*** Star Sight

Erawan National Park - Kanchanaburi

Erawan National Park is a spectacular national park in east Thailand, it contains stunning scenery, a 7 tier water fall and numerous challenging walks. The Erawan National Park spreads over the Tenasserim hills, these hills are formed of limestone bed rock and raise to heights of 1,000 metres to the eastern edge of the park.

Erawan National Park is covered by lush deciduous forest and patches of extremely dense bamboo forest, with over 80% of the park is classified as forest.The national park is dissected by numerous rivers flowing from the high ground which massively swell during the monsoon rains. These monsoon rains have carved the limestone bedrock to form deep valleys and extensive cave networks.

The Erawan National Park is popular with tourist and tour groups which are drawn to the seven tiered waterfalls which provides the name of the national park. These waterfalls are very beautiful as the chalk bed rock gives the plunge pools either an intense blue or emerald green colour. There is also a popular and highly recommended walk/climb to the uppermost waterfall, to read further information about the Erawan Waterfalls please click here.

There is an abundant of wild life in Erawan National Park with both elephants and gibbons in their natural environment but much of the other protected wild life is too nervous of noisy tourists. During a trek through the quieter areas of the forest do expect to spot exotic birds and smaller forms of wild life.

A popular trek is the 12km trail to the Phrathat Cave, this route which heads northwest from the visitor centre and follows a clearly defined path. The Phrathat Cave contains impressive stalactites and stalagmites formed from the constant seeping water through the lime stone. The Phrathat Cave is also home to a large population of bats which rest during the day but swarm out of the caves entrance at dusk.

The other cave complex of the Erawan National Park is Wang Badan (or Sawan Wang Badan Cave) which lies to the west of the national park. The entrance to Wang Badan is via multiple small chambers that are only large enough for one person to pass at a time. Past the entrance the cave complex open into larger upper and lower caverns. The lower cavern is the more intriguing as an underground river flows through the centre and contains numerous albino cave dwelling fish. Many of these fish are unique to this cave complex.

During the summer months the high humidity of the park can become overwhelming. The best time period to visit the park is after the monsoon season between November and January. During these months the humidity combined with the temperature makes trekking enjoyable and the rivers are at their fullest making the Erawan Waterfalls look spectacular.

The Erawan National Park is located to the north west of Kanchanaburi and is approximately 65km from the providence capital on the main road (Route3199) heading towards the border with Myanmar. There is a regular bus service between the park and Kanchanaburi but the final bus of the day leaves the park at 16:00. The recommended day trip is to catch the first bus of the day which leaves at 8:00 and return on the last bus at 16:00, as the bus journey takes approximately 2 hours.

There is accommodation in the national park in wooden bungalows close to the visitor centre and travelers with tents are allowed to pitch on this site. Camping within the national park is frowned upon.