Khao Sok consists of thick native rainforest, waterfalls, majestic limestone cliffs and an island stubbed lake. It is the 22nd National Park in Thailand.

Size
Khao Sok National Park covers an area of 739 square kilometres. The combined sizes of Khao Sok (740km2), Sri Phang nga (246km2) and Khlong Phanom (410km2) National Parks along with Khlong Saeng (1156km2) and Khlong Naka (480 km2) wildlife sanctuaries is just over 3000 square kilometres

Location
Khao Sok is in the south of Thailand in the Surat Thani province, between Surat Thani on the east (120km) and Takuapa on the west coast (60km). The park extends into parts of the Khlong Yee and Khlong Pra Sang forests as well as portions of the Krai Son and the Khao Pung sub-districts in the district of Ban Ta Khun and the Khlong Sok and Panom sub-districts in the province of Surat Thani.

Click here to see maps of the area.

Climate
Khao Sok has the highest level of rainfall in Thailand (3 500 mm per year), due to the high mountains and the fact it is influenced by both the Northeast (Pacific Ocean) and Southwest (Indian Ocean) monsoons. The heaviest rains are between May and November, the driest period between December and April; although even during these times there can still be some rain.

Mosquito
There is no need to worry about malaria, because the disease has been eradicated from this area a long time ago. Even so, we recommend that you bring mosquito repellent when you visit Khao Sok. The mosquitoes can sometimes be a bit annoying, especially in the evening and after rain.

Soils
Scientists used to think that the dense vegetation of tropical rainforests resulted in fertile soils. However, as rain passes through the leaves and other organic materials on the ground, the water becomes acidic. The acidity dissolves and removes the minerals from the soil. This results in the formation of what is known as ‘oxisols’ – red soils with high content of iron and aluminium oxides and low silica content. Plants in the rainforest get their nutrition from the decaying leaf litter, since there are very few nutrients available from the soil itself.

Topography

The National Park consists of:

The rainforest in this region is some of the oldest in the world, since over the last 160 million years Thailand has remained in a similar equatorial position. The climate in the area has been relatively unaffected by ice ages, since the landmass is relatively small and has seas on both sides. Even whilst other places on the planet were suffering droughts, the Khao Sok region still received enough rainfall to sustain the forests.

Species diversity is high in Khao Sok, since during the last ice age sea levels fell to such an extent that there was a land bridge between Malaysia, Borneo and some of the Indonesian islands. This opened up new migration routes to land based organisms.

The rainforest in Khao Sok has features of both tropical evergreen forest and tropical rainforest. There are approximately 200 different floral species per hectare ????????

Khao Sok is also famous for its limestone or ‘karst ‘mountains. In most of the region, ground level is about 200m above sea level, with the average mountain heights around 400m. The tallest peak in the National Park is 960m in height.

Wildlife (recorded species)

• Mammals: 48 species • Birds: 311 species • Bats: 38 species • Reptiles: Unknown • Insects: Unknown