Trekking in the jungle on Koh Chang island without a tour guide is illegal on Koh Chang island. Tan (our trekking guide) explained to us on the way up the mountain that tourists had been lost in the jungle in the past and they are extremely hard to find. A tourist dying has a negative effect on tourism which hurts the local economy, therefore, a large effort is put into finding lost tourists costing lots of people time.

“Dead tourists are bad for tourism”

We are not usually the type of people who enjoy paid tours, however, trekking with tan on Koh Chang island changed our opinion on this. Tan has created several jungle walking paths by himself and runs educational treks round the jungle.

The trek costs around ฿1,200 (£28.10) per person for a 6-7 hour hike to see some otherwise unseen spots. We were given cookies and bananas from Tan’s garden, a few bottles of water and a fried rice for lunch freshly prepared by Tan’s wife in the morning. We were advised to wear shorts and use lots of mosquito spray, however, personally if you have a pair of good light walking trousers I would advize to wear them and bring a pair of shorts to change into.

Tan picked us up from our accomodation at 8am in the morning and we jumped on the back of his jeep. There were 5 people on the trek in total, us, Tan and his assistant Teo from France and we picked up one more man from Denmark. We headed towards Klong Prao, near the elephant park where our trek began.

Tan let us know on the trek that there are no wild elephants on Koh Chang island, to see them in Thailand he suggested Khao Yai national park

The incline was quite steep and the humidity made it hard work. The path felt very wild there was a lot of ducking and jumping over/under trees. On the way up Tan showed us some different types of plants, trees and mushrooms that grow in the jungle.

We started the trek by making our way through some farmers land. Tan explained how the farmers used the trees to make toys and tyres. On the way up the mountain Tan pointed out lots of jungle vegetation such as lots of different types of mushrooms, some hard like wood and other soft and squigy. Trees with natural camoflage which tan explained were the colours vietnam soldiers would wear in the war. Also some plants such as Ivy and Orchids.

After a couple of hours we got to a point where we could leave our bags and reach the peak. At the top of the mountain there were two amazing views, the first a view of the inner jungle and the second a view of the sea. We stopped at each for a while. One thing we have noticed of the Thai culture is that they work hard but when they stop they really relax and take their time.

After the peak we made our way back down and picked up our bags. It was around an hours trek towards a waterfall where we could stop to have some lunch and a swim. The waterfalls in Koh Chang island have lots of fish that like to nibble your dead skin (like in the shopping centres).

On the way out of the valley Tan spotted a green viper camoflaged in the trees. We would have never spotted it otherwise. It sat peacefully and watched us as we walked by.

On the way down, our legs started to tire. We were given a walking stick to help even the ground below us. But slowly and surely we made our way to Tan’s jeep. It was a tough climb but an amazing sense of achievement.