other boats out and about.
We stopped at a cave, and my driver took me through, pointing out where some bats were sleeping! It wasn’t scary at all, and only took about five minutes to walk through.
Next, we stopped at some floating bungalows, where we got out, and I was able to use the restroom and had the option to buy breakfast. I got the impression we could stay however long I wanted. Since I was alone, I didn’t really want to stay long. I told the guide I was ready, and we headed back. The total tour was about four hours, so I got back to my car around 10am. Then we still had the whole day!
Stop at Viewpoint of Cheow Lan Lake
There is a viewpoint of the lake right before you get to Rajjaprabha Dam that is worth a stop on your way out. The pink flowers were in full bloom while I was there and were gorgeous!
We’d be heading to Krabi from there and spending our last few days in Thailand at the beach.
You may also be interested in:
Discover more from Young Wayfarer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
