In terms of jaw-dropping scenery the four nights we spent in our floating bungalow in Khao Sok Lake were the most memorable we had in Thailand.
Khao Sok lake, also confusingly known as Cheow Lan Lake, is a reservoir of staggering proportions created in the eighties.
It is forty miles long with a bewildering numbers of side-arms surrounded by craggy and heavily-forested limestone mountains.
There was a chorus of gasps from the passengers on our longtail boat as we approached our floating accommodation at Panvaree Resort. It was matched by the chorus of howls from the Langur monkeys who seemed to be welcoming us in:
I wasted no time in taking a tour in one of the fleet of kayaks. Apart from the whooping calls from the monkeys, we had not seen any remarkable wildlife all day and I was not particularly optimistic that would change as I paddled along the shore of the lake. Freshwater is nothing like as productive as the sea.
Even so, I paddled along in complete silence and stealth mode, scrutinising every inch of the shoreline as I do in Cornwall and Devon, just in case. Camera primed and ready.
After an hour I turned back and settled for some scenery shots. A not too shabby consolation in the apparent absence of wild creatures, I suppose.
As I headed for ‘home’ I could not quite believe the signal coming from my retinas, which were trying to tell me that an otter had just rolled at the surface a hundred metres ahead.
I lurched into action mode and sneaked up on the patch of water where it had been, keeping well away and downwind.
Incredible…an otter pupped up and started to crunch its way through an eel-like fish, exactly as I had seen them do on the River Torridge with Henry only three weeks previously.
As I watched a familiar sound pierced the silence… the high-pitched ‘chirp’ of a young otter. It came from over my left shoulder so I rapidly but carefully paddled backwards as I was right in line if mother and pup were to reunite.
Not one pup, but two!
They met up in typically speedy and slithery manner and started to work along the shoreline, unaware of my presence. They did show a bit of concern at a Longtail boat, with a very noisy engine (silencers don’t seem to be a thing here), passing at distance.
However the threat did not deter mother otter from checking out a sprainting site on the corner of the mini-headland.
You can see the youngsters peering at the noise of the engine in this short, and shaky, clip. Or maybe it is the cheering and laughing of the Thai ladies group celebrating their joint 60th birthdays onboard that causes the otters to stare.
The pups then joined mum out on the dried mud, in the heart of the BIG scenery as the longtail boat chugged past in the background…
I was very keen that Becky should share the enjoyment of this encounter so I stoked my boilers up to maximun pressure and ploughed back towards the floating bungalows. This was not as straightforward as it might sound even though they were less than a mile away.
I had to overtake the otters without spooking them so looped far offshore which took me into the teeth of a fearsomely gusty headwind. Secondly the double kayak I was paddling was a streamlined as a kitchen sink. Thirdly the otters were progressing along the shore in the same direction as me at only a bit less than my flat-out paddling speed.
However my mind was set so I bludgeoned on with great intent. Fortunately Becky detected my sense of extreme urgency as I came around the corner into her view (even though I was half-a-mile away) so was all ready to hop aboard.
We powered back in silent mode and soon relocated the otter family. They all lolloped up the bank and enjoyed a prolonged dust bath. Great to observe.
We watched them working their way along the shore towards the ‘resort’ for about twenty minutes. Mostly in the water, slippery as snakes, sometimes venturing ashore.
Mum otter had to make a bit of a decision when she reached the final corner before the bungalows. There were quite a lot of humans a bit too close for comfort. I didn’t know whether these otters were as shy as their European cousins back home, but they seemed almost as wary.
After a good hard look she returned to the pups and led them on a short-cut across the headland to avoid the human melee. It was happy hour at the camp so audio disturbance was at a maximum.
We followed them a little more until they all disappeared amongst the rocks beneath a limestone bluff, probably for a nap.
This was an immensely exciting wildlife encounter as otters are currently right up there as one of my favourite animals. They are very definitely a kayaking speciality as stealth and silence is essential to stand any chance of eyeballing one. You’ve really got to be on your game. No chatting, no phone stuff.
So…what species were these particular otters. They clearly had less-pronounced noses than the species in the UK. Here’s a couple of those in Scotland…
I had assumed they were the familiar Asian Short-clawed Otter but they are small and teddy bear-ish, and I could see that the species in question had moderately long claws:
So maybe they were Smooth-coated Otters which are a little bigger than our own and have a silky coat and a slightly flattened tail…and that’s indeed what they were!! You can see all of that stuff in this pic…
Smooth coat, flattened tail, long claws.
Fantastic…a fifth otter species for me, to add to European Otter, Pacific Sea Otter (both seen from kayak) plus Speckle Throated Otter and Cape Clawless Otter seen in Africa long, long ago when the Bangles were top of the charts.
We really got in tune with the wildlife of the jungle around the lake with a glimpse of a water buffalo and excellent viewing of an elephant and calf. It’s a pity that this was from a motorised boat as it would have been much better by kayak. But I’m not complaining…it was a superbly serene encounter.
Absolutely lovely to see and the calf was a charmer:
It was great to welcome Tim and Jess back for a last couple of days at the lake. There ensued plenty of swimming and needless to say some kayaking.
I was very pleased to clock two more Hornbill species from the kayak…both really whoppers. The first was the exceptionally attractive Great Hornbill, the pin-up bird of Khao Sok National Park.
The second was a really distant view. Spotted by Tim as it flap-flap-glided high over the tree tops far away. It was so big I thought initially it was a stork, but the briefest view through binoculars showed a massive beak, black wings and white tail. An excellently named Rhinoceros Hornbill.
Several species of Eagle winged by along the shoreline. The very large White-Bellied Sea Eagle, the moderately large Grey-headed Fish Eagle and the not very large Lesser Fish Eagle.
Final excitement, and this WAS from the kayak seat, was a huge monitor lizard that Becky and I heard scrunching through the leaves towards us for ten minutes before it appeared out of the jungle. It was all a bit sinister and I was quite glad we had fifty metres of water between us and it.
All very Jurassic Park.
Six foot from tip of tongue to tail, we reckoned. That’s a lizard and-a-half!
Phew, there’s only one thing to do after all this excitement…have a cuppa!
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Panvaree Resort and Khao Sok Lake and move on to our final Thailand destination.
It got a thumbs up from me…
Next Stop…Pink Dolphins!!
The Lone Kayaker 
Yikes! I saw the word ‘bludgeoned’ as I was skimming through and then a photo of what looked like two dead otters! Good thing I decided to actually read the whole article! Felt a wave a relief!
Your trip certainly looks idyllic.