Khao Sok National Park ( th, เขาสก, ) is in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Its area is 461,712 rai ~ , and it includes the Cheow Lan Lake contained by the Ratchaprapha Dam. The park is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand and is a remnant of rain forest which is older and more diverse than the

Amazon rain forest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

Geography

Beautiful sandstone and mudstone rocks rise about above sea level. The park is traversed by a limestone mountain range from north to south with a high point of . This mountain range is hit by monsoon rain coming from both the Gulf of Thailand and the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...

, which makes it among Thailand's wettest regions with an annual rain fall of . Heavy rainfall and falling leaves led to the erosion of the limestone rocks and created the significant karst formations seen today.

Flora

Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, b ...

holds topsoil very tenaciously, preventing soil erosion on hillsides and riverbanks. With more than 1,500 species, bamboo is the oldest grass in the world, dating back nearly 60 million years.

Liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

trees grow rapidly wrapping around any vertical or horizontal support base such as ''takian'' or "rain trees". Thus, it's dangerous to simply cut a tree in the jungle because it can pull connected liana vines with it creating a cascade of damage.

Buttress roots Buttress roots also known as plank roots are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They prevent the tree from falling over (hence ...

are enlarged root bases mostly of trees that grow above the upper canopy. The theory about these roots is that they either developed in order to be more grounded in storms and rain or that they spread out on the ground in order to get more nutrients. Many kinds of wild fruit can be found around the national park and serve as sustenance for animals. Among those fruits are wild

jackfruit The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, Sr ...

mangosteen Mangosteen (''Garcinia mangostana''), also known as the purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to tropical lands surrounding the Indian Ocean. Its origin is uncertain due to widespread prehistoric cultivatio ...

durian The durian (, ) is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognised ''Durio'' species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the onl ...

rambutan Rambutan (; taxonomic name: ''Nephelium lappaceum'') is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to se ...

jujube Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

pomelo The pomelo ( ), ''Citrus maxima'', is the largest citrus fruit from the family Rutaceae and the principal ancestor of the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a sweet grapefr ...

, and wild bananas. Wild pepper and ginger are not uncommon. Khao Sok National Park is perhaps most famous for the ''bua phut'' ( Rafflesia kerrii) flower.

Wildlife

The park is estimated to contain over five percent of the world's species. Wild

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), f ...

include

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since ...

, Asian elephant,

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nort ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

serow The serows ( or ) are four species of medium-sized goat-like or antelope-like mammals of the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were until recently also classified under '' Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the gorals. Extant ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

pig-tailed macaque The pig-tailed macaques are two macaque sister species. They look almost identical and are best distinguished by their parapatric ranges: * Northern pig-tailed macaque, ''Macaca leonina'' (Bangladesh to Vietnam, south to northern Malaysia) * Sou ...

langur The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications split ...

, white handed gibbons,

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. ...

muntjak Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

mouse deer Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only extant members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only ...

, and

barking deer Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London borough in East London. It lies around 9 miles (14.4 km) ...

. The world's only known amphibious

centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an a ...

, ''

Scolopendra cataracta ''Scolopendra cataracta'' is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae. It is the first known amphibious centipede, growing to up to in length. Discovery George Beccaloni, an entomologist and curator at the Natural History Museum, L ...

'', was discovered on a stream bank near the national park in 2001.

Climate

The so-called

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

is between late April–December. The temperature ranges from all year around. Humidity and warm temperature provide the optimal environment for a rich eco-system in this tropical rain forest.

Natural History

This area is estimated to be over 160 million years old, built through tectonic movements, climate changes, erosions and sediment accumulations. Approximately 300 million years ago, shallow water and warm temperatures in this region led to the creation of a huge coral reef. Estimated to be 5 times as big as the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Au ...

in Australia, it originally stretched from China all the way to Borneo. Due to the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plate 0-66 million years ago, the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over list ...

were formed, and what is now Thailand shifted dramatically near the continental divide and the limestone rocks were forced upward creating the dramatic limestone ''"karsts"'' for which the region is known today. Finally, melting ice established the river-rich landscape as well as dozens of waterfalls around the national park.

