Beautiful birdsong, thundering waterfalls and greenery galore are all yours after a mere two-hour car ride from Bangkok

Huge green mountains lying beneath a clear blue sky, dizzying waterfalls, thousands of species of plants, and a seething nocturnal wildlife searching for supper are some of the natural charms of Khao Yai National Park, around 175 kilometres northeast of Bangkok.

Home to more than 800 fauna and 2,000 flora species, the park, together with other parks in the Dong Phya Yen mountains, was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site under the name Dong Phaya Yen-Khao Yai Forest Complex in 2005. With trees and shrubbery in adjacent lands being cleared to make room for luxury hotels and golf courses, the awareness of the need to conserve natural wilderness rising. Fortunately, nature lovers still have plenty of pristine forest to surprise and delight their senses.

The 2,170-square-kilometre Khao Yai Park sprawls across the provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Prachin Buri and Nakhon Nayok. The country's first national park, it was established in 1962.

After a mere two hour's in the car from busy Bangkok, we still felt fresh when our van arrived at Khao Yai National Park headquarters. The lush greenery is welcoming to explorers and weekend warriors, and the scorching heat of hot season was tempered by the shady jungle canopy.

A popular spot is Pha Deaw Dai, a stone cliff that offers a magnificent view over the mountain range of Khao Keaw in Prachin Buri province. But arriving in the late afternoon meant we were too late to witness the sun rise from a sea of mist here.

Khao Yai is famous for birds, and the song of blue pitta accompanied us to and from Pha Deaw Dai.

As soon as the sun winked its last wink on the horizon, we piled into a truck for a safari in search of the park's night crawlers. We armed ourselves against the cloudy sky with umbrellas, and brought torches to pierce the gloom. We picked out deer and barking deer but just as we were beginning to enjoy ourselves, it started pouring. On the way back to our bungalows, though, we spotted a little fox sheltering in some shrubbery.

Waking up to wooing cries of gibbons in the morning put us in a good mood - it seemed as if we were the intended audience of the amorous calls. Armed with binoculars and bird guides, we were out early and off to Pha Kluay Mai for birdwatching. Of the 320 species that call the park home, we saw but two species - the red-whiskered bulbul and the Asian fairy bluebird. No matter, we were still delighted with the show that nature afforded us on our stay in the wilderness.