Thailand Photography Tour Of The North & Central Regions

The first day of this trip really just involved getting to our first destination - the village of Thatorn where we would stay for two nights. I collected Pieter and Roger from Chiang Mai international airport and we made the three hour drive to Thatorn.

As I had been hoping, we managed to get there a little before sunset so we had the opportunity to take some test shots just so that I could see what sort of results could be obtained in what were fairly poor light conditions.

A few common birds were photographed but, of course, the late afternoon can produce some very nice light effects and although there was too much cloud cover to give us the best sunset we did take some nice scenery photographs in the rice fields close to where we would stay.

The brilliant green of the growing rice is always a beautiful scene but with these mountains in the background and pinkish hue to the late afternoon sky I think this makes quite a nice picture.

Doi Lang is perhaps one of the wildest parts of Thailand. You will not really find Doi Lang marked on any map because it is just the name that locals and bird watchers have given to the back ridge of Doi Ph Hom Pok, Thailand's second highest mountain.

An old road, which had recently been repaired on our visit, makes a loop from the highway, going up into the mountains; for much of its length the road forms the boundary between Thailand and Myanmar. The journey up the road took about one hour from our accommodation in the lowlands (there are no facilities on the mountain) so we had early starts to be there for around 7am.

The vegetation varies a lot on this mountain with pine forest on some of the ridges and moist, mossy forest on other parts. Because of this the scenery is varied, the plant life is diverse and there are lots of beautiful birds - that is why we were there.

However, despite the fact that we had some heavy rain during our visit, there were lots of opportunities to take photos of the wonderful scenery, lots of birds coming to a feeding station and I found this orchid to be a nice subject for a photo.

There were lots of these parasitic orchids among the moss and ferns on tree trunks, but it was not until Roger spotted this one at head height that I was able to take a nice photo of them.

Our time on Doi Lang was very enjoyable with lots of space to ourselves, peace and quiet plus lots of birds. Our packed lunch, provided by our guesthouse, was excellent too and it was nice to eat it out in a beautiful location.

Although there are a couple of army checkpoints on the mountain there is no official border crossing point and it is never really clear where Thailand finishes and Myanmar begins. In fact on one occasion I wandered off into some farmland and spoke to a local in Thai only to be answered in an altogether different language - I had strayed over the border into Myanmar!

This time the Thai army, at one checkpoint, took our passports for safekeeping, which was strange as we thought we were still in Thailand! I have not been asked for my passport here before - never mind, they were returned, with a smile, on our way back.

The weather, when we were at Doi Lang, was unseasonally wet and we had a big thunderstorm on our first morning there, however, once it had cleared the mountain once again began a lovely place to be. In fact, experiencing the storm was something to remember too as it swept in and engulfed us in heavy rain and fog for about an hour.

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The journey from Doi Lang to Doi Ang Kang was a bit of an adventure as we used a road that very few people ever travel on and one that I had not been along for more than ten years. We had to go through two Thai army checkpoints and before going through the first one we were subjected to a lot of questions, as we were traveling at a time that it was clearly stated on the gate that the road was closed.

However, thankfully I speak Thai so a friendly chat with the soldiers, including the boss on a walkie-talkie, and we were allowed through. After a short but very steep drive we arrived at the hill tribe village of Ban Nor Lae, somewhere I am very familiar with.

After eating our lunch at Ban Nor Lae we went to the King's Project at Doi Ang Kang, a beautiful place which used to be the domain of drug warlords until the King of Thailand ordered the army to clear them out and then he set up an agricultural project for the villagers to grow niche food products; I highly recommend the Ang Kang salad in the restaurant here with its "secret recipe" dressing.

We spent some time photographing some birds at another meal worm feeding station which gave us lovely shots of White-tailed Robin and a few other species.

• Bird watching at Doi Ang Kang

Under normal circumstances we would have spent more time at this beautiful location, but we had visited it together on the previous year and were using our time elsewhere in 2013.

Doi Inthanon is Thailand's highest mountain at 2565 metres. Apart from one short stop at Watcharitan waterfall we drove straight from Chiang Mai to the summit of the mountain.

Now, don't start thinking of snowy and rocky vistas at the summit, this mountain is forested all the way up to the highest point, but what wonderful forest it is with gnarled, mossy trees thick with ferns and orchids, like something from a fantasy movie.

It was quite chilly at the top this early in the morning and we had some hot drinks (the hot chocolate is great but I had ginger tea this time) and took a walk around the summit gardens and boardwalk where we saw some attractive birds and this shrine with its colorful offerings.

Our whole morning was spent at Doi Inthanon's summit, taking our time to find and photograph some of the many species of birds that live up there. One of the most spectacular is Green-tailed Sunbird which likes to feed on the flowering rhododendrons that are common at this location. The Thai name translates as "thousand year-old rose", which I think is quite poetic, and we spent some time standing close to one of these watching the sunbirds flit in and out, feeding on the flower's nectar. It was not easy, given how fast they were, but eventually Pieter and Roger got the shots they were after.

