With information on hiking and park highlights, PeunPa’s newly launched Khao Yai Sustainable Visitor’s Guide (PDF 375kb) is a must read for anyone thinking of visiting this amazing World Heritage listed National Park.

The Guide contains advice on getting to Khao Yai and booking accommodation for overnight stays. Some of Khao Yai’s best sights and activities are featured, with a map of selected short hikes. The Guide also contains information on wildlife and park conservation, as well as tips on limiting the impact of your visit.

Earlier this month, 300 students attending the Sai Jai Thai Youth Camp spent three days in Khao Yai to learn about the forest, its wildlife, and the importance of nature conservation.

The Sai Jai Thai Youth Camp allows students from the South of Thailand, many from families affected by the 2004 tsunami, to experience a new environment and learn about other parts of the country, including the World Heritage Listed Khao Yai National Park.

Khao Yai and PeunPa staff assisted with fun educational activities, including hiking in the forest; bird watching and wildlife spot lighting; singing folk songs; and hands-on learning with animal bones and paw print casts.

Forbes has named Khao Yai among the Top Spots For Southeast Asian Ecotourism.

Khao Yai was featured in the top ten picks not just for it’s World Heritage listed forests and amazing biodiversity, but also as a place to learn about “regional ecology and conservation efforts.”

The PeunPa Foundation’s community outreach work in villages around the park was noted as a highlight for eco conscious travellers wanting to see and learn about forest conservation in action.

PeunPa is guiding sustainable development projects in several villages that border Khao Yai, to help former poachers become forest protectors.

On Elephant Day (13/3), Thailand acknowledges the majestic and powerful animal that forms such an integral part of the national identity.

As long as it is protected, Khao Yai National Park is a safe home for many elephants. However, as these visitors to the park found, it’s important to respect wild elephants and allow them space.

The National Elephant Institute is a great place to find more information about the historic importance of elephants in Thailand, as well as current conservation issues. According to the Institute, loss of habitat combined with human pressures could push Thailand’s wild elephants to extinction within 50 years.

At the start of the last century, there were over 100,000 elephants in Thailand. The population is now estimated at just 3,000-4,000. Around half of these are domesticated, with the remainder living wild in national parks like Khao Yai.

Thai conservation groups including PeunPa and Friends of the Asian Elephant are working hard to prevent habitat loss and care for elephants. Please support their efforts.

Having grown up on a farm in Australia, I know life in rural areas can be tough. The villages around Khao Yai National Park don’t have to deal with the bushfires and drought that occur in Australia, but these people often struggle to make a living.

For subsistence farmers with few opportunities to earn money legally, poaching timber and wildlife from the nearby park was always tempting.

The PeunPa Foundation is working to change this by helping these communities develop sustainable agriculture projects, such as fish and mushroom farming. The income from these projects means villagers don’t have to poach from the park to survive. As a volunteer with PeunPa, I had the chance to see these efforts first hand.

My visit to the villages around Khao Yai was an eye-opening experience. PeunPa’s community projects are providing a sense of pride and hope I could see in the faces of the villagers as they showed me their fish ponds and mushroom propagation huts. The projects may be small scale right now, but they’ve already helped change attitudes towards the forest. With the right support, they can do a lot more.