Birdwatching Tours in Kaeng Krachan National Park
Kaeng Krachan National Park is not only Thailand's largest national park, it is also one of the best birdwatching destinations in mainland Southeast Asia. A range of altitudes reaching up to around 1,500 metres and a mix of forest habitats support roughly 480 recorded bird species, including specialities such as ratchet-tailed treepie, plain-pouched hornbill, black-and-red broadbill, red-bearded bee-eater and white-fronted scops owl. This full-day private tour is led by an expert birding guide and built around your target species, taking you through different forest habitats and elevations at an unhurried pace. Multi-day birdwatching trips can also be arranged on request.
At a Glance
Booking Tip: As we have a limited number of specialist birding guides, booking well in advance is highly recommended to secure a guide for your preferred date. If you have particular target species, let us know when booking so your guide can plan the day around them.
*Important Pick-up Information: Not every hotel is within our pick-up range for this tour. Since Kaeng Krachan is a fairly remote park, we highly recommend confirming your hotel's exact location with us before booking your accommodation, so that a pick-up from the Kaeng Krachan town area can be arranged. Transfers from Bangkok, Cha-am and Hua Hin can be arranged.
Where & When?
Kaeng Krachan National Park is roughly a 3-hour drive from Bangkok and about 1.5 hours from Hua Hin. Your birdwatching day begins in Kaeng Krachan town, where we pick you up from your hotel. If you're staying elsewhere, we can arrange private transfers from Hua Hin, Cha-am and Bangkok. Birdwatching here is rewarding all year round, with the peak season running from early March to June/July, when migratory species arrive in the park.
What to Pack & Preparation Tips
- Footwear: Closed-toe hiking shoes or sturdy sports shoes are recommended for walking on forest trails and dirt roads.
- Attire: Long trousers and lightweight, breathable long-sleeved shirts are highly recommended to protect against branches and insects. Neutral, earthy colours work best for birdwatching. Bring a sweater or light jacket, as it can be cooler at higher elevations, especially early in the morning.
- Rain Gear: A light rain jacket or poncho is useful, as showers can pass through the forest at any time of year.
- Leech Socks: During the rainy season (May-October), leech socks are highly recommended. Your guide will provide them if necessary.
- Sun & Insect Protection: Mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and a hat.
- Gear: Binoculars and a camera are the essentials. A small daypack for water and a flashlight are also useful. Your guide will bring a spotting scope.
How much?
All rates are per person in Thai Baht (THB) for a completely private group.
| Pax | Rate per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | 8,800 THB |
| 2 | 4,700 THB |
| 3 | 3,500 THB |
| 4 | 3,100 THB |
| 5 | 2,800 THB |
| 6 | 2,600 THB |
Reviews from our guests
By: Daria Erastova | posted Tue 23 Jun, 2026
Excellent service that exceeded my expectations. Our guide Mon and his driver were the most caring, polite, knowledgeable and accommodating assistants on our bird twitching journey. I highly recommend booking Mon for your next wildlife adventure. Also, my personal highlight of the Kaeng Krachan reserve was the privately owned bird hide. Just try it!
By: Gary King | posted Fri 13 Feb, 2026
Everything went according to plan. All transfers were on time. In fact, one we changed to an earlier time at short notice. The cars were all clean and the drivers were very good and helpful making stops on the journey when we asked them to. We had 2 birding guides. The first was in Khao Yai. This guide was also the driver which is always more difficult because they have to do both jobs. We saw quite a few birds but we would probably have seen more if the guide had binoculars as well as a scope. For seeing the smaller birds binoculars are really essential. The second guide in Kaeng Krachan had a driver as well. This guide really went above and beyond expectations in looking for birds and mammals. His English was excellent and he was very friendly and patient. He was also very flexible with what we wanted to see. We saw a large number of birds and mammals and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This guide and driver we would thoroughly recommend on any tour. Communication throughout our booking experience and tour with Tontan travel was first rate. We would definitely use them again.
By: Richard Larsen | posted Sat 10 Jan, 2026
Excellent tour with many good birds and animals. Both the guide and driver were really good. Lunch in the camp was fine and the coffee really good
Best regards Richard
By: ISMET KAMAL | posted Sun 16 Feb, 2025
Reliable service. Pleasant and knowledgeable guide (Mong) and helpful driver. The main drawback was the discomfort driving from the main campsite (where we had lunch) to the top campsite. This is partly because of the condition of the road, but this could be mitigated by having a vehicle with better suspension. Also it was not easy to climb up and down the vehicle repeatedly, especially for older people.