Human History

The first migrants to Thailand migrated during the Ice Age from Borneo around 37,000 BCE. The first accounts of people living in Khao Sok were found in the 1800s, during the reign of Rama II. In the Burmese-Siamese of (1809-1812), the Burmese army invaded the western portion of the area, forcing the inhabitants to flee inland. They found the area to be extremely alluring, in beauty, wildlife abundance, and good soil. As news spread of this discovery, more people immigrated to settle the region. In 1944, the inhabitants of this region were stricken by a deadly epidemic. A large number of the villagers died while the few survivors escaped from the area to settle in nearby Takua Pa. In 1961, Route 401 was built from Phun Pin in Surat Thani Province to Takua Pa in Phang Nga Province. At the turn of the millennium, they began the process of expanding Route 401 to a 4 lane freeway. In the 1970s, Thai student activists and communist insurgents set up strongholds in the caves of Khao Sok. Settled in the shelter of the rainforest they protected the region from the Thai army, loggers, miners, and hunters for seven years. Khao Sok became a national park in 1980. The government and the

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) ( th, การไฟฟ้าฝ่ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทย; ) is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power g ...

(EGAT) were interested in this region because Khao Sok holds the largest watershed in southern Thailand. Only 2 years later, EGAT completed the high Ratchaprapha Dam, blocking off the ''Klong Saeng River'', a tributary of the

Phum Duang River The Phum Duang River (, , ) (rarely also called the ''Khiri Rat River'') is a river in Surat Thani Province, southern Thailand Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Centra ...

and creating a lake inside the park. The dam provides electricity for the south, and the lake became a majo
holiday destination
for Thai and foreign tourists alike. There were several species of animals that had to be resettled to save them from drowning, as the lake slowly filled over a period of 3 years. Unfortunately, a study from 1995 revealed the loss of some 52 species of fish from the river, which could not survive in the stagnant water.

Activities

Khao Sok National Park has various activities for tourists who enjoy activities such as trekking, canoeing, bamboo rafting. A boat tour to Cheow Lan lake is also available. Trekking: Due to Khao Sok being a tropical rainforest, there are many wild animals such as “wild elephants, serow, tigers, Malayan sun bears and over 180 bird species to watch”. Those interested in trekking can hire a local guide. Rafflesia Kerrii Meijer can be found in the area. Tourists may stay in the rainforest overnight. Canoeing and Bamboo rafting: Sok River is known for beautiful views along the river. There are local guides for tourists to hire for canoeing and bamboo rafting tours. Boat to Cheow Lan lake: Within the deep forest, there are caves to explore such as Diamond cave, Khang Cow Cave and Nam Talu cave which connect to Cheow Lan lake. Nam Talu cave is about ''ถ้ำน้ำทะลุ อุทยานแห่งชาติเขาสก''
/ref> from the headquarters of Khao Sok National Park. Tour guides are available to boat visitors from the waterfall to the lake.

Gallery

File:Khao Sok primary tropical rainforest, southern Thailand.jpg, Khao Sok tropical rainforest. File:Early dawn on Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok, Surat Thani, Thailand.jpg, Early morning on Cheow Lan Lake. File:Early dawn on Cheow Lan Lake, Thailand.jpg, Early morning on Cheow Lan Lake. File:Karst formations on Cheow Lan Lake, Thailand.jpg, Karst formations on Cheow Lan Lake. File:Trees rising out of Cheow Lan Lake, blue sky, eternal summer in Surat Thani.jpg, Trees rising out of Cheow Lan Lake.

References

Khao Sok National Park official webpage

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
* ''Waterfalls and Gibbon Calls; Exploring Khao Sok National Park'', Thom Henley, 4th Ed, 2011, Phuket Thailand

External links

*
The Climate of Thailand
{{authority control National parks of Thailand Protected areas established in 1980 Tenasserim Hills Geography of Surat Thani province Tourist attractions in Surat Thani province 1980 establishments in Thailand