Every now and then we will post a herping trip report about the wildlife we found on a night safari so you can get a good idea what you might see if you join us on one.
What can you SEE on a Night Safari? What is a typical night like? We’ll start adding to this trip report so you can see some of what we find nightly.
Some of these Trip Reports will be listed below.
Trip #1 – July Night Safari. 7:20 pm to 9:30 pm.
3 people joined us and everyone was pretty good at spotting wildlife. We looked for a couple of hours. The temperature was cool and it had rained for a couple of hours before, but almost stopped by the time we got out to look around the rainforest. Temperature was about 27°C. Very high humidity.
- 2 Brown-spotted Pit Vipers
- 1 Oriental Whip Snake
- 1 Tarantula spider
- Multiple Wolf and Huntsman spiders
- Big Orb Weaver spider – black/yellow
- A few unidentified spiders
- A new spider species the guide had never seen (happens often!)
- Forest Crested Lizards – multiple
- Lamprigera Female Firefly – couple of them, one was pulling a snail from the shell
- Jungle Nymph stick insect- large green one. Heteropteryx dilatata. 1st or 2nd heaviest stick insect in the world
- Many Asian frogs (Kaloula pulchra)
- A couple of tree frogs
- Cicada shed
- Frog eggs – many times
- 3 Bent-toed Geckos – Cyrtrodactylus genus
- White Ground Gecko
- Millipedes
- Lantern Bugs
- Multiple moths and butterflies
- 3 Sleeping Birds – not pittas!
- Slow Loris about 7 meters up a tree
This was a pretty typical night for us. Couple of snakes, couple of lizards and cool geckos, and lots of other spiders, insects, and other bugs.
Trip #2 – July Night Safari. 8 pm to 10:10 pm.
This was a little later due to to rain. It doesn’t matter as far as what we see though. If we start the night safari much later around 9:30 pm, we’ll tend to see some different things more often, but this one was within the usual (and best) time slot.
We had 5 people on this safari and only the guide was a skilled herper. Temperature 29°C. Humidity VERY high.
The animals found below – some of them – are because we focused much more for looking in the trees for lorises, civets, owls, colugos, etc. Normally if looking mainly on the ground, we don’t see this much in the way of mammals.
- Malayan banded wolf snake (L. subcinctus) started the night off for snakes. We love this one. It’s still rather rare and any opportunity to see one is welcome.
- Keeled Rat Snake – sleeping in a tree. This is rare because we more often see them sleeping on the ground in a pile of leaves and sticks.
- Centipede – Scolopendra – a huge one, around 25 cm.
- 3 Slow Lorises – 2 high in the trees, one low enough to see clearly (5 meters).
- 2 Civets – both in thick brush, could see partially.
- Flying Fox bats – many at a certain tree we like to check.
- 2 Bent-toed geckos – Cyrtodactylus genus.
- Many forest crested lizards
- Many spiders, including Wolf, Huntsman, and a big Tarantula.
- 3 Night Jars – spread out over the trek. Usually in 1-2 spots, but found in different areas this time.
- 2 Owls, both low enough to see clearly. One flew off immediately. Other was ok for photos for a minute.
- 6 Species of frogs
- 1 toad species (Bufo)
- A couple of Hammerhead worms
- Kuhl’s Gliding Gecko
- Lantern bugs
- Lamprigera – see Trip #1 above for descrip.
- Whip snakes sleeping in the trees
- Hog Badger – coming out of the jungle, we saw a big hog badger running alongside. These are nearly apex predators here, eating every living thing smaller than themselves it seems. They are vulnerable to the many pythons found at this spot.
There’s more I’m missing, I just cannot recall at the moment.
Trip #3 – November Night Safari. 9 pm to 11:30 pm.
We had rain very hard a few hours before, but the night was perfect and slightly cool, around 26C with some light wind in some places.
- 2 Brown-spotted Green Pit Vipers
- 6 Paloula pulchra frogs – Asian forest frog
- 7 Poisonous toads
- 3 Bent-toed geckos – C. pulchellus, C. quadrivirgatus, C.
- 2 Whip Snakes – Ahaetulla prasina
- 1 Bridle Snake – D. Davisoni? or Blanfordi?
- Centipede
- 4 species of millipede
- Gliding gecko
- Odd spider covered with debris. Got video.
- Black beetles with yellow spots
- Very small preying mantis
- Numerous bats
- 8 Spider species
- Small green walking stick
- Colorful Moths
- 4 Tree frogs
- 1 small Red Frog
- Colugo high in a tree
Trip #4 – January 6, 2025 Night Safari. 8 pm to 10 pm.
We had no rain for a couple of weeks and then a very light 10 minute sprinkle that barely made anything wet at the end of the day. This helped the frogs come out. It was cool, around 24C with some light wind in some places. The air was dry.
- 7 Paloula pulchra frogs – Asian forest frog
- 3 Poisonous Bufo toads
- 2 Bent-toed geckos – C. pulchellus, C. quadrivirgatus, C.
- 3 Whip Snakes – Ahaetulla prasina
- 1 Wolf Snake – L. capucinus
- Small centipede
- 4 species of millipede
- 2 Gliding geckos
- Some black beetles with yellow spots
- Couple of very small bats, one large (not flying fox)
- 12 Spider species (we were targeting them)
- Couple of colorful moths
- 2 Tree frogs
- 3 small red frogs
- 3 Slow lorises high in the trees, one civet came low on a vine over the road
It’s really fun to get out in the rainforest after a rain at night and walk around to see what you can see. It’s fascinating really, like being a kid with a flashlight outside at night looking for bugs or frogs or something.
This is one of our most highly rated things to do in Krabi. Before you arrive, make sure to book a night. It’s only a couple of hours. We’ve never had any injuries. It’s quite fun!
If you’re interested in finding a snake we’ll never find in the rainforest – the Mangrove Pit Viper – join a boat tour to find it here. This is a daytime tour that includes up to 4 people at a great rate.