Thailand’s largest national park shows off its wild side — and why it stays my favorite
Two leopards, one black and one spotted, walk side by side across a road in Kaeng Krachan National Park. Wildlife fans rarely get footage like this. Wildlife photographer Natnalee Suraplanun caught the pair on video, and three more big cats crossed the same road that morning. Her account, in her own words, is below.
The black cat is not a different species. It is a leopard with melanism, a genetic trait that makes its coat dark. Its spots are still there and show up in the right light. Seeing both color forms together, with more leopards nearby, shows how much life the park still holds.
“It felt like it wasn’t real”
Thaigest spoke with Khun Natnalee about those precious moments. Here is her eyewitness account:
Khun Natnalee: I regularly come to Kaeng Krachan National Park to photograph birds and other wildlife.
Today (Oct. 25, 2026), I entered the park during the late morning. The rangers mentioned that early this morning, three leopards were spotted in the forest not far from the entrance.
So, I drove my car slowly. At one point, I heard the call of a big cat nearby, so I stopped the car and turned off the engine. After waiting for less than 10 minutes, the first one emerged from the forest on the left, walked onto the road, and paused to look at me sitting inside the car. It was about 15 meters away, which felt quite close.
At first, I was so thrilled that I couldn’t take my eyes off it. About five minutes later, a pair walked out — a leopard and a black panther, as I first thought. Less than a minute after that, a second pair walked out and crossed to the other side together. All five crossed the road into the forest on the right-hand side.
When the first leopard stood there looking at me, I felt like it wasn’t real. There was no ferocity or fear in the way it looked at me; it looked very relaxed.
Five big cats on one road in one morning. What a sight!
Family among friends
Kaeng Krachan is Thaigest’s absolute favorite Thai national park, and the wildlife makes it easy to see why. On a visit in September, I spotted a wild male elephant and a sun bear — besides thousands and thousands of butterflies.
The bear had settled outside the kitchen at park headquarters, waiting patiently. Here the bear is family among friends, and everyone knows each other.
Untouched wilderness
Kaeng Krachan lies in Phetchaburi province, about 200 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, roughly a three-hour drive.
The national park is Thailand’s largest, with nearly 3,000 square kilometers of lush, dense, tropical rainforest along the Myanmar border — slightly larger than Luxembourg and almost twice the size of Bangkok. Only a tiny fraction of it is open to visitors, leaving a vast, largely untouched wilderness. It is part of the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex, which UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 2021.
Signs along the trails remind visitors who else lives here: poisonous insects, snakes, wild elephants and slippery routes. One sign even asks drivers to slow down for butterflies.
The dirt road to Phanoen Thung
The park’s highlight is the drive past Ban Krang Camp to Phanoen Thung Campsite. It is a rugged, steep, 15-kilometer mountain trip through one of Thailand’s most biodiverse rainforests.
- Season: The lower park is open year-round. The upper mountain section is open only in the dry and green seasons. It closes completely from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31 every year for monsoon safety and forest recovery.
- Restrictions: Only high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles may go past Ban Krang Camp. Sedans, motorbikes and bicycles are banned. Traffic follows a strict one-way schedule: up in the early morning and early afternoon, down in the late morning and late afternoon.
- Challenges: Drivers face a demanding unpaved track with sharp inclines, rough dirt sections and several stream crossings. They share the narrow road with monkeys, hornbills and elephants.
At the summit, travelers get sweeping views of a sea of mist rolling over the jungle canopy. Myanmar is just a short distance away.
If you want to get away from it all and dive into deep, pristine nature, Kaeng Krachan is the call. Let me know if you plan to head there — might well join you!