Tips for Thailand or Malaysia in January
Hello,
firstly, thank you for this wonderful website, I drew much inspiration from the posts and reports.
We are planning a 30 days trip from Europe to South East Asia for January, allocating about 2 weeks for diving in the Philippines and the rest for land wildlife in another country, probably Thailand or peninsular Malaysia. We visited all these countries already in 2022-2023, spending a month in the Philippines, a month in Thailand. and just 9 days in Malaysia, for “general travel”, not purposely wildlife trip.
Now, in general, Thailand is a better place to visit than Malaysia to us. Simply more pleasant alltogether. Malaysia is good, but Thailand was one of the best trips we ever took. But this is a general-travel view. If we are focusing on wildlife, I feel like Malaysia has more to offer in terms of diversity, even though we would probably need to rent a car to get to Fraser Hill, Bukit Tingi – I have never seen a siamang, possibly even go north to Ulu Muda for agile gibbons, we would go to Taman Negara only if we had time left OR if the Kumbang hide was open – BUT maybe I am wrong. In Thailand I am thinking Kaeng Krachan, if possible Hala Bala, and Khao Yai (already been). We prefer places we can explore alone without guides (ideally including spotlighting, even if it were in a restricted/small area).
Our main interest would be mammals (not bats) and non-avian reptiles, possibly some interesting invertebrates. Not so much into birds: we like to see them, but I would not travel somewhere to see a new species of a cuckoo. I could longly list the species I would like to see, but mostly I am looking for diversity and good chances.
Of course, I would much more like to visit Borneo, ironically the only “country” in SE Asia except for Myanmar where I have not been, but January is not a good time and for us, going in January is a must. I am not even sure about the weather in peninsular Malaysia, but it seems fair from what I read. It is possible we would fly through Taipei, I was thinking to have a few days there (Taiwanese airlines often/sometimes? allow this without any charge) to look for pangolins, but I am not sure how realistic it is to see them there.
Could you please advise, which country and possibly sites would you recommend to visit considering wildlife watching opportunities?
Thank you.
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5 Comments
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lacerta
I would prefer Thailand. Kaeng Krachan is great place to see reptiles and also for mammal watching is it amazing. And totally agree with Michael – Singapore is the best – in terms of diversity and availability of good sites without guides. I’ve never seen so many animals (and especially snakes) anywhere else (I’ve been to the Philippines, Malaysia + Borneo, Thailand, Indonesia).
From Philippines I would recommend Raja Sikatuna National Park (Bohol), but guide is required. And Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park (is possible to rent tent and stay there overnight and go around alone).
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Evan
Regarding Taiwan, I’ve spent half of the last 17 years there, doing quite a bit of wildlife-searching during that time (including especially around Taipei), though without my own vehicle. So far I have never seen a pangolin, though I suspect I’ve seen their burrows. I wouldn’t make a side trip there just for pangolins unless you have a contact who knows a spot. Formosan Macaque on the other hand is easy in the right places (Shoushan/Chaishan in Kaohsiung, a 2-hour high-speed-rail ride away, is the best I know of and 100% reliable, but there maybe somewhere good enough in the Taipei area too). Or in case you happen to be looking for Pallas’s Squirrel, that’s the star animal of Taipei’s city parks. Mammal watching in Taiwan is interesting but not very productive, and I don’t think you can count on finding much else other than those on a two-day visit unless, again, you know a researcher who can lead you right to something. If you put in a lot of effort and get a little lucky, you might be able to manage Formosan Ferret-badger, Reeve’s Muntjac, or Masked Palm Civet. Cetacean-watching with a tour might be decent in Hualien, but that’s quite a trek from Taipei.
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Asanoth
Thank you all for replies.
I will scratch Taiwan then (I think pangolins thrived mostly in recent years though):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=43366
Furthermore, I discovered there are China Airlines and Air China, not really the same company 😀 , the latter being mainland airline, and we would more probably fly with them. There is a very long stop-over in Bejing, so at least instead of pangolins we can check the Forbidden city 🙂 .Singapore sounds great here, but I will not be able to combine it with Thailand and Phillipines in one trip. If we went to Malaysia, that would be interesting though.
