Khao Yai Hotels

Khao Yai National Park is a national park in Thailand. Established on September 18, 1962, Khao Yai National Park was the country's first national park. A major role in its establishment was done by Boonsong Lekakul, one of the 20th century's most famous conservationists in Thailand. In 1984 the park was made an ASEAN Heritage Park, and on July 14 2005 the park together with other parks in the Dong Phaya Yen mountains was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Dong Phaya Yen–Khao Yai Forest Complex. Lands adjacent to the national park are increasingly developed into luxury hotels and golf courses for weekending visitors from Bangkok. Such development limits wildlife corridors and permanently reduces future conservation and land acquisition. Khao Yai National Park is situated in the Sankambeng Mountain Range, the southern prolongation of the Dong Phaya Yen Mountains, at the southwestern boundary of the Khorat Plateau. This park lies largely in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (Khorat), but also includes parts of Saraburi, Prachinburi and Nakhon Nayok provinces. The park is the second largest in Thailand. It covers an area of 2,168 square kilometers, including evergreen forests and grasslands. Its altitude mostly ranges from 400 to 1000 m above sea level. There are 3,000 species of plants, 320 species of birds like red junglefowl and green peafowl and 67 species of mammals, including Asiatic black bears, Asian elephants, gaur, tigers, gibbons, Indian sambar deer, crab-eating macaque, Indian muntjac, dholes, and wild pigs. Its waterfalls include the 80 metre Heo Narok, and Haeo Suwat made famous from the film The Beach. Namtok Sarika is popular with the Thais.