Batty

Day 98: Khao Yai National Park (T). Ever since I was a small boy growing up in Scarborough, I have always had this strange fascination with bats. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it's the memory of those long, warm summer evenings that we just don't seem to get any more. Maybe it's the sound of those high pitch calls that my forty something hearing no longer seems capable of detecting. Or perhaps it was the chilling tales of vampires and the opening credits of Scooby-Doo! What ever it was, the fascination remained into adulthood.

Back home in Steeple Morden, Karen and I often sit outside on our patio with a glass or two of wine watching the aerial majesty of these beautiful creatures. We've even ventured as far as Wimpole Hall, where on a good night, you can see several hundred bats dive bombing the lake in search of food. So when we were told there was a place near-by where we could see several million bats we just had to take a look.

Taking the dirt tracks to the northern edge of Khao Yai National Park in preparation for sunset, it wasn't long before we were bogged down in thick red mud brought on by the summer monsoons. Dumping the 4x4, we walked the last mile or so to the bat cave– our boots feeling like lead weights with the accumulated mud. Ahead of us, high up on the limestone crag, we could see the entrance to the cave - made even more prominent by the presence of half a dozen circling raptors looking for an easy meal.

As the light started to fade we waited and watched. And then, at precisely 6.30pm, with just the vestiges of light remaining, the first bat emerged from the cave and made for the rich feeding grounds of the monsoon forest. For the next hour, the sky was awash with millions of wrinkle lipped bats from this one gargantuan colony, swarming through air in a writhing, snake-like procession until each and every one had departed in search of food. With 1,000 bats per second passing over our heads, their beating wings were so loud they even drowned out the incessant noise of the jungle cicadas. Eventually though the display came to and end and as we wiped the accumulated bat poo from our faces we suddenly realised it was pitch black. Now where did we park that Land-Rover?

Day 98: Total Mileage to Date: 15,926: Number of Time Zones: 10; Number of Countries Visited: 12; Number of Transport Modes Used: 37, Maximum Temperature Encountered: +38C, Minimum Temperature Encountered: -32C.