I was also looking more in detail on Hala Bala, and also found this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_related_to_the_South_Thailand_insurgency
Which did not really fill me with optimism… But the two gibbon species and many Malaysian species not available further north do sound tempting. Does anyone have any recent experience at hand regarding security?Thanks for the Phillipines tips: I alredy went to Balinsasayao, and it was before my “more serious” wildlife watching days, but was not really impressed; also it really seems more like a birdwatching destination, no?
I did not visit Raja Sikatuna when on Bohol, and although the Philippine Colugo seems tempting (and probably pretty much guaranteed on a visit?), it probably does not warrant a trip to another Island. We are going probably to Anilao and Malapascua, or, less probably Dauin and Malapascua: Thinking of adding a third destination, which could well be Bohol (my wife loved Balicasag the last time) or possibly Southern Leyte. -
Asanoth
Hello,
we got our long leg tickets and I am trying to figure out the itinerary.
Boundary conditions are we arrive to Phuket on December 25th in the evening and leave for Manila January 8th the latest from DMK (we still consider making more dives on the Phils and fly before, but probably we will stick to 8th, we will not do any land wildlife there), or less probably KUL. We will not make it to Singapore this time, unfortunately.I am set on Kaeng Krachan, 2 nights on lower and 2 night on upper campsite. Main targets (I am not well versed in English taxonomy, so I might mix in some latin translations):
Realistic: Malayan bear, any civets (coming for scraps), treeshrew, slow loris, bengal loris, crab eating mongoose, kanchil, marten, reticulated python, robinson’s langur, any other snakes, Asian Forest Tortoise, Oldham’s turtle, hornbills: B. bicornis, R. undulatus, A. tickelli
Difficult: Binturong, any cats – I prefer small to panthera sp. , Fea’s muntjak, brush tailed porcupine
Impossible: Clouded leopard, Tenasserim lutung, (pangolin, haha)
Nice to see: Gibbons, elephants, gaur, Malay porcupine (all seen previously)Now, I am thinking of what to do next.
Given recent raid on HQ we will not go to Hala Bala.
Our basic scenario is/was to go to Khao Yai: We already visited, liked it, but, having seen both gibbon species, siamese crocodile and all resident canines, I am not sure if it offers enough variety combined with Kaeng Krachan. Possible targets not found reasonably in KK:
Realistic: Javanese mongoose, water dragons, otters, more turtle species
Difficult: Serow, bengal cat (possible?), himalayan bear (possible?), binturong (maybe “easier” than in KK), austen’s hornbillMaybe we would be better off visiting a park in the south, or, alternatively, something further north such as Phu Khiao or Mae Wang, but I would very much prefer something that can be visited independently (unlike, say, Khlong Saeng). We can also make this up as we go, depending on how succesful we are in KK.
I also considered doing a whale watching trip, as I did not see a Bryde’s yet, but Wildlife Encounters does not run after December 23rd: Could you recommend any other operators? And does late December/early January even make sense?
Anyway, we have up to 13 full days in Thailand, so with KK 4-5 days and KY 3-4 days we still have time for one more: My wife would probably prefer something more beachy and less jungly, or cultural, even though we already visited most important sites. I was thinking Trachypithecus germaini near Patthaya, but I am scared of Patthaya 😀 . Luckily, snakes are everywhere 🙂 .
Alternatively, we could go to KK directly from Phuket, and then take a night train to Hat Yai, cross at Padang Besar or around, go to Kulim for Agile Gibbons (1-2 days; Ulu Muda Lodge is too expensive for us given other constraints and interests on the trip. ) and then Fraser Hill for Siamangs (2-3 days) and still have a day or two of contingency: This seems like a lot of time spent on road, though.
What do you think?
Thank you.
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Michael Johnson
I would recommend you allow a little time in Singapore. The wildlife there is surprisingly diverse and easy to see, and of course everything is convenient.
Otherwise, you mentioned Frazer Hill and yes, I would certainly go there. Spotlighting would be fine. When I was there, I walked everywhere but having a car would be more convenient. I would recommend an apartment (easily booked online) rather than the hotels, but you must bring food with you, as although there are inexpensive restaurants there is no shop.
Can’t comment otherwise.