Into the Jungles of Thailand with a Baby

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From the big city of Bangkok we were now heading into the jungle of Thailand with a baby. Khao Sok National Park is located in south west Thailand in the Surat Thani Province and is home to most of Thailand’s untouched forests. There are many activities to do in and around the park, and if you’re traveling with kids of any age, these parts of Thailand are a great place to visit.

Table of Contents

• Day 1 – Travel Day, Car Rental, Check in at Our Jungle Camp
• Day 2 – Birding Tour, Khao Sok National Park
• Day 3 – Cheow Lan Lake
• Day 4 – Elephants
• Day 5 – Check Out, Drive to Khao Lak
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Day 1 – Travel Day, Car Rental, Check in at Our Jungle Camp

We had departed Bangkok and were looking forward to our next destination in Thailand. We were both excited and a little nervous, as we were heading into the Thailand Jungle with a baby and staying in a tree house in Khao Sok National Park.

Our quick 1 hour flight from Bangkok airport into Surat Thani airport was uneventful. The flight was quick and Fox, our now 8 month old, was perfect for the short flight. Upon landing in Surat Thani, we grabbed our luggage and walked a short ways to pick up our rental car. When Alex and I travel, we often get a rental vehicle as we prefer to be on our own schedule. With a rental car you have the ability to decide what attractions you want to see and when, as well as the ability to change your plans last minute if needed. We have rented cars in many travel destinations prior to our son being born including Panama, England, Scotland, Greece, Poland, Eastern Canada and many US States. We were confident drivers, and didn’t want to be at the mercy of bus and train schedules with an infant. If you are considering renting a car for your upcoming trip in Thailand, keep in mind they drive on the left side of the road, which in our case is the opposite side as our hometown.

When researching rental car options and prices, we did notice that standard vehicles were much cheaper to rent than automatics. We weren’t unfamiliar with standard transmissions, but it is not what we usually drive at home so we decided to pay more for an automatic that we knew we would be comfortable with while driving on the left hand side of the road. Our car rental cost us 7700 Baht(฿) with is about $250USD for 11 days. It’s a good idea to check with your credit card company about optional car rental insurance. Our American Express offers us coverage for a rental of 48 days or less, with coverage for theft, loss and damage. When you pick up your rental car, some companies will try and tell you that you are required to purchase their insurance and even that it is illegal to drive in the country without it. This is false. If you do find your credit card offers this added insurance coverage, make sure to pay for your rental with said credit card, and have them email you a CDW (Collision Damage Waiver). Bring this print out into the rental company when you pick up your car.

We had done our research prior to choosing Thailand as our travel destination, and we knew that car seats were not mandatory in Thailand. During our travels in the car, I sat in the rear of the car behind the passenger seat with my seat belt on, and Fox would be in his carrier on my chest. The seatbelt would be safely behind his body, and this seemed to work well the entire time. This was also how we traveled in taxis, ride hailing vehicles and buses. You could opt to take your own car seat from home. Most airplanes will check car seats in for free in the cargo hold, however keep in mind you have to carry the seat around for the entire holiday. If you aren’t renting a car your whole trip, this is a large piece of luggage to have to carry with you on small airplanes, buses, trains, etc.

From Surat Thani we departed on our one and a half hour drive to Khao Sok National Park. We made a pit stop for some snacks and easy to store food to keep in the car, as well as a flat of water bottles. We were headed into the jungle with a baby and weren’t sure what to expect when we got there. The hotel we booked was called Our Jungle Camp Eco Resort. We stayed for 4 nights. We opted for the Tree House room, which was essentially a little hut on stilts. Total cost for all of us to stay was ฿11000 ($350USD).

The room was spacious with our own private bathroom. The room also included a ceiling fan, mosquito netting for the bed, and a large jug of water that we could use an unlimited amount from and would be filled when room service came the next day. We had two little twin beds that were pushed together as our double bed, and they even put a little mattress on the floor for our son, which we ended up not using very often as we co sleep with Fox while on holidays (Travel Tips).

