Khao Yai National Park- Wild Elephants!

After a brief layover in Bangkok, (a true spoke and wheel type of travel), we headed east to Thailand’s closest rainforest, Khao Yai National Park. As soon as we dropped our bags, we were back in the truck racing to see the bats in time. Bats, you say? Try millions and millions of bats to pour out of a cave high on top of a mountain across the rice paddies to gobble up insects everyday at sunset. We couldn’t believe it. This massive stream of bats continued out of the cave for over an hour as we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve seen so far. I don’t think I can properly explain this wonderfully massive natural phenomenon to capture its size or the feelings of awe it evoked in me. But I do know that I will never forget it.
When it got dark, we made a brief stop at a pool of natural spring water in the jungle. We didn’t realize that we would be swimming so we didn’t bring suits, but that wasn’t going to stop us from jumping in!
The next day, our group (a French family, a weird man from Belgium that we named Professor Doosledorf, and us) took a tour into the National Park. The guide knew his birds (not to mention deer, squirrels, gibbons, etc), and we were able to see so many more cool species that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. One of our favorite animals was the troupes of monkeys that greeted us along the roads ready for any food scraps they might come across. I’m pretty sure we took about a million pictures of them. However, our biggest animal “hunt” for the day was for the wild elephant. The goal of our guide was not just to see an elephant (we saw 2). He wanted to get us to see one crossing the road. We watched shaking bushes waiting for the perfect time. When the elephant finally crossed the road (and you know why he did that), we were in the wrong spot! When we got there, all we got was his bum heading into the jungle. Let me tell you, it was so much fun!
Later, we swam at the waterfall where Leo jumped from to get to “The Beach.” We seem to be starting a theme of swimming in jungle waterfalls and pools. I like this theme.