Bats near Bangkok

Going Batty

 

It was my the end of my first week in Bangkok , I had spent the time writing up a consulting assignment I had just finished in Cambodia and I was going batty. When my long-time friend Budsabong called me up and invited me to go check out a bat colony with her on Saturday I jumped at the chance.  Spending a day in the countryside looking at bats with an old friend, what could be better!

Since I first worked with Budsabong on otters in Thailand more than 30 years ago she has risen to the high ranks of the Royal Thai Forestry Department, and is now in charge of the Wildlife Research Division.  She had heard about a large fruit bat colony in Samat Prakan Province south of Bangkok where the Chao Phraya River empties into the Gulf of Thailand.  She wanted to find this colony to send her veterinary team out later to catch some bats and take blood samples for DNA and disease studies.  So, on Saturday she and her little Pekinese/Chihuahua sidekick Nemo, and her government car and driver, Samit, picked me up at my downtown Bangkok apartment and we were off!

Driving to Samat Prakan was no problem, but then we had find the bats. We parked along the docks, and Budsabong and Samit set to work asking locals about bats, while I happily babysat Nemo and took photos of the old Buddhist temple (wat) situated nearby.  Evidentially it was determined that these bats were on an island protected by the Thai military.  No problem for us.

With the help of a public boat that diverted a bit from its usual course we were soon walking down the dock of a military compound amidst bold signs in Thai, which I presumed were warning us away.  Camouflage-geared soldiers met us, some Thai words were exchanged, and I was nervous.  But no reason to be as it turned out.  

 

The soldiers led us past an ancient ruined fort with moats and brickwork and moss growing around crumbling stones.  As we passed one opening, everyone, soldiers, Budsabong and Samit alike all stopped to hold their hands in prayer, while looking at some sort of shrine deep inside the ruined building, When I asked, I learned that this was an old piece of the front end of a boat found at the bottom of the gulf and installed in a shrine where people revere it for the good luck it brings.  So, what the heck, I honored it too, with folded hands and solemn demeanor and then caught up with the group walking ahead of me on a boardwalk through a pristine estuarine forest of nipa palms and mangroves. 

Minutes later we were in the midst of more fruit bats than I’ve ever seen in all my life. Hundreds of these “flying foxes” were disturbed by our presence and flew above us, chirruping their dismay.  Hundreds more stayed hanging from their tree branches, watching us with wide-awake eyes, waiting for us to pass.  Samit and I happily took photos while Budsabong chatted in Thai with the soldiers, trying to find out as much as she could about the colony.  All the while little Nemo pulled at his leash, terrified of all the commotion overhead.

Eventually our team of soldiers, biologists, driver and dog left the bats, but the outing was still not finished.  Budsabong had convinced the soldiers to take us in a boat ride around the island, to see the bats from this vantage point which would not disturb them into flight.

So, we all climbed into a little skiff for a boat tour.  On one side of the waterway human development crowded out the scene.  A large port and vessels and huge concrete warehouses and even taller apartments behind these cluttered the view.  But on the other side, on this island protected by the military, it was all natural mangroves and taller trees, all of them with branches loaded with giant fruit bats. 

As we cruised along and took more photos, I admired the cormorants and egrets, just like ours, which stood along the mudflat shores.  Here and there I spotted a decorated floating woven palm Frisbee-sized disk, full of flowers and bright-colored decorations, remnants of millions of these that were released in Thai waterways just two days before during the Loi Krathong Festival.

Eventually the soldiers brought us fully around their wonderful nature preserve of an island and up to a rickety ladder up a muddy bank which we gingerly climbed, and ended up right beside our car in the parking lot.  Mission accomplished.  And time for lunch!