Beware, there is no air conditioning anywhere on the resort. The rooms were secured with doors and windows for security, but the ceiling was straw with gaps and netting around the top. Beware, bugs are getting in, and the mosquito netting around the beds at night, is a must.

The restaurant and bar on site were all open air buildings. We read prior to booking with them, that monkeys often visited the tree houses in the mornings, and were notorious for stealing items that were left outside, or even entering tree houses that were not properly locked by its residents. We did end up seeing the monkeys on one morning during our stay.

We checked into our hotel, and by this time it was already getting late, so we wandered over to the restaurant hut, and tried out some local cuisine. Being in the middle of the jungle is a great experience, but you do lack food and restaurant choices while there. You are at the mercy of the hotel restaurant. The restaurant on site had a variety of meal choices, and the prices were not as expensive as they could have been given the remote location and lack of alternative options for their guests.

As you are in the middle of the jungle, there isn’t much to do in the evenings, which isn’t a bad thing, just different than the city. After dinner we sat in the bar and had a drink before we decided to call it a night and head to bed. There was a small area on the floor with pillows, which was perfect for sitting down with Fox. He could crawl around with some toys, while we had a drink.

Day 2 – Birding Tour, Khao Sok National Park

The hotel does offer tours and packages with things to do in the area. As we were traveling with an infant for the first time it was hard to know what we would be up for doing once we arrived, so we waited to book any tours until we checked in. If you are traveling during peak season you may find you have to book in advance to ensure a spot.

We made the decision to book three different tours through the hotel. The first of our three tours over the next three days was a guided birding tour. My husband Alex and I are hobby bird photographers and will often photograph local birds during our travels. Since we were in the middle of the Jungles of Thailand, we decided to book a private birding tour in hopes of being shown some birds that would be harder to spot on our own. We wouldn’t normally book the private tour and would opt for a group tour to save on cost and it’s always nice to socialize with other travelers as well. With an infant, avid birders may have issues with a potentially un happy baby joining them on their usually quiet tour so we opted for the private. 

To start our first full day in our Jungle Eco Resort, we woke up early for our bird tour. Upon waking up, we heard commotion outside and realized that the monkeys we were warned about had arrived. The treehouse directly across from us was surrounded by monkeys as they made their way through the trees. We would have liked to have watched them for a time, but we were in a hurry to get ready to meet our guide and by the time we were ready to depart for our birding tour, the monkeys were gone.

Our guide picked us up in his car from our hotel and we quickly realized that he was not as knowledgeable as other guides we had had on previous holidays. We drove to the entrance to the National Park and tried our luck walking around for some time. He seemed to just follow along in his bird book, and try and point out birds as we were walking. After a time we hopped back into his car as he advised he knew a few great spots to see some interesting birds. We ended up driving around the area for some time, with random stops, but not many birds. In the end we felt like we could have had a better tour if we self guided. The only highlights were a herd of water buffalo at a nearby farm, and a giant rhino beetle on a log. We left our guide feeling a little ripped off. Fox did amazing during the tour though. He sat happily in his carrier on my chest and seemed to really enjoy walking around the jungle.

We went back to our hotel for some lunch and to take a shower and a nap. Walking around for a few hours in the hot, humid weather without any respite in an air conditioned hotel room had us tired.

Our room did not have a bathtub. Each afternoon or evening we would lay a towel down in the bottom of the shower and turn on the shower head to give Fox a little wash. The towel over the drain would allow for the water to pool a little bit for him to splash around in, and the towel would give a soft place for him to sit.

After a bath, nap time. We weren’t new to traveling to hot destinations. If you have never done it, make sure to plan for ‘rest times’ during the day. Especially with children, the whole family will need these down times. Keep well hydrated, and always keep a hat on your kids. If your baby is hot, dehydrated and sun burnt your baby will be very grumpy and no one is going to have a good time.

