Thailand, pt. 1 – Nam Nao
Mar 15th, 2008 by andrew skeoch
We were anticipating tropical heat on this trip, but the dry Australian summer has not prepared us for the humidity here. Yesterday we sat at lunch with a British expat who was eating an ice cream and perspiring as much as we were. Having finished, he used his ice-cream stick, window-wiper style, to scrape the moisture from his forehead and cheeks. It was done without any self-consciousness or irony, just a practical response to the oppressive heat. Welcome to the Thai summer.
To be honest, we’ve had an easy acclimatisation. The past week has been spent at Nam Nao National Park in the northern mountains, and the weather has been quite moderate, even cool in the early mornings.
We were expecting open forest at Nam Nao, as the park is famous for its unique pine forest and grassland areas. However we’ve actually found ourselves recording in dense evergreen forest most of the time, partly because they are the most accessible from where we’ve been staying (in a rather cute little bungalow).
Each morning we’ve been able to get up in the early morning cool and walk into the forest. The birdsong has been wonderful, heaps of barbets calling continually, and some lovely songbirds such as laughing thrushes, flycatchers and robins. But the highlights have been the mammals.
On every trailhead, the Thai parks service has erected signs: ‘CUATION elephants’, and frequent grapefruit-sized pooballs on the trailside have been a warning of their presence. So we have been walking with our ears out on stalks, both in anticipation and cautious awareness. We’ve seen much evidence of their presence; broken stands of bamboo, paths through the forest, and those trailside deposits. But it was only on the last morning that we heard and recorded them calling in the far distance.
So a mixed blessing, but as compensation, we have heard our first gibbons! Their beautiful calls were something we were looking forward to hearing on this trip. Sarah describes them as sounding like singing saws; a plaintive, wild whooping that rises and falls, carrying for kilometers through the forest. We have several lovely recordings of them calling antiphonally from one patch of forest to another.
The giant squirrels here have also been wonderful; similar to the red ones we know from India, the Thai species has a white head and speed stripe against black. They are equally adept at charging around the tree crowns, occasionally calling with a loud machine-gun sputtering.
After a successful first week, this weekend we are having some time off at Rainforest Resort. Sarah has just had a pummelling Thai massage; brutally pleasant!
From here we shall be hiring a car and heading to nearby Thung Salaeng Lung National Park, and then west to Mae Wong on the Myanmar (Burmese) border. The latter is a remote wilderness area, with the highest population of wild tigers outside India. We may just catch a glimpse of one!
You poor things. It’s not exactly cool here either, you know. 40 degrees the last few days, but rain on the way by the looks. Have fun!
Hi Sarah and Andrew,
You’re both so courageous! dealing with tropical humidity as well as loud and wonderfully strange animal sounds through dense jungle, not to mention wild elephants and tigers!! We’re off to Bali ourselves tomorrow for a relaxing 13 days snorkelling, swimming and sightseeing ….. thanks so much for all those travel tips you’ve been marvellously helpful. Will catch up with you when we return,
missing you both,
love Catherine and Mischa.
Hello there Andrew and Sarah,
It’s me Chris (the Thai guy you met at Kaeng Krachan National Park..Remember? The Graphic and Produce Designer?…LOL)
I like your website and works…it’s easy to use!
How are you guys now? I’m planning to visit Cambodia (Angkor Wat this May).
Have a good day,
Chris Mont.
Oh my goodness, this is brilliant!