Khao Soi Dao is a wildlife sanctuary situated in the Chantaburi province of Thailand. It covers the area around South and North Soi Dao mountains.
These mountains are part of the expansive Cardamom Mountains range, which stretches deep into Cambodia.
Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary was founded in 1972 and spans an area of 745 square kilometers, predominantly consisting of mountainous landscapes.
In 2007, the sanctuary was also designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA), thus of global importance for bird conservation.
Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary is home to many more bird species of importance to global conservation.
This includes Siamese Fireback , Great Hornbill and Moustached Hawk Cuckoo , all of which are near-threatened on a global level.
The Great Hornbill was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.
The Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo is threatened by rapid habitat loss caused by logging, land conversion and forest fires.
The population is probably declining at a moderately rapid rate because it can live in secondary forests.
The Blue-Rumped Pitta is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. It is found in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Khao Soi Dao is the only place in Thailand where this species live.
Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary is also home to a diverse range of mammals species, with many threatened ones included.
The mountains contain one of Asia’s last seven remaining elephant corridors, and 80 percent of the elephants found within the ‘Southwest Elephant Corridor’ reside in the Cardamoms.
Topographically, the site comprises two distinct areas: a mountainous area with perennial streams and waterfalls in the south; and a smaller, low-lying area in the north.
In total, 27 species found in the Cardamom Range are imperiled with extinction, including Asian Elephants and Indochinese Tigers.
Khao Soi Dao Nuea, the second highest peak, and Khao Soi Dao Tai, the highest peak, soar 1,675 meters above sea level.
The highest elevation of the Cardamom Mountains is Phnom Aural in the northeast at 1,813 m. This is Cambodia’s highest peak.
Other important summits in the Cambodian parts are:
Phnom Samkos 1,717 m
Phnom Tumpor 1,516 m
Phnom Kmoch 1,220 m
In Thailand, the most prominent peaks are:
Khao Sa Bap 673 m
Khao Soi Dao Tai 1,675 m
Khao Chamao 1,024 m
The Asian golden cat, also called the Asiatic golden cat and Temminck’s cat, is a medium-sized wild cat of Southeastern Asia.
In 2008, the IUCN classified Asian golden cats as Near Threatened, stating that the species comes close to qualifying as Vulnerable due to hunting pressure and habitat loss, since Southeast Asian forests are undergoing the world’s fastest regional deforestation.
The Asian golden cat was named in honor of the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck, who first described the African golden cat in 1827.
Visitors can trek through walking trails embraced by the dense forest to admire the beautiful waterfall, as well as, challenge yourself with waterfall climbs.
The Gaur also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986, as the population decline in parts of the species’ range is likely to be well over 70% during the last three generations.
Population trends are stable in well-protected areas, and are rebuilding in a few areas which had been neglected. The Gaur is the tallest species of wild cattle.
Being a Wildlife Sanctuary, not a National Park, public accommodation is not available within the park other than the campsite.
The beauty of the waterfall comes from its structure. It has 16 tiers, extending from the tip of the waterfall to its base.
This area consists of valuable resources for conservation, such as Spiny Breasted Frog that is found exclusively only at this place, locally famous trees, herbal plants, and the most famous cardamom garden near the peak.
The Pileated Gibbon is a primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae.
The Pileated Gibbon has sexual dimorphism in fur coloration: males have a purely black fur, while the females have a white-grey colored fur with only the belly and head black.
The white and often shaggy hair ring around the head is common to both sexes.
The range of the Pileated Gibbon is eastern Thailand, western Cambodia and southwest Laos.
Its lifestyle is much like other gibbons: diurnal and arboreal, it lives together in a monogamous pair, brachiates through the trees with its long arms, and predominantly eats fruits, leaves and small animals.
Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary is in one of the wettest regions of the country and the lush forest found here is quite spectacular with one of the most picturesque waterfalls of any location in Thailand.
Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary is monsoon evergreen forest, but patches of deciduous forest and bamboo thickets are also to be found.
A number of food stalls at HQ have a good range of cheap and tasty Thai food and a good selection of drinks.
The Cardamom Mountain Range is home to one of the planet’s 35 internationally recognized biodiversity hotspots. Great place to explore the jungle.