After our nap we wanted to explore the National Park on our own. We didn’t want to walk too far into the jungle with a baby, and it was getting later into the day, so we just planned for a quick one hour walk or so. Upon getting to the entrance of the park, the Park Ranger at the information booth advised us that a rain storm was on the way. We looked up at the sky and concluded that this Park Ranger was crazy. It was a beautiful day. We insisted that we wanted to pay our entrance fee and go for a short walk anyway. The Park Ranger very kindly offered us to go in for free, as he knew we would have to exit the park very soon.

Not 5 minutes into our walk, it didn’t rain…it poured! We reluctantly had to turn back and admit defeat. Once we made it back to our treehouse, we looked like we were thrown in the river. Fox’s hat had melted around his head, but despite being rained on, he didn’t seem too unhappy by it. It was still warm after all.  

Day 3 – Cheow Lan Lake

The second of our three tours we booked was the Cheow Lan Lake Full Day tour. We were really looking forward to this one. If you’ve researched anything Thailand you have probably seen the photos taken from a long tailed boat on the lake with rock formations coming out of the water. As excited as we were, we were also nervous of this trip. Were we crazy for bringing a baby on a full day tour of a lake by long tailed boat? 

I HIGHLY recommend this trip with kids of any age. It was one of the highlights of our entire trip. In hind sight, we would have actually done the overnight tour, which is also offered by the hotel. The day tour included all drinking water, lunch, snacks, all transfers and your guide of course. In packing for the day trip with an 8 month old, we brought a couple changes of clothes for Fox. For this holiday we only brought rompers for him to wear, as they are so convenient and were great at keeping him cool with minimal layers. Hat and sunscreen. His Babybjorn Baby Carrier (BABYBJORN). Extra diapers and wipes. Swim suit and towel for him, as there was lake swimming available. We didn’t bring any towels for us, as it was so hot out we would just air dry, and quickly. We had also purchased a blow up rubber duck floatie that we had seen at a corner store the day before in anticipation of this trip. I carried all of Fox’s items and my husband carried our camera backpack full of all our camera gear, which we carry lots of when traveling.

We were picked up around 8:00am from our hotel. There were approximately 12 people on our tour, and they drove us to the marina in two separate vans. Once we arrived at the marina, we were given our life jackets and boarded our long tailed boat. I wore my life jacket on over the baby carrier. Except for a few photo ops while on the boat, Fox stayed in his carrier the entire boat ride over the lake. He did very well, and our tour guide loved him. We did run into an unfortunate circumstance due to our sons name. His name being Fox, many of the locals are not able to say it, as their accents don’t allow for the pronunciation of the o-x sound. Whenever his name was spoken by our tour guide (and we soon found other locals along our trip) a foul 4 letter F word we are all familiar with would be said instead. Because our tour guide loved interacting with Fox so much during the day, we often heard said 4 letter F word yelled at us across the boat, to our embarrassment and to the amusement of the other tour goers. Fox was of the age though, he had no idea what was going on.

Our guide took us across the river and through the notable pass with the rock formations coming out of the water. The scenery is gorgeous the entire way across the lake. The destination for the afternoon is a floating raft lodge. We climb off our boat onto a large wooden raft that stretches out across the water. There is a large communal hut with three walls and a roof were you can escape the sun. There are bean bag chairs and mats to lounge on and a large table to sit at for snacks and lunch. A small kitchen for the staff is behind on a smaller raft. A section for public washrooms with running water is available as well. A long row with small one room houses line a side raft and these would be your overnight accommodation if you booked the overnight tour. There are kayaks available to take out on the water, and a spot sectioned off for swimming.

The tour includes a hike into the national park to a cave known as Coral Cave. We opted out of this portion of the tour as did a few other of the tourists in our group. Our guide took the hikers to the cave, while the ones who remained behind were left to entertain themselves on the raft. It was so peaceful on the water, it was wonderful. The communal raft is very large, and Fox was able to crawl around as he wished. The staff that stayed behind loved him, and even commandeered him to the kitchen. He came out with a fresh banana and a big smile.

