Friday, March 12 - More Kaeng Krachan NP

Up and off at 5:30 and up to the Park entrance where we transferred into the same trucks as yesterday.
Dion’s group lead off this time to give them an equal chance to see interesting birds and mammals. We drove to the campground and had breakfast before driving off in different directions to bird. We drove with David up towards the top of the park, stopping several times and hearing wonderful hooting choruses of White-handed Gibbons nearby and answering choruses from far across the valley. The morning was pretty quiet birdwise and the sun was intense.

We joined the others at noon for a lunch of veggie-stuffed omelets, soup with meat/noodle balls and a shrimp dish and admired the butterflies who had gathered at the same place by the stream as yesterday.
We all took off together for a walk down the road. A few clouds had built up and it wasn’t quite as hot and the bird activity really picked up. Suddenly we heard crashing in the treetops and a troop of Gibbons appeared. A large male leapt across the road on overhanging branches followed by a mother who swung from tree to tree with equal abandon while a tiny baby clutched to her fur!

Further along we all crouched down by a culvert where Dion knew some bats lived and with the aid of a flashlight we could see some charming Malayan Slit-faced Bats trying to get some rest before nightfall.

We started back to the hotel arriving at six and were told to be ready for a ride to dinner by 7:15. A leisurely shower and we bused down to the restaurant for beer and Thai dinner. Dion announced that instead of going back to the park for the morning, that we would be leaving for Bangkok at 8 AM to ensure that we can get to the Novotel Hotel at the airport and hopefully avoid the marches on the city that are supposed to start tomorrow! Bob is quite disappointed as he was hoping to add to his life list by seeing a few missed species. He has about 285 new life birds, but was hoping for a little over 300.