Tourists can view hundreds of bats up close at this small temple cave in Thailand.

The 'Bat Cave' is located near the Wat Tham Thep Nimit temple grounds, nestled on a shrub-covered rock face in Phayao province.

Inside the claustrophobic cavern are colonies of bats hanging upside down from the stalactites. Scores of the winged creatures can be observed resting in the cave during the day. At night, they come out in droves to forage for food.

Phra Sriprai Khemapirato, the abbot at the Wat Tham Thep Nimit, said the cave contains a passageway with many pocks that the bats use as resting areas.

He said: 'There are thousands of bats that stay here during the hot and rainy seasons. They are fewer during the cold season. Not a lot of them come, apart from when they give birth to baby bats in the cave.'