In the heart of Bangkok, The Fig Lobby is within a 5-minute drive of MedPark Hospital and Terminal 21 Shopping Mall. This 4-star hotel is 3.3 mi (5.3 km) from CentralWorld Shopping Complex and 3.5 mi (5.6 km) from MBK Center.
Thailand: Khao Sok – Our Jungle Camp
Khao Sok´s unique Nature Resort, with Treehouse and Bungalow accommodation options for families and individual travellers alike. Nestled between Khao Sok Rainforest and the gentle flowing Sok River, Our Jungle Camp offers Double and Single-Storey Treehouses as well as unique Adobe and Nature Bungalows.
On our journey through Thailand, one of the places I had desperately wanted to visit was Khao Sok National Park. The pictures I had seen of the lakes filled with limestone karst rocks looked stunning.
I planned for us to stay in the village for a couple of days before heading for an overnight stop on Cheow Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park, before heading back to Khao Sok village for a night.
I had booked us into Our Jungle Camp, an eco-resort just off the main strip in Khao Sok. It was not the cheapest place to stay, but I fancied staying in one of their treehouses. It is in a beautiful location right next to a river. There was a bar and restaurant that were open-air (as most places are in Thailand), which is where you had to go to get a Wi-Fi signal. The rooms are well scattered around the grounds, which were beautifully kept, with some beautiful flowering shrubs. Privacy was enhanced by dense groves of tall bamboo, which also provided a lot of shade.
For our first stay, we were staying in a tree house called ‘Bent Tree’ which, not surprisingly, was located next to a bent tree. I don’t remember requesting a family room, but that is what we went for – a two-storey tree house that was about 5 metres off the ground. Now strictly speaking these were not tree houses and they were not built in or around or attached in any way to a tree. But it did feel like a tree house. The rooms we made completely out of wood, using bamboo, timber and rattan. All very cosy!
It should be noted that if you don’t like creepy crawlies then this may not be the place for you. There are a lot of places they can get in. It is worth noting that in the evening if you have the lights on you may get inundated by moths and mosquitoes.
There are also lots of monkeys around who will invade your space if you leave the doors open.
There is a restaurant and bar on-site, which is the only place you can connect with Wi-Fi! This is where breakfast is served, and they also do dinner here. We ate here one night and it was pretty good and not too expensive.
It is not too far to walk back into the village where there are plenty of restaurants and bars. If you don’t fancy walking you can always take a ride on a tuk tuk.
The grounds of Our Jungle Camp are very spacious and you can see a lot of wildlife around the property. You can also get down the river where there is some safe spots for playing in the water.
Things to do in Khao Sok
Our Jungle House offers many activities for its visitors. Below are some ideas of activities you can do while staying in Khao Lak.
1. HIKING IN KHAO SOK NATIONAL PARK
Khao Sok trekking and hiking in the National Park is some of the best in Thailand. The rainforest around Khao Sok is home to an abundance of wildlife. You can hike to waterfalls, swimming holes and caves.
We chose to do a late afternoon and evening hike into the Park, which including a dinner cooked in bamboo by our guide.
2. VISIT CHEOW LAN LAKE
The beautiful Cheow Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park consists of emerald green water with a delicious temperature of about 28 degrees. The lake is surrounded by immense limestone cliffs, the highest of which is 960 metres high!
We chose to do a late afternoon and evening hike into the Park, which including a dinner cooked in bamboo by our guide.
About Khao Sok National Park
Located in Southern Thailand, Khao Sok National Park was established in 1980 as Thailand’s 22nd national park. The park consists of a thick native rainforest, waterfalls, majestic limestone cliffs and an island-stubbed lake.
The rainforest in this region is one of the oldest in the world, believed to be even older than the Amazon. Due to Thailand having remained in a similar equatorial position throughout the last 160 million years, the climate has been relatively unaffected by ice ages. While other regions of the planet were suffering severe droughts, the Khao Sok region still received enough rainfall to sustain the forests.
By the 1900s much of Thailand was deforested by mass logging. In a twist of fate for Khao Sok, a group of Thai students who had become communist insurgents evaded the government by setting up a stronghold in Khao Sok. During 1975-1982, while other areas were being rapidly depleted of rainforest, these students, in trying to keep the Thai Army at bay, also obstructed the loggers, miners and hunters. By the time the students had left Khao Sok, it had been officially established as a National Park. It is now protected from logging under Thai national laws.
Khao Sok National Park covers an area of 739 square kilometres and extends into parts of the Khlong Yee and Khlong Pra Sang forests, as well as portions of the Krai Son and the Khao Pung areas in the Ban Ta Khun district and the Khlong Sok and Panom areas in the province of Surat Thani. It is bordered by another three National Parks.
The area in which Khao Sok sits was sculpted during the same tectonic shift that created the Himalayan mountains. Famous for the limestone or ‘karst’ mountains which loom dramatically over the lake, the terrain in Khao Sok was pushed upward to form the peaks seen throughout the region giving Khao Sok its mountainous landscape. In most of the region, the ground level is about 200m above sea level with the average mountain height around 400m. The tallest peak in the National Park is 960m in height.
Contact information and location of Our Jungle Camp
Getting to Khao Sok By Plane
Our Jungle Camp in Khao Sok is less than 3 hour’s drive from all airports in Southern Thailand. Surat Thani Airport is closest at just about 2 hours’ drive, but Phuket and Krabi airports are not too much farther.
Our Jungle Camp will organise a private taxi or van pickup service from any of these airports.
Getting to Khao Sok by Train
Surat Thani also has a train station about 2 hours away from Our Jungle Camp they can arrange a private taxi pickup. If you want to take public transport, you usually have to take a bus back into the city centre, and then catch another bus or minivan from Surat Thani Town to Khao Sok.
Getting to Khao Sok by Boat
If you are coming from the Gulf Islands, Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan, or Koh Tao, a private transfer can be made from Don Sak pier. It is about 3.5 hours to reach Khao Sok from Don Sak.
Getting to Khao Sok by Public Transport
Public buses to Khao Sok are available from all major towns and even from the Gulf Islands, but these options do take longer than a private transfer.
Private Transfers to Khao Sok
Private transfers are the easiest way to get to get to Our Jungle Camp – which you can arrange yourself or they can organise it for you.
| Website | https://www.khaosokecoresort.com/ |
| Telephone | +66 (0) 88-577-6838 |
| stay@khaosokecoresort.com | |
| Address | 123/1 Moo 6, Tambon Klongsok, |
The best time to visit Khao Sok National Park
Due to the high mountains and the fact that it is influenced by both the Northeast (Pacific Ocean) and Southwest (Indian Ocean) monsoons, Khao Sok has the highest level of rainfall in Thailand (3,500 mm per year).
The heaviest rains are between May and November, the driest period is between December and April; although even during that time there can still be some rain – there is always a fair chance to get wet when visiting a rainforest.
Khao Sok has warm temperatures throughout the whole year, with the statistically hottest months being March and April. However, temperatures only change at a range of 4 degrees Celsius during the year, varying between average maximum temperatures of 29 to 33 degrees to average minimum temperatures of 20 to 23 degrees. In fact, as in most tropical regions, temperature variations are higher between noon and midnight than they are between January and July.
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