We all had our cameras set for bright conditions, so when the Wren Babbler perched on a branch in a shady spot our camera setting were all wrong and we ended up with horribly blurred photos - such is photography and as annoying as it was we just laughed it off.

The rest of the morning was spent in similar fashion and we descended the mountain a little for lunch with time to view our photos so far, having already decided to return again after eating to try and photograph some birds that had so far eluded us.

After enjoying much of the afternoon here and finding some more wonderful birds we headed downhill, back to Watcharitan waterfall, to see if we could find another special bird; Slaty-backed Forktail. We found it and got some photos but the waterfall really is one of the most photogenic that I know in Thailand so out came our cameras again.

Standing on the viewing platform was a bit wet and we had to put our cameras away and retreat a little to get this shot. With the light fading and some nasty biting insects making a nuisance of themselves we drove out of the national park to our accommodation where we had an excellent dinner.

We had a bit of a lay-in and a leisurely breakfast at our accommodation before walking around the gardens a little. The walk was not very productive so we decided to go straight to Mae Wong national park where we knew there would be some more birds coming to feeding stations.

The journey took about 5 hours and after checking into our guesthouse we went straight into the park and met Ranger Annan who helped organize it so we could spend some time in blinds over the next few days photographing birds.

For anyone who has never done anything like this I will explain. Certain spots around the forest have been regularly baited with meal worms and split corn in the hope of attracting birds. Some of these feeding stations work out well but others, for some reason, do not. over the course of time certain species regularly come to feed at the same spot, including some species of birds that are almost impossible to see under normal circumstances. It is a bit weird as you can see in the photo above.

There were several places like this at Mae Wong and it involved quite a lot of uncomfortable  waiting. However, our best experience was on the second day when 3 Rufous-throated Partridges and a Grey Peacock Pheasant came out to feed and this was after we had given up on anything happening and were about to leave. 

After our final morning at Mae Wong we decided to move on to our next destination; Bueng Boraphet, a large lake full of birds and beautiful lotus flowers.

Nakorn Sawan is a large city in central Thailand and it is always very hot and humid there; 33-38C is normal so it was nice to relax for an hour or so, in our hotel, when we arrived there. After our break we went to Bueng Boraphet to arrange a boat trip for the next morning and take some photos in the late afternoon light.

Although it was the late afternoon it was still hot and sticky, even after sunset, so having got some nice shots of birds and the evening colors we went back for a shower, dinner and to check out what Thais do for night life in Nakorn Sawan.

We had breakfast in our hotel, the next morning, and met our boatman at 8am. We briefed him that we wanted to spend time photographing birds rather than rushing around to see every last species on the lake. Mr Phanom is used to these requests and did a great job of inching us nearer to birds and he is always very good at spotting them.

We spent a very enjoyable morning photographing many species of waterbirds; it is wonderful here because there are so many birds and the light is very nice in the morning. At the end of our boat ride we all agreed that if we had more time we would go out again the next day.

After having lunch at Nakorn Sawan we began driving to Khao Yai national park. The route took us through some of Thailand's industrial areas and it is often a surprise to many visitors how much heavy industry there is and how well-developed the infrastructure of the country is.

Feeling a little tired on the drive I made a stop for a break and a drink; Thailand's roads are dangerous and there is no sense in taking risks just to go and see more birds. On one of our stops I noticed some chili peppers out to dry, a typical thing to see in colorful Thailand.

As we approached Khao Yai in the late afternoon we could see a large storm building. We could see that the weather in the forest was going to be poor so I stopped at a small government compound close to the national park gate where I knew we could see Red-breasted Parakeets.

One of the nice things about Thailand is that people are laid back and relaxed about things; I can't think of too many countries where you can just drive into some government offices and start walking around, bird watching, but it is no problem here; in the past the staff have even brought out cold drinks to me.

Pieter and Roger spent time taking their photos of parakeets but my camera was not powerful enough for that so instead I admired to cloud formations that had formed on the edge of the storm.

The storm eventually reached us but by the next morning it was dry so we entered the national park. Some of the forest at Khao Yai is wonderful, with huge, towering Strangler Fig trees, like something from a pre-historic landscape, providing food to mammals and birds.

Despite getting some nice photos of birds such as Thick-billed Green Pigeon and Great Hornbill something was not right for us with this location; finding birds was too hard with very little activity and somehow we just were not enjoying our time here. As this was a holiday to be enjoyed and not a quest for every last bird in Thailand the decision was made to move along ahead of schedule and go to Bangkok a day early. Making the appropriate changes to our hotel bookings was not a problem at this time of year so off we went.

