After too much sun the day before, we decided to do some exploring off the beach.  The Khao Phra Theaw National Park area including the Bang Pae waterfall and Gibbon rehabilitation project were perfect.

The Gibbon Project is an amazing non profit organization focusing on the rehabilitation and release of gibbons to the wild in Thailand.  Even though it is not a zoo, they have some gibbons that can not be released and the girls liked seeing and hearing them.  We also learned that hundreds of gibbons were rescued from illegal photo-prop business, many were kept cruelly as pets, and some were left alone in abandoned zoos.  Gibbons are Thailand’s most intelligent wildlife species and they were almost extinct in the wild, so we felt good about donating to help support this rehabilitation.

After the gibbons, we walked through the amazing fauna of the jungle to see the waterfall.  It was an adventure to see the different trees, fronds, flowers, bugs, and ferns.  The sounds and smells were all very new for the girls and they loved running in the water and rocks.

We stopped for some fruit smoothies to get out of the sun and were joined by some unusual birds.  They were pretty loud, but left us alone!