A popular national park for local and foreign tourists, known for its waterfalls, caves, historical sites and raft houses along its main river Khwae Noi. The park covers 958 km² in Sai Yok District of Kanchanaburi Province, the entrance is about 100 km northwest of Kanchanaburi City. The main attractions of the park are; Khwae Noi River, Sai Yok Lek Waterfall, remains of the Death Railway, Dao Wadung Cave, Khang Khao Cave and Lawa Cave.
Sai Yok National Park is part of a huge continuous forest complex called Western Forest Complex, about 18,730 km², comprises 19 protected sites in Myanmar and Thailand.
The mountainous regions of the park are covered with deciduous and dry evergreen forests, mixed with bamboo. The lower areas along the Khwae Noi River are teak forest which was deforested during the Japanese occupation of Thailand but later replanted in 1954. The highest elevation in the park is 1,328 meters asl at the border to Myanmar.
Chances to see some of the interesting animals around the visitor centre area is quite rare because the area is quite commercialised. Water monitors and barking deer are the only interesting animals that can be seen along the river. Most of the interesting animals hold to more remote areas deeper inside the park along the border to Myanmar.
Mammal species found in the park include elephant, gibbon, macaque species, Malayan porcupine, slow loris, serow, barking deer, sambar deer, wild boar and many more. There may be few tigers still roaming in the park.
There are two mammal species in Thailand argued to be the world’s smallest ones. One of them is a rare species of bat called Kitti's hog-nosed bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), it can be found in a limestone cave on a convenient walking distance from the visitor centre in Sai Yok. It is named after Kitti Thonglongya who found it for the first time in 1973. These bats are weighing around 2 grams, have 2.5-3 cm body length and up to 10 cm wing-span.
Map : https://goo.gl/maps/s15sZzZcTUA2ZXMF6
