The photographs in this section were taken during a ‘recce’ trip to Thailand organised by Worldwide Birding Tours (worldwide-birding-tours.com) and guided by Nick Upton (www.thaibirding.com) in February 2012. The trip commenced with a transfer from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and thence to Doi Inthanon, the highest peak in Thailand at 2565 m. From there we moved to Doi Lang and then on to Doi Ang Kang further upland areas in the north of the country close to the Myanmar border.
After a return to Chiang Mai we began to move further south staying in the town of Nakhon Sawan to visit the Bung Bora Phet wetland area and then moving to Khao Yai National Park, the second largest in Thailand. This park contains a number of large elusive mammals including elephant and gaur.
In order to avoid a long drive through the heavy traffic of Bangkok we stayed overnight in the capital and set off early the next morning. Before reaching Bangkok a small diversion had taken us to Bang Poo on the coast to observe the large numbers of brown-headed gulls and other coastal birds. Our next destination was the Laem Pak Bia- Pak Thale area one of the foremost sites in the world for wading birds, including the endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper. The area comprises huge numbers of constructed shallow pans used to grow brine shrimp and to harvest salt.
The final destination of our trip was the Kaeng Krachan National Park, the largest park in Thailand, which again boasts populations of large mammals including elephant. The development of some private sites with hides and waterholes just outside the park provide excellent opportunities for photography and observation of a wide range of birds and small mammals.
A second dedicated photographic trip was carried out in March 2013 to the same destinations with the addition of Mae Wong National Park prior to the visit to Bung Bora Phet replacing Khao Yai National Park.
