Khao Laem National Park

Khao Laem National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Khao Laem Sea of Mist
Map of Thailand
Location	Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
Nearest city	Sangkhlaburi
Coordinates	15°01′20″N 98°35′50″E / 15.02222°N 98.59722°E / 15.02222; 98.59722
Area	1,497 km2 (578 sq mi)
Established	5 December 1987 [1]
Visitors	66,192 (in 2019)
Governing body	Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

Khao Laem National Park is a park of about 1,500 square kilometers (370,658 acres) in Western Thailand, located near Myanmar in the northern area of the Tenasserim Hills, Kanchanaburi Province. It is a part of the Western Forest Complex, a system of protected wilderness in the Dawna-Tenasserim Hills area of western Thailand.

The park, which is adjacent to the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, surrounds the Khao Laem Reservoir, located about 340 km northwest of Bangkok. It is bisected by Road 323. The environments and vegetation consist of mixed deciduous forests and hilly, dry evergreen forests, mainly in the northeast of the park. Prominent mammalian fauna in the area includes endemic species such as Asiatic black bear, elephant, several species of deer, dhole, gaur, gibbons, langurs, leopard, macaques, tiger, water buffalo and wild boar, to name a few.^[2][3]

The park hosted the second season of New Zealand version of Survivor, Survivor NZ: Thailand.^[4]

The area of the park is 935,584 rai ~ 1,497 square kilometres (578 sq mi)^[5] with steeply limestone mountain run on north-south axis. It is located next to the Vajiralongkorn Reservoir.^[6]

The area is in a tropical climate, influenced by monsoons, southern winds and the Andaman Sea. The region’s annual weather patterns are divided into three main seasonal periods:^[6]

1. Rainy season (June–October): monsoon-influenced precipitation and flooding.
2. Cold season (November–January): the lowest temperature recorded was 10 °C (50 °F).
3. Hot, dry season (February–May): the highest temperature record was 38 °C (100.4 °F), in April.

The park consists of mixed deciduous forests and hill-evergreen and dry-evergreen forests, the habitats of animals such as:^[6]

• Asian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus)

• Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus)

• Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis)

• Bengal tiger (Panthera t. tigris)

• Civet, Asian palm (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)

• Civet, Large Indian (Viverra zibetha)

• Civet, Southeast Asian palm (Paradoxurus musangus)

• Dhole (Cuon alpinus)

• Eld's deer (Rucervus eldii)

• Gaur (Bos gaurus)

• Golden cat (Catopuma temminckii)

• Golden jackal, Indochinese (Canis aureus cruesemanni)

• Gray langur, Indochinese (Trachypithecus crepusculus)

• Hog badger, Greater (Arctonyx collaris)

• Hog deer, Indochinese (Axis porcinus)

• Leopard, Indochinese (Panthera pardus delacouri)

• Leopard cat, Mainland (Prionailurus bengalensis)

• Lutung, Indochinese (Trachypithecus germaini)

• Lar or white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar)

• Macaque, Assamese (Macaca assamensis)

• Macaque, Long-tailed (Macaca fascicularis)

• Macaque, Northern pig-tailed (Macaca leonina)

• Macaque, Rhesus (Macaca mulatta)

• Macaque, Stump-tailed (Macaca arctoides)

• Marten, Yellow-throated (Martes flavigula)

• Muntjac, Northern red (Muntiacus vaginalus)

• Otter, Asian small-clawed (Aonyx cinereus)

• Porcupine, East Asian (Hystrix brachyatus)

• Sambar (Cervus unicolor)

• Squirrel, Black giant

• Squirrel, Pallas' (Callosciurus erythraeus)

• Treeshrew, Northern

• Weasel, Stripe-backed (Mustela strigidorsa)

• List of national parks of Thailand
• List of Protected Areas Regional Offices of Thailand

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khao Laem National Park.

• Description of Khao Laem National Park
• Khao Laem National Park at westernforest.org
• Interactive map of Khao Laem National Park at World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP and IUCN) Archived 2014-11-17 at the Wayback Machine
• Map of Khao Laem National Park