Koh Lanta, Thailand

We arrived in Koh Lanta by bus that was supposed to drop us off at our hotel but mixed up the names. Kantiang View vs Kantiang Bay View is pretty easy to confuse but we had to walk up a hill to Kantiang View just to be told we were in the wrong place and then had to ask the other hotel to come pick us up. Luckily they were very very nice about it and picked us up right away.

Kantiang Bay View, Koh Lanta, Thailand

Koh Lanta Beach at Kantiang Bay

Koh Lanta was not exactly what I expected. I was hoping that the further we went down the island the more we would be on a secluded beach surrounded by wildlife. There were a lot of tourists and a lot of resorts along the beach. That being said just our first afternoon sitting around and relaxing we saw a lot of birds including Greater Coucal, Brahminy Kite, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Indian Roller, Pacific Reef Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Common Myna, Zebra Dove, Green-billed Malkoha, Dollarbird, Common Sandpiper, Intermediate Egret, Olive-winged Bulbul, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Common Iora, Coppersmith Barbet, Swallow sp., Olive-backed Sunbird and Large-billed Crow.

Common Iora

Female Indian Roller

The rivers in the area was quite dried up but a Common Water Monitor was eating fish trapped in small pools of water and at night a few frogs and toads were in the wetter parts.

Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

The reef outside the hotel had a lot of fish but you had to go pretty far out along the rocks to see anything cool and the coral isn't very spectacular. I saw a massive puffer fish approximately a meter long and an adorable pair of clown fish on an anemone. My favorite fish that was common was these little black and turquoise tangs (I think they are babies).

Tiny crab making an intricate design on the beach

Crab-eating Macaques are all over the island and we saw them from our room, along the road and all over the National Park. The National Park is quite lovely with some amazing views but the hiking trail is actually a fairly short loop and the majority of the park you can access is manicured. Because we got into an motorcycle accident on the way and then stopped to take photos of the Macaques (who actually jumped on the bikes) we had a much later start than desired and birding was quiet. There were a few Commonn Sun Skinks and Oriental Garden Lizards along the trails and Water Monitors in the ponds of the park.

Crab-eating Macaque

Koh Lanta National Park Map

Koh Lanta National Park, Thailand

Common Sun Skink (Eutropis multifasciata)

The park closes quite early and we didn't have a chance to go snorkeling here but I hear it was better than other places on the island. I think that maybe Thailand is a place where going out diving in one of the best locations might actually be worth it but maybe it was just around Koh Lanata that the reefs were a bit far away or hard to find.

My favorite trail was actually up to a waterfall between our hotel and Bamboo Beach. They charged 20B for safe parking but you can just drive past this and park at the trailhead for free if you aren't worried. The trail is a loop that is a bit rocky in places and since many broken flip flops littered the trails I believe it is best to wear something more appropriate for a hike. In dry season the trail goes to right along the river up to the waterfall and you can actually hike up the river above the waterfall to areas with small pools of water. These are lovely for a quick dip or relaxing in while it's hot. They have very chilly water and some small fish and crayfish were living in them.

Waterfall in dry season, Koh Lanta, Thailand

 Along the other side of the loop the bat cave has a large entrance just off a small short branch of the trail. Despite the large entrance you can't actually walk very far into the cave. You can hear the bats but at first you can't really see any of them. We went up in the evening and actually got to see the bat coming out of the cave. They started to come out slowly and were perching around the entrance. It wasn't really like movies where they come out in a large swarm.

Flying Lizard (Draco sp.)

Sheath-tailed Bat (Family Emballonuridae)

The herping on the way back along the trail that evening was also quite good. It was mostly geckos and two species of frogs with a few toads. One large species of gecko got away from me as I slipped on a wet root right when I saw it. It was a stunning contrast of black and white stripes. Not as big at a Tokay Gecko but larger than any of the house geckos. Most of the frogs along the river were Rain Frogs but around the dam green frogs with black stripes were more common. Some frogs were calling from higher up in vegetation but it was impossible to find one lower down. My herp list from that night included Green Paddy Frog, Asian House Gecko, Blyth's River Frog, Common Asian Toad, Tokay Gecko, Flat-tailed House Gecko, Limborg's Frog and Three Lined Grass Frog.

Pegu Forest Gecko (Cyrtodactylus peguensis)

Green Paddy Frog (Hylarana erythraea)

Blyth's River Frog (Limnonectes blythii)

It is very hard to get food early in the morning. Koh Lanta is definitely on island time not birding time. The 7-11 on the corner down from our hotel was actually a god send for this reason. I thought I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere on a secluded island but getting some coffee and a bite to eat before early morning walks was definitely appreciated. In terms of food the Drunken Sailor was the best food we had on the island but everywhere had pretty similar menus and prices from what we saw.  The Drunken Sailor had the best smoothies with my favorite being the yellow submarine with mango and banana.