We had a couple of hours to entertain ourselves before the hikers would return and we would have lunch. Alex took out a kayak while Fox and I lounged on the covered raft and snacked on fresh fruit. When Alex returned we went swimming. The water was a delightful treat to the hot sun and humid air.

When the hikers returned we had lunch. An amazing meal was made for us including a couple of different curry dishes with rice and fruit platters. The food was a welcome treat from the mediocre food we had in Bangkok during the first leg of our Thailand trip. My husband and I love Thai cuisine and we were a little disappointed so far with our meals. After lunch we were able to see some wild boar on the shore behind the raft that had come to the water to drink. We watched them until they left, at which point it was time for us to leave as well. We didn’t want to leave. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We all got back onto the boat and made our journey back to our Jungle Camp. All in all, it was a great day. I’m going to say this again, I HIGHLY recommend this tour with kids of any age.

Day 4 – Elephants

The last of our three tours booked was a visit to the local elephant sanctuary. There are many sanctuaries in Thailand that have dedicated land all over the country in order to home the elephants that were once used for logging and other manual labour jobs. When logging was banned in the 80’s, thousands of elephants and their handlers (mahouts) were now out of jobs and homes. These elephants were no longer able to be released into the wild and many had been bred in captivity so they would not have survived anyhow. Due to over logging the elephant population was at risk of becoming extinct, so instead of killing all these domesticated elephants, these sanctuaries were formed all over the country where the elephant could live out the remainder of its life, and their mahout could work and care for them. There are different types of sanctuaries that offer viewing only, interaction but not riding, and riding. There are many different thoughts on the exploitation of elephants and the new ‘elephant tourism’ that was born out of the collapse of the logging industry. We had done our research on the different sanctuaries, and chose one that did not offer riding, as it was not something we were interested in doing or funding. When looking into elephant tours, do your research and decide what is best for you and your family, if you want to at all. The elephants livelihood depends on the tourism and the cost to feed an elephant per day is high as they eat 220-440 lbs (100-200 kgs) of vegetation per day!

We were picked up for our elephant tour from our hotel. It was a short drive to the sanctuary, about 20 minutes. Upon arriving, our guide goes through some safety rules and a little history of the elephants in Thailand. You are then introduced to two elephants. Their mahout walks out with them and they stand behind a short wood barrier and poke their heads and trunks over in search of food. All the guests get to then feed the elephants. We were given small bamboo shoots to feed them which they seemed to really enjoy. During feeding time the elephants are always on the other side of the barrier as the visitors. Once we are done with snack time, we take a short walk through the trees with the elephants leading the way. They took us to a muddy pool and the elephants climb right in and lie down. The elephants seemed so excited for their upcoming mud bath. The visitors then all climb into the muddy pool and smear the elephants with mud. We are given buckets and rough coconut shell brushes in which to scrub their skin. 

Be prepared to get muddy! You literally get covered in mud. This mud stained all of our clothes. Make sure to bring clothes you don’t mind getting ruined, as I ended up just throwing mine out.

Immediately following the mud pit, the elephants take you to a large water pool where you then use the buckets and brushes again to wash all the mud off.Fox was mesmerized by the elephants. I chose not to bring my carrier at this point as I didn’t want it to get it ruined and muddy with no way of washing it. I held Fox in my arms the entire time, and it went very well. There are showers on site for you to clean up afterwards, so bring a change of clothes and a towel. We really enjoyed our elephant tour. It was amazing to see them up close and you could really see their personality shine.

Day 5 – Check Out, Drive to Khao Lak

Check out day had arrived and it was time to say goodbye to our jungle tree house. We really enjoyed our time at Our Jungle Camp, but we were also eager to continue our journey in Thailand. We would now make the one hour drive east towards our beach resort Manathai Khao Lak (Now called Outrigger Hotel), which we would call home for the next 7 nights.

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