By: Feng Chen | posted Fri 24 Jan, 2025
Wonderful journey! Me and my families had an one day bird watching tour at Kaeng Krachan National park. Our bird guid, Mr.Mong, arrived at the pickup location really on time, and he has good eyes and ears searching for many beautiful species.
By: T Shen | posted Tue 16 Jul, 2024
We had a wonderful 3 days of birding in and around Kaeng Krachan National Park. The booking was easy and Tan was responsive. Our guide, Mong, worked tirelessly with our list to find as many lifers as we could. The driver turned out to be very bird-savvy as well and was responsible for locating a number of birds for us. The open truck and the deliciously bumpy ride to the mountain, complete with Malayan Sun bears, gibbons and snakes, reminded us of an African safari. Overall, a very enjoyable and fruitful trip.
By: Kamonmas Samutratanakul | posted Mon 29 Apr, 2024
Our experience was exceptional in every way. Our assigned guide was Khun Mong, and as a couple of beginner birders, it was brilliant to see him work, and he was very accommodating to our level of experience and wishlist of birds. He's extremely knowledgeable about all types of birds, as well as mammals and reptiles in the national park; without him, we wouldn't have seen so many interesting species and behaviors so clearly!
We had a full day of spotting birds across the national park, with a total of 58 bird species, as well as gibbons, langurs, and a python. Our wonderful driver, Khun Panom, also helped spot many cool species on the drive.
Overall, our guide and driver were very professional, considerate, and friendly, super accommodating to our every need and so knowledgeable. It was worth every Baht spent, and we hope to do another tour here in the future. Thank you to Khun Mong and Khun Panom for the great experience!
By: Samuel Hazelton | posted Wed 31 Jan, 2024
We had a great time and saw lots of birds and wildlife. Our guide, Mont, was a real pro. Would definitely recommend and do it again.
By: Jeffrey Sigworth | posted Fri 22 Dec, 2023
We had a good day with our guide. He picked us up on time, had plenty of water and took care of the payment promptly. While he was great with the medium to larger birds, we were disappointed when he told us that small birds weren’t his thing. So, multiple locations with small birds we tended to just bypass. He also indicated that he wasn’t having a great day. Not exactly what you want to hear when it is going to be your only day in the park. We realize everyone has off days, it’s just tough when you have paid quite a bit for your guides “off day”. The lunch was great and the driver very good.
By the end of the day after getting to the entrance and then doubling back to the campground to look around, we were done and were convinced we were not going to see any evening birds. So we told him just to take us back.
Sadly, we should have used the guides at our lodge. They were more reasonably priced and after hearing the services they received at the end of the day, we were a bit disappointed. While we did see 60 birds, many of those we spotted prior to the guide. Overall, we were happy with the day but not terribly excited about the experience for the price we paid.
> Tour operator's response
Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you for your feedback.
I'm sorry to hear that the experience didn't meet up with your expectations.
Our guide may not be a world-class expert birding guide, but he definitely knows a lot about birds. He may have been modest or perhaps I should say honest that identifying e.g., warblers in the field is extremely difficult. Getting clear views is hard enough, and even when you get a clear view, the minute differences between the various species are often very hard to distinguish depending on light conditions etc.
Still, about a third of the roughly 60 species seen on that day were small birds that he may have said that weren't his thing. So perhaps there are some complicated groups, but he can certainly identify a large number of small birds too.
Of course I can't guarantee that you would have seen any nocturnal species if you had decided to continue, but from experience I wouldn't be convinced that you would not see any. But of course it's fine that you decided to finish the trip earlier. It's a long day in the field after all.
With the exception of one, the guides at the lodge you stayed at don't really speak English. For the English speaking guide the rate is not at all that different, but it may appear less because it doesn't include entrance fees, lunch and a separate driver as we have provided for your trip. I can't comment if it would have been much better or not, but at least it's not completely a fair comparison to say it is much more reasonably priced. Also, compared to other birding tours on offer, our rates are not at all that high. But I do understand our all-inclusive private tours are not low budget either. And it's a shame that we didn't manage to set the right expectations for you. We will try to improve on this in the future.
We wish you a pleasant holiday and lots more birds for the remainder of your stay in Thailand.
By: Stacey Peckins | posted Mon 27 Nov, 2023
The guide was exceptional. He was knowledgeable and very considerate. He knew the park and all its animals. Would highly recommend the tour!