Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
Kui Buri National Park is known to be the best place in Thailand to spot elephants and relatively good chanse to spot gaurs, and that sometimes in big herds. Gaurs are the biggest cattle species and the fourth biggest land-mammal species in the world. Other possible sightings during the tours include sambar deer, banteng and wild boar.
What?
Due to strict regulations this half-day wildlife safari tour doesn't include any hiking activities apart from leaving the vehicle for short walks to viewing areas, we will only be allowed to do safari driving. During our tour we scan the forest edges on grassland areas known to be prime elephant habitat in hope to see mainly elephants and/or gaurs.
Tour itinerary
From 2:30 p.m. till 6 p.m.
Wildlife tours in Kui Buri National Park are strickly regulated and limited to certain hours. After a mandatory registration we will get assigned an open-air vehicle with driver and an assistant. The tour will begin by driving slowly into the reserve on the main dirt road north heading to the main grassland areas. While driving slowly, we will search for any wildlife including birds or any other other smaller as well as bigger animals. Our first stop will be a viewing area where we leave the vehicle in hope to spot wildlife, mainly elephants. We will later on continue to the next viewing area at the end of the road, best known for spotting gaurs, but also elephants and sometimes bantengs.
During the tour, your guide will give you information about the habitat, wildlife and history of the park.
The type of assigned vehicles is open-air pick-up truck driven by locals. It is the Kui Buri National Park's policy to let locals do the driving, a policy that showed to be a success in reducing the poaching in the park.
Where & When?
Kui Buri National Park lies at about 1.5 hours driving from Hua Hin and nearly 4 hours from Bangkok. We can offer private transfers from Bangkok, Hua Hin or other destinations. The park is open all year round.
How much?
These half-day safaris are private tours, please send an inquiry for rates.
| Group size | Rate per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3,500 THB |
| 2 | 2,000 THB |
| 3 | 1,600 THB |
| 4 | 1,300 THB |
| 5 | 1,200 THB |
| 6 | 1,150 THB |
| 7 | 1,100 THB |
| 8 | 1,050 THB |
Tour rates include:
- Entrance fees
- English speaking guide
- Drinking water
Reviews from our guests
We appreciate your feedback after the tour when booking with us.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Stephen Dunne, Ireland | posted Thu 12 Sep, 2019
Didn't see many elephants and that was ok, but as a national parks did expect to see other animals. Unfortunately there were none?.... which made us wonder, why.
Tour operator's response
Dear Stephen,
The reason why has primarily to do with the history of the area. The elephant watching area used to be farmland until the king suggested to return it to nature due to the human-elephant conflict. So the area is slowly regenerating forest that is suitable for some grazers like elephants and gaur, but due to lack of continuous forest it is not suitable for many animals like e.g. primates.
Still we have seen a variety of species in the area but obviously with nature luck is a major factor too.
In the elephant watching area we have seen e.g.
Gaur, Banteng, Hog Deer, Sambar deer, Indian Muntjac, Wild Boar, Golden Jackal, Dhole, Burmese Hare, Yellow-throated Marten and even Asian Golden Cat.
But apart from Gaur which is fairly regular, most other species are not often seen.
So the trips are primarily focused on elephants which sometimes show in small, sometimes in big numbers but so far we have about a 99% success rate with elephants. Definitely the most reliable place in Thailand.
Thank you for joining and enjoy your travels!
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Julie, United Kingdom | posted Mon 9 Sep, 2019
The organisation leading up to the visit was excellent. The guide, K Bill, was very informative, professional and good fun.
It was a totally unforgettable experience to see not just elephants but many different types of wildlife. It was so beautiful and peaceful too. It was just great to see elephants living free.
Thank you.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Arjen Fledderman, Netherlands | posted Wed 14 Aug, 2019
We had two very good guides. A local and a very good English speaking. They told us a lot about the nature and the wild in the park. Although it was very wet (the guide had ponchos) we were lucky to see a group of seventeen elephants. They do amazing work on the park and give all the animals enough space.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Belinda Braggs, Australia | posted Mon 12 Aug, 2019
Our guide, Worravoot, was really fantastic and made sure that we saw the elephants, he was very informative and had a lot of knowledge of the National Park and the life of the elephants and the people in the area. It was a wonderful experience and I will definitely go back again. The National Park is so important for the preservation of the Thai people's elephants, the interaction of the local Thai people with the National Park and the elephants is really wonderful.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Charlotte Sermet, France | posted Mon 12 Aug, 2019
Hello,
We enjoyed very much our visit to Kui Buri park. Son was a very nice guide. We learned a lot of things, and were happy to see elephants.
Thank you
I’ll recommend the tour to friends coming to Thailand.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Maartje Van Meel, Netherlands | posted Thu 8 Aug, 2019
What a beautiful park, with such amazing vista’s. Som, our guide, is very knowledgeable and even brought snacks with her, which the kids loved. Despite the rainy weather we had a great trip and even saw 11 elephants!
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Mark., Thailand | posted Thu 25 Jul, 2019
A wonderful tour, very well organised....Excellent English speaking guide. Best of all, we were lucky enough to see lots of elephants.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Nicholas Hall, United Kingdom | posted Fri 19 Jul, 2019
Very knowledgeable guide and engaged our two boys when we didn't see elephant's all the time. Saw other anaimlas or birds and pointed them our monitor lizard many different birds and plant life. Very enjoyable trip.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Dewi Ewers, United Kingdom | posted Sat 15 Jun, 2019
Had a amazing day and seen lots of wildlife inc elephants, birds, gaur. Was lovely to see them
In their natural environment. The staff were very friendly and informative and our tour guide was great. Me and my partner would recommend this place to everyone.
About: Kui Buri elephant safari, half day
By: Ellie Blacklock, United Kingdom | posted Thu 6 Jun, 2019
This was absolutely amazing. Bill was our guide and he was super friendly, knowledgeable and lovely. We saw so many elephants and even stopped for a fresh coconut! Would definitely do again and will recommend to our friends. Thank you!
Tour details in short:
- Duration: 0.5 day
- Type: Private tour
- Price: 1,050 to 3,500 THB per person
- Group size: 1 or more people
- Grade: Easy
- Transport: Safari vehicle
- Start: 2:30 p.m.
- End: 6 p.m.
What to bring
- Rain clothing
- Insect repellent
- Sunblock lotion
- Hat or cap
Elephant safari
Every day is an elephant day in Kui Buri
Elephants in Kui Buri National Park
Elephant in Kui Buri National Park