Camping by a stream in Ob Khan National Park

Camping in Ob Khan National Park is excellent. Ob Khan Nationalpark is one of the most underrated national parks in Thailand. We often go there because it is close to our house and it offers excellent opportunities for the kids to cool down in the friendly and clean river/stream. There are rocks and a bit of a beach. But even though we have stayed here in Hang Dong for 15 years now, we have never tried the camping site. Until now.

I have written about Ob Khan before. You can read more about the park here. In this short text, I will focus specifically on camping information. And how it works now during the pandemic. So far no reported cases of Omicron in Thailand. But supposedly, it is just a matter of time. So the practical information can change fast.

Entering Ob Khan National Park

As usual, you are halted at the entrance. The Rangers asked us to register our names but nothing more. When the park re-opened, we heard from friends that they checked vaccination passes for adults and did antigen tests for kids. The best is to have these vaccination documents prepared just in case, though. One benefit of Ob Khan is that the park doesn’t charge any entrance fee.

Paying for camping

From the parking, you traverse a short bamboo bridge to the camping area. There is a house with a few beds that also serves as the headquarter. Here you pay 50 baht if you bring your tent for camping. They also rent out tents. You are then required to put a number on your tent that you give back when you check out the next day.

The Camping Ground

The camping site is not huge but offers a decent amount of camping spaces. Bathrooms are spotless, and showers are available. The restaurant seems to be open just in the daytime. For an additional charge of 600 baht, they will arrange wood piles for a large campfire inside what almost looks like a mini- roman amphitheatre. Signboards clearly state that alcohol is not permitted. But you can set up your cooking arrangements and BBQ.

The part that makes it so family-friendly is the proximity to the shallow water in the river(can be profound and with flash floods in rainy season), then there are short and longer hikes available. Bring some headlamps and let the kids explore in the evening.

There is no mobile data coverage in general, so you have to enjoy the digital detox here. Sometimes at some areas with D-tac, I get a bit of access but don’t count on it. We didn’t suffer from mosquitos, but we got some small harmless crickets on the tent.