Private Tour | Kui Buri elephant safari | half day
Kui Buri National Park is known to be the best place in Thailand to spot elephants and relatively good chance to spot gaurs, and that sometimes in big herds. Gaurs are the biggest cattle species and the fourth biggest land-mammal species in the world. Other possible sightings during the tours include sambar deer, banteng and wild boar.
What?
Due to strict regulations this half-day wildlife safari tour doesn't include any hiking activities apart from leaving the vehicle for short walks to viewing areas, we will only be allowed to do safari driving. During our tour we scan the forest edges on grassland areas known to be prime elephant habitat in hope to see mainly elephants and/or gaurs.
Tour itinerary
From 2:30 pm till 6 pm
Wildlife tours in Kui Buri National Park are strictly regulated and limited to certain hours. After a mandatory registration we will get assigned an open-air vehicle with driver and an assistant. The tour will begin by driving slowly into the reserve on the main dirt road north heading to the main grassland areas. While driving slowly, we will search for any wildlife including birds or any other smaller/bigger animals.
Our first stop will be a viewing area where we leave the vehicle in hope to spot wildlife, mainly elephants. We will later on continue to the next viewing area at the end of the road, best known for spotting gaurs, but also elephants and sometimes bantengs.
During the tour, your guide will give you information about the habitat, wildlife and history of the park.
The type of assigned vehicle is an open-air pick-up truck driven by locals. It is the Kui Buri National Park's policy to let locals do the driving, a policy that showed to be a success in reducing the poaching in the park.
Where & When?
Kui Buri National Park lies about 1.5 hours driving distance from Hua Hin and nearly 4 hours from Bangkok. We can offer private transfers from Bangkok, Hua Hin or other destinations. The park is open all year round.
Tour details in short:
- Duration: half day
- Type: Private tour
- Price: 1,050 to 3,500 Baht per person
- Group size: 1 or more people
- Grade: Easy
- Transport: Safari vehicle
- Start: 2:30 pm
- End: 6 pm
What to bring:
- Rain clothing
- Insect repellent
- Sunblock lotion
- Hat or cap
How much?
Our half-day safaris are private tours. You'll be accompanied by an English speaking licensed guide and no other people will join you; the best way to explore Kui Buri Wildlife Watching area!
| Pax | Rate per person |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3,500 THB |
| 2 | 2,000 THB |
| 3 | 1,600 THB |
| 4 | 1,300 THB |
| 5 | 1,200 THB |
| 6 | 1,150 THB |
| 7 | 1,100 THB |
| 8 | 1,050 THB |
Tour rates include:
- Entrance fees
- English speaking guide
- Drinking water
Reviews from our guests
By: Katriina Laine | posted Tue 24 Mar, 2020
We had a truly wonderful experience. Everything worked as promised with pick-ups and all. The English guide we had was great. A huge bonus of course was seeing two elephant herds. Anyone comes that way, I am truly recommending using your service. Thank you for an experience of a lifetime!
By: Gerda Estl | posted Wed 4 Mar, 2020
Easy booking via Internet. Sometimes you get answers during the night and you have a certain time to answer or book... not easy when you are not online all the time.
Payment is via Paypal- which means you have first to register, but then you can pay with creditcard.
Perfect organisation of taxi and tour. We were very lucky with our guide Som, she was really eager to find elefants- though we only saw one single elefant ? wirhin ca 4 hours ? we enjoyed the time, the view, the sound of nature...
Tour operator's response
Dear Gerda,
Thank you for your review.
Of course with a last minute booking there is limited time to confirm, we also need the time to arrange the requested services like the transfers and guide etc. That's one reason why the invoices are automatically deactivated if not paid before a certain time.
We can not be online 24 hrs a day ;-) So, we prefer having things arranged before the end of a normal workday. Though nevertheless usually we make exceptions on this on a daily basis, just like in your case. That's why we are usually still at work till (after) midnight...
A shame the elephants did not come out in larger numbers, but well that is nature. One is still better than none.
Thank you for booking with us.
By: Uwe Zierke | posted Mon 24 Feb, 2020
Wir hatten eine tolle Tour und haben auch an drei Stellen die wilden Elefanten gesehen, zweimal 6 Elefanten und einmal einen einzelnen Bullen. In weiter Ferne mit dem Fernglas haben wir auch die wilden Rinder (Gaur) gesehen. Die Ranger sind gut per Funk vernetzt, was die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Elefantensichtung erhöht, auch wenn es keine Garantie dafür gibt. Wir können die Tour auf jeden Fall empfehlen!
By: Ella Van Westendorp | posted Sun 23 Feb, 2020
Our guide Billy and a lady I do not know the name of went out of their way to show us elephants and birds. Absolutely lovely. Will book again!
By: Jukka Ronkainen | posted Sat 22 Feb, 2020
Wonderful afternoon, perfect arrangements and a great guide. Thank you!
By: Henrik Haarslov | posted Tue 18 Feb, 2020
The guide Soom was very professional and knew a lot about the habitat.
We were lucky to see 10 elephants eating and drinking - a perfect tour.
By: Joe Watson | posted Wed 12 Feb, 2020
Kui Buri National Park surpassed expectations. The pick up from the hotel was seamless. The safari guide was exceptional.
By: HANS HAEBERLI | posted Wed 5 Feb, 2020
Kui Buri National Park: unfortunately we didn't see any elephants nor any other animals except very few birds..... tour guide ok - but we would not go again... better visit the zoo....
Tour operator's response
Dear Hans,
Thank you for your review. We are sorry to hear you had no luck with the elephants. It's sad it had to happen to you, but it's good we (and especially those who read this page that intend to book) are reminded again that even Kui Buri offers no 100% guarantees. Even with the amount of experience we have in other national parks of Thailand, knowing very well how unpredictable wildlife can be, we sometimes forget that even the elephants in Kui Buri can at times decide to stay hidden. You are the first in the list of currently 69 reviews on this page that did not see elephants. And from memory, I think you are the second group in all the years that we offer tours in Kui Buri (since June 2015) that missed out. Surely not all our guests have seen big numbers, some days it might only be one lonesome bull elephant, but next day there might be several large herds adding up to over 30 elephants. Sometimes they only allow distant views, other times they come right up to the vehicle. It's nature, and sadly we were reminded about that again after your trip. If also the Gaur stayed out of view, I'd think something must have been 'in the air'.
Hopefully you have better luck on future wildlife watching trips!
So, thank you for sharing your experience.
By: Ric | posted Mon 3 Feb, 2020
It was enjoyable though we could not see many of wildlife.
If you want to enjoy full of hours are opening National Park, you'd better book from this site. English spoken Guide has knowledge about national park and wildlife.
By: Carmen Metzler | posted Thu 30 Jan, 2020
Soam, our guide, she was perfect to us. She did her job really good and we feel that she has a high level knowledge about this park. Her english was good understandable and she brought also water and some kind of juices.
Our expectations were fully meted.
The Elephants are wild and free. We were happy to see that. And thanks a lot for your work.
