In my travels, I have had many adventures over different bodies of water. I’ve kayaked, paddle boarded and rode jet skis across rivers and oceans. Until I recently went rafting in Khao Yai, it was one water activity that always eluded me.

Something about whitewater rafting made me anxious. It looked a lot dangerous than any of the other things I had done before.

When I finally got the chance to try it out with some skilled tour guides in Khao Yai, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Kaeng Hin Poeng

The rafting river is located in the southern part of the Khao Yai national park in Prachinburi province of Thailand.

Khao Yai is a massive mountainous national park that spans across four provinces in Thailand.

They say that the best time to go rafting in during the rainy season between June to October. Lucky for us, we went in August so it was perfect. The river was at the perfect water level and the rapids were just right.

We started our journey by walking about 2 km into the jungle from an area called Kaeng Hin Poeng.

It was a fun and easy trail through the jungle. As I parkour-ed over rocks (just to add more excitement) and crevices, I found myself really appreciating and missing nature. It’s easy to take it for granted when you live in a big city.

After about 30 minutes traversing along the path and taking photos, we came to an opening. This was set as the starting point for our rafting adventure.

The Ride

As we waited for the staff to inflate the rafts, we took more pictures. Our smiles masked the fear and anxiety of the ride ahead. For most of us, this was our first time and we had no clue of how scary it would be.

Finally, the rafts were inflated, and away we went! Sadly (but also not), I had not brought my camera or phone with me. I didn’t want it getting wet or spoiled. Some of the other bloggers did however manage to send me some photos.

Travel duo and couple Deer is Travelling even managed to get a video of the ride.

The rapids at Kaeng Hin Poeng range between Class 3 and 5 in difficulty but our skilled guides made it look so easy. They would only ask us to row when the water was still but anytime the rapids or drops came, we kept the oars inside the raft.

It really was not as scary as I thought it would be. I can’t really explain the feeling except that it was like a real-life mild roller-coaster but with a watery twist.

Even when the rain came down on us, we were completely engrossed in the experience and enjoying ourselves.

The entire rafting journey was about 40 minutes long but I believe they have longer route options as well.

What a thrilling adventure, it was. I am definitely up for a gnarlier one next time.