Khao Yai National Park

Khao Yai National Park covers 2,168 square kilometres of forest and grassland across four provinces in central Thailand — Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Prachin Buri, and Nakhon Nayok — and is Thailand's oldest and third-largest national park. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, a designation shared with several neighbouring protected areas. The park's landscape ranges from high plateau grassland at around 800 metres to dense evergreen rainforest, creating a habitat rich enough to support 88 mammal species and over 320 bird species. Wild Asian elephants number approximately 200–300 within the park; sightings on the main road through the park in the evening are common enough that rangers discourage stopping vehicles during peak elephant movement hours. Gaur (Indian bison), sambar deer, gibbons, hornbills, and Siamese crocodiles (in the rivers) are also reliably present. The park's most dramatic waterfall, Haew Narok, plunges 150 metres in two tiers through forest — the highest waterfall in the park and one of Thailand's tallest. Haew Suwat waterfall (80 metres) gained international fame as a filming location for The Beach (2000). More than 50 kilometres of maintained hiking trails range from the easy 3-kilometre Haew Narok trail to overnight wilderness routes. The park is about 200 kilometres northeast of Bangkok and typically reached in 3 hours by road.