RFI: Sunda slow loris, Tupaia glis and other sunda species between Phuket and Surat Thani

Hello,

my hopefully final RFI regarding my Thailand trip this December and January.

Before going to Khao Yai for 3 nights and Kaeng Krachan for 4 nights, we have 6 full days (7 nights) form Thursday to Saturday New Year’s Eve, starting in Phuket and leaving to Khao Yai form Bangkok. We might want to spend 1 or 2 days in Bangkok, but that is still for discussion.

In the remaining time, I would like to focus on sunda species, which are not found in Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan, with the main focus being the Sunda slow loris (which can be found in KK, but not that often) and T. glis treeshrew. Other small mammals, especially flying or giant squirells, are also sought upon. Colugo would be nice, but not a priority. I am not too much interested in large mammals, as they are also found further north, or they are nearly impossible to find (such as tapir).

Trip reports here do not go further south than Petchaburi and iNaturalist observations are fairly few. Based on them, I decised three options:

  1. Khao Lak Ram Lu NP, seems to have the most loris observations, is fairly close to Phuket, where we fly in, there is also a mangrove habitat for invertebrates, reptiles and, should it come to it, birds. Not sure how crowed it would be.
  2. Khao Sok NP – I expect it to be fairly crowded, officially one needs a guide for most of the park, not sure of spotlightling is an option: But there must ba a reason people go there. If I consider Khlong Saeng as a part of Khao Sok area, I think we do not have budget for a tour and it probably cannot be visited any other way.
  3. Nakhon Si Tammarat – there are number of national parks west of the city, such as Khao Luang, Khao Nam, Namtok Si Khit, Tom Roi Yen and others. There are some interesting species found on iNaturalist, such as black flying squirell or Ratufa affinis, but those are very few, so I do not think they could serve as a guide of where to see what.  I guess these parks are seldomly visited, which could be good, or it could mean there is not so much to be seen. Also logistically those would be the most difficult to pull off.

Would you have any tips on where to go for those few days and what to see there?

Thank you.

Post author

Asanoth

4 Comments

  • stevebabbs

    Where are you staying at Kaeng Krachan? I was there in 2018 and we stayed just outside the park at Baan Maka? Unless ownership has changed, the owner, Ian, is a very knowledgeable naturalist. He took us out and found us a slow loris – we had failed on our own – and also took us looking for frogs.

    • Asanoth

      We will probably stay inside the park and in Baan Maka for the first (Saturday) night. I believe the lorises found in Baan Maka premises are mostly the bengal species, not sunda.

  • PandaSmith

    Sounds like a fun trip. Sounds like you have Kaeng Krachan covered. As for the Nakhonsithammarat locations, I have been to all of them and venture to some of them often. My mammal sightings were never very great there although they were mainly visited for family outings in the daytime. But for a consistently good spot, I would highly recommend Krung Ching Waterfall, also in Khao Luang NP – in the northern sector. I’ve seen Sunda Loris, Tupaia glis, Lowe’s and Slender Squirrel, both species of Ratufa, Pangolin, Elephant, at least three species of flying squirrels – Red Giant, Phayre’s and one probably Black Giant….Small-toothed civets and Sunda Colugo are common seasonally too. Good luck! I will be looking forward to seeing what you see at the other locations in and around Khao Luang.

    • Asanoth

      Thank you: It sounds like a very good spot. I like how you casually mention a pangolin 😀 .
      Do you think this place would be reachable by public transport? Go to Surant and then south, or Nakhon and then North? Last leg would probably need to be taken by a taxi?
      In Kaeng Krachan, my (last?) issue is whether I need a full sized 4WD for the upper campsite, or a smaller SUV such as Corolla Cross will do…

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