Description

Hike through dense jungle, far beyond the public access area of the Khao Phra Taew national park. Along forest nature trails, even when it sometimes looks as if there is no trail at all. Wildlife spotting: Ever heard the cry of a Gibbon, the world’s loudest mammal? With a bit of luck you might experience it here. Enjoy a plunge in a lovely natural swimming pool in the middle of the jungle or challenge yourself by trying to take a shower under Bang Pae waterfall. Phuket’s number 1 hiking tour! Lunch included

The Khao Phra Taew national park is one of a total of only 2 national parks on the island of Phuket. It is effectively the only significant virgin rain forest left on Phuket and covers an area of approximately 23 sq kms. The park first became a protected nature reserve around 1977, before being fully established as a national park later in the 1980’s. 

Thanks to this status, the park offers protection to a surprisingly varied collection of wildlife: not only the gibbons for which the park is famous, but also tusked hairy wild boar, malay sun bear (almost disappeared), slow lorises, langurs, porcupines, deer (including the barking deer and the mouse deer), palm civets, monkeys, cobras, pythons, monitor lizards, flying foxes, squirrels and many species of birds. Our experienced guides will, during your hiking tour, always be on the lookout for spotting wildlife, but you need a bit of luck to have a real wildlife encounter. You might more easily hear the wildlife, especially the cry of the gibbon, sometimes called ‘the world’s loudest mammal’. Another loud creature you definitely will hear during your jungle trekking, is the cicada. The cicada is the loudest insect in the world, and its’ sound can be deafening if you happen to pass by a grouping of them, which happens quite often during hiking.

The Khao Phra Taew national park It is also the home of the rare Kerriodoxa or White Back Palm, with huge leaves that on some spots almost look as a ceiling of the trail of your rainforest hiking adventure. This palm tree was discovered in the Khao Phra Taew nature reserve in 1929 and described as a new genus and species in 1983. While hiking in the forest, have yourself pictured with the giant leaf.

The towering giant trees and the forest canopy are overall quite spectacular, and be sure to halt your trekking from time to time to look up and admire this fabulous roof of the jungle.

The three highest peaks of this reserve are the Khao Prathiu (384 m), Khao Bang Pae (388 m) and Khao Phara (422 m). Clouds tend to gather around these peaks and this results in the national park being the wettest area of Phuket province. The soil here is very rocky and thus the water goes straight down the mountain slopes to create 2 of Phuket’s biggest waterfalls: Bang Pae at the east side of the park and Tonsai in the west. These 2 waterfalls are the starting and end point of your jungle hike.