We left Bangkok via Sri Nakorn Kuan Kan park and our main aim here was to get photographs of the very beautiful Pink-necked Green Pigeon which is common there. As you can see from my photo, we were successful in that, thanks to being able to get up into the canopy on a special bird watching tower which is in the park.

The humidity here was quite something after another storm the previous evening but it was worth putting up with it as there were lots of birds including Collared Kingfisher which after much teasing allowed us to get some shots.

The heat at the park sapped our energy in the end so we made the drive to the province of Petchaburi. Once again we checked into our hotel, had lunch and took a rest in our rooms before heading to the nearby rice fields.

The rice fields in this part of Thailand are quite interesting as they are farmed only semi-intensively and most of the fields are fairly small with a habitat patchwork that encourages a lot of birds to come and feed. Apart from that the mixed farming makes for interesting scenes with buffaloes, simple tractors and armies of ducks used to eat parasitic snail eggs; I often bring people here who are fascinated with the scenes of daily life in Thailand that are so exotic to visitors from western countries.

The rice fields proved to be a great place for bird photography and we were able to use our mini van as a mobile hide to get close to the birds. The highlight were several colonies of weaver birds making their elaborate nests and squabbling over who had the best creation.

Our day was completed with yet another great dinner and an English Premier League match which was being shown on a big screen in a bar opposite our hotel; it was a pretty uninspiring game though.

The two adjoining areas of Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia are the host to tens of thousands of wading birds between the months of October and April every year and the big excitement for bird watchers is the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper. This area is known all around the world as the easiest place to see this rare species.

For those that are not looking for birds the area is of interest for the salt farming that occupies extensive areas here. 

Over the course of a day and a half we were able to take many hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs of shorebirds, terns, egrets and other species. Once again we used the van as a mobile hide and often got extremely close to the birds. At one point we sat with the doors of the van open and waited next to some mud and several small wading birds came closer and closer, seemingly oblivious to our presence. 

This location was a real highlight of our trip because of the high number of excellent photos we were able to get of a very large number of species.

Using the camera in this way was surprisingly simple and fast, and after a little practice I started to get better at getting high quality photos using the camera. This is not to say that you can work miracles with this camera, but at the time I bought it this model was at the higher end of the compact digital camera range and some of the photographs I got were really pleasing.

When the heat became too much, on our second day at laem Pak Bia, we began our drive to our next destination, Kaeng Krachan National Park, where we would have lunch at our guesthouse there, a very pleasant place called Ban Maka.

Our first afternoon at Kaeng Krachan ended up with a lot of rain; yet another storm in what is supposed to be the dry season. However, we looked around a few places and found several nice species to take pictures of - it was nice to make the most of what could have been a bad afternoon.

Our final two mornings were spent inside Kaeng Krachan national park. This national park has a profusion of wildlife within it including tiger, elephant, leopard, tapir, gibbons and hundreds of species of birds.

Bird photography in the forest is very difficult but we were patient and using our bird watching skills we were able to get close to some very beautiful birds including Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Banded Broadbill, Sultan Tit and Black-and-red Broadbill to name a few.

On the afternoon of day thirteen we had saved ourselves a real treat; a session at Uncle Sin's Waterhole. We had visited this location the year before, together, and it had been one of the highlights of the trip. Uncle Sin is an ex poacher who, with encouragement, has turned his water hole from a trap to a wildlife-watcher's paradise. He charges 200 baht for each person to sit in the hide and watch or take photos of the birds and animals that arrive to drink and eat the food he puts out.

On the day that we visited we had a wonderful performance to watch with constant action for more than 4.5 hours! Dozens of species of birds came, including an amazing Slaty-legged Crake and several cute Lesser Mouse Deer, which came to gulp down Jambu fruits whole.

As we expected, Uncle Sin's Waterhole was one of the highlights of our tour but dinner at Ban Maka was certainly not far behind either.

One might ask why we made a second visit to the rice fields. Well, for one it makes a sensible stop to break up the journey back to Bangkok. Secondly, I have been running these trips for a while now and it is always good to finish on a high note, so with this in mind I had "saved" some birds that I knew I could show Pieter and Roger for this last afternoon. 

Our drive back to Bangkok was timed so that we should miss the worst of the traffic and we did. There were just a few short hold-ups on the expressway as we entered Bangkok which gave me the opportunity to take this one last photo for the trip.

In fact ,as we drove along the elevated roads into the city centre, Roger was able to take some nice photos of the city skyline at sunset. I missed these, unfortunately, as I was driving!

Once in our hotel we had a final diner together before saying our goodbyes and reflecting on a wonderful, and very enjoyable, photography tour of Thailand

I have tried to talk about our tour of Thailand in more general terms and most of the photographs I have used have been selected to illustrate what a great place Thailand is for photography of all sorts of things. However, our trip was primarily to photograph bird, so I will finish this account with a selection of my photographs of birds from this trip.

After the bird photographs please vote for your favorite.

^{All photos by Nick Upton}