Thai National Parks

Tour operator's response – Thanks Christine!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Arnout!

Great to hear our guide delivered a great service... again ;-) We are very happy to have him in our team.

Tour operator's response – Dear Jia,

Thank you for your feedback. We indeed often recommend people to spent more than just one day, as the park really deserves more time to fully appreciate the beauty. But still, visiting for one day is better than not visiting at all ;-)

We hope to see you again!

Tour operator's response – Hi Luh, Thank you so much for your feedback, I am so pleased to hear that you had a good trip with us, I will make sure to pass this message to Tik. I wish you all the best! Best Regards Steffen

Tour operator's response – Thanks Pablo! Hope to see you again

Tour operator's response – Thank you very much Martyn for the kind words. Much appreciated!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Ernest The animals do not show easily every day ;-) Some days it all comes easy, other days we need to put a lot of effort in it and still the results are not as high as hoped for. That's how nature works. But glad to hear that despite that, you still enjoyed your visit. Thank you for your review.

Tour operator's response – Thanks Kattika for the kind words. And glad to see you as a local visiting the park and enjoying & appreciating nature. Thanks for joining our tour!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Lilian for your kind feedback. Good to hear you had a nice day, even if you were unlucky with the elephants. As mentioned in the correspondence prior the booking, for higher chances of elephant sightings Kui Buri national park is the better choice. But Khao Yai offers more diversity, and as you have noticed even though not guaranteed, elephant sightings are not uncommon there. But it depends on the luck of the day... Thanks for booking with us!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Davide for your kind words. You are always welcome to spent a few more days ;-)

Tour operator's response – Thanks for your kind words!

Tour operator's response – Thank you for your extensive review. Glad to hear you had a good day. As you correctly point out about the open-backed pick up trucks that we usually use for the safaris, the quality of wildlife watching and enjoyment of the scenery increases with this type of vehicle. Which more than makes up for the slightly lower level of comfort. It's a jungle safari, not a city trip ;-) That's the reason why we not make use of a/c minivans for the tours itself. Believe me, you do not want to be trapped in a minivan when the luck is on your side that some elephants show up on the road, but park regulations would not allow you to get out of the vehicle. It would mean you hardly get to see anything, nor be able to photograph the animals. That's when you really wish to be in one of the open-backed pick up trucks with 360 degrees of clear view ;-)
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Tour operator's response – Thanks Gabriele! Sounds like you got to see a good selection of wildlife. Thanks for booking our tour.

Tour operator's response – Thanks for your review, Benno! Glad to hear the guide showed you the animals you would likely not have found if visiting by yourself. That's what guides are for ;-) You are always welcome to return.

Tour operator's response – Thanks Joana for sharing your experience!

Tour operator's response – Dear Michelle, Thank you for your kind comments. Good to hear you had a nice day!

Tour operator's response – Thanks for your kind words, Jasmine! Sounds like you had an unforgettable trip. You are always welcome to return ;-)

Tour operator's response – Dear Katia, Thank you for the kind feedback. Great our guide even tried to do his best to make it enjoyable for the child. Enjoy your travels!

Tour operator's response – Dear Boon Huat Koh, Thank you for your review. Your comments give us a good opportunity to explain future guests how wildlife watching in the dense jungles works and what can be expected, or better, what you should not expect ;-) We talked with our guide and sounds like you got to see all the animals shown on the tour package page (not that we have ever guaranteed these, because we simply can not!), but not sure what gave you the higher expectations on which you say we need to improve. On a wildlife tour you never know what you will see. It is not a zoo where one can guarantee what will be seen. That's why it is exciting and fun. But we also know that especially for people with not much experience in the jungles, it is hard to know what to expect. Even though we consider the Thai jungles to be some of the most exciting places in the world for wildlife watching, it is at the same time one of the hardest environments for wildlife watching. The only thing we can really guarantee are trees ;-) And it are often those trees that hide the wildlife from sight. An elephant can be less than 10m away but totally hidden from view in these dense jungles. The images on the website are taken in the park, and are therefore not misleading, but are an example of what can be seen in the park. On every tour our guests get to see various types of wild animals ranging from mammals to birds and reptiles. You will never know what will be seen today, but there has never been a day that nothing has been sighted. As mentioned in the correspondence, the iconic species of the park - the Asian Elephant - is certainly no guarantee. Kui Buri national park offers a much better chance for wild elephants. However that does not mean they are uncommon in Khao Yai. It's just that they are not sighted every day. And even if they are seen by others, that does not mean you have the same luck. The park is huge, we can not be everywhere at the same time. So in the end you have been very fortunate with your elephant sighting. We have done 4-day tours in the park without seeing a single elephant. And I can assure that this certainly has nothing to do with a lack of spotting skills or experience of the guide ;-) As you noticed, our guides are very knowledgable and are almost daily in the park. We have carefully selected our guides, one of the first important skills besides their personal passion for wildlife is the skilled eye to spot animals. They know the place like no other and will go out of their way to help you see as much diversity as possible. But they can only do so much. If the animals do not want to be seen, there is nothing more we can do. That's as simple as it is. It's still for a large part the luck of the day (and night). The same counts for the night safari. We've seen amazing creatures on these night safaris, but not every night is the same. Sadly, this particular activity is controlled by the park staff, we have very little influence on the quality. The route is fixed and the park staff drive the car and usually operate the spotlight. We can not choose which driver we get. There have been plenty of moments where we would have loved to be behind the wheel and spotlight ourself to increase the quality. But the rules do not allow us to do so. You may ask, why would we still offer it if we have no control and are not always happy with how it is operated? The answer is simple. Even on night drives with a driver going a tad too fast for our liking, or with a less-skilled spotlighting assistant we have still managed to see interesting animals that would not be seen in daytime. It's a rare glimpse in the nocturnal wildlife of the park. Surely not every night safari is fruitful, but if we would have to cut out every activity from our itineraries that occasionally has no success in spotting any wildlife, it would mean we could quit offering any of the tour activities, haha. Sometimes we see nothing on a hike, or nothing on a daytime safari drive, or nothing near the falls, or nothing on a night drive. The next day the some of the same activities might be very successful. Time is the key to success. That's why we recommend at least 2 days in the park. Like in your case, you would not have seen the elephant or crocodile if you'd only done a 1-day trip. Hopefully next time you will have a better idea of what to expect from a jungle tour ;-)

Tour operator's response – Thanks Monika for joining our tour ;-)

Tour operator's response – Dear Karen, Thank you for your great review. Sounds like you indeed had a great trip. Even a Banteng sighting, that's rare. Only a few individuals are known to occur in the park and these are not frequently encountered. Thank you for taking the time to sent this extensive review!

Tour operator's response – Always great to hear that our tours have turned out to be the highlight of the holiday ;-) Thanks for taking the time to write to us!

Tour operator's response – Thanks, Kris!

Tour operator's response – Thank you! You are always welcome to return ;-)

Tour operator's response – Thank you for your great review! Next time you are welcome to try one of our multi-day packages ;-)

Tour operator's response – Thank you for your review. Glad to hear you had a good trip despite the weather.

Tour operator's response – Elephants are not uncommon in Khao Yai either, quite a few of our guests get lucky, but they are not seen on a daily basis. Even several days could go by without any elephant sightings. So we also have enough guests that never get to see one.

Tour operator's response – Thanks for your feedback! You are more than welcome to return. ;-) And a tip! If you are interested in wild elephants, perhaps you could try Kui Buri national park on your next trip. As we mentioned in the correspondence prior booking, Kui Buri offers a much higher chance for elephants than Khao Yai. Nothing is guaranteed in nature when it comes to wildlife, but so far I remember only one group that booked with us that was unlucky in Kui Buri. On all other afternoon safaris and overnight trips elephants were sighted.

Tour operator's response – Thanks Matan for your review. Good to hear you enjoyed your trip with us!

Tour operator's response – We're happy to read your positive review. That's what we are doing it for, to make the guests have a great time. You are always welcome to return ;-)

Tour operator's response – Thanks Laura for your kind words!

Tour operator's response – Thanks for your kind words!

Tour operator's response – Dear Chanda, Thank you for taking the time to sent us your review. And great to hear our guides did their 'job' well ;-) The passion for the nature and wildlife is the first and most important quality we look for in a guide. The guests will feel that, and it is 'contagious' ;-) Thanks for booking with us!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Cindy!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Ralph Paul for your kind words. Glad to hear you had a lovely day!

Tour operator's response – Thanks Pascaline! Sounds like our guide did a great job again (as always ;-) ). If you ever return to Thailand you know where to find us.

Tour operator's response – Thanks Wendy for these kind words. We are happy to hear the tour inspired you. Kui Buri is a great example how tourism can help conservation. Best wishes!

Tour operator's response – Dear Stefanie & Bieke, Thank you for your kind feedback. We are happy to hear you seem to have had a great experience. Even seen an elephant and the rare Indochinese Serow (the mountain goat). Very lucky for just a one day visit. We will thank our guide Tata in name of you! Thanks!