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Sai Yok National Park
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Sai Yok National Park (Thai: อุทยานแห่งชาติไทรโยค) is a national park in Sai Yok district, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, near the town Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi. The park, home to mountains, waterfalls and caves, is part of the Western Forest Complex protected area.
In 1978, the Russian roulette scenes of the film The Deer Hunter were filmed in the park.
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Geography
Sai Yok National Park, with steeply limestone mountain in the Tenasserim Range, is 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Kanchanaburi town. The park's area is 312,500 rai ~ 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi)[1] and neighboring (from north clockwise) Thong Pha Phum National Park, Khuean Srinagarindra National Park, Erawan National Park and Tanintharyi Division of Myanmar. The park's highest peak is Khao Ro Rae at 1,132 metres (3,714 ft).[4] The Khwae Noi river ("River Kwai") runs through the park.
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History
Within the park are remains of a bridge on the Burma Railway and of a camp used by Japanese troops during World War II.
The establishment of the national park was declared the 19th national park in the Royal Gazette on 27 October 1980.[2]
Climate
Average high temperature is 31.1 °C (88.0 °F), average mean temperature is 27.0 °C (80.6 °F), average lowest temperature is 15.4 °C (59.7 °F).
Rainy season is from mid-May to October, average rainfall is 975 millimetres (38.4 in)/year. Cold season is from November to mid-February and summer is from April to mid-May. April is the hottest month of the year.[5]
Flora
The main forest type is mixed deciduous forest with 85%, dry evergreen forest with 13% and the least common type is dry dipterocarp forest with 2%.[6][7][8]
Mixed deciduous forest
Dry evergreen forest
- Anisoptera spp.
- Aporosa villosa
- Castanopsis
- Dillenia aurea
- Dipterocarpus alatus
- Dipterocarpus turbinatus
- Irvingia malayana
- Lagerstroemia calyculata
- Millettia brandisiana
- Polyalthia viridis
- Schima wallichii
- Syzygium cumini
- Syzygium megacarpum
Dry dipterocarp forest
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Fauna
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Mammals
The number of sigthings of mammals in the park include the following species:[9]

- Asian black bear
- Asian elephant
- Asian golden cat
- Banteng
- Bengal tiger
- Bicolored roundleaf bat
- Burmese hare
- Clouded leopard
- Gaur
- Horseshoe bat
- Indochinese leopard
- Kitti's hog-nosed bat
- Lesser mouse-deer
- Mainland serow
- Malayan tapir
- Presbytis
- Sambar deer
- Southern red muntjac
- Sun bear
- Tenasserim muntjac
- Tomb bat
- White-handed gibbon
Sai Yok is home to Kitti's hog-nosed bat, a rare bat species considered to be the world's smallest mammal (weighing around 2 grams). The bat was first spotted in 1973 and is found only in some limestone caves of the park (including Tham Kang Kao) and surrounding areas in Kanchanaburi Province and nearby Myanmar.[10]
Birds
The park has 209 species of birds from 61 families.
Passerine
114 species of passerine from 33 families, represented by one species:[11]

- Ashy woodswallow
- Asian fairy-bluebird
- Black-naped monarch
- Blue-winged pitta
- Brown shrike
- Chestnut bunting
- Common green-magpie
- Common hill myna
- Dusky crag-martin
- Eurasian tree sparrow
- Forest wagtail
- Golden-fronted leafbird
- Gray-headed canary-flycatcher
- Great iora
- Hair-crested drongo
- Indochinese cuckooshrike
- Large woodshrike
- Lesser necklaced laughingthrush
- Orange-bellied flowerpecker
- Ornate sunbird
- Pin-striped tit-babbler
- Scaly-breasted munia
- Slender-billed oriole
- Sultan tit
- Sulphur-breasted warbler
- Taiga flycatcher
- Thick-billed warbler
- Variable limestone babbler
- Velvet-fronted nuthatch
- White-throated fantail
- Yellow-bellied warbler
- Yellow-vented bulbul
- Zitting cisticola
Non-passerine

95 species of non-passerine from 28 families, represented by one species:[12]
- Blue-tailed bee-eater
- Brown boobook
- Chinese pond-heron
- Common sandpiper
- Crested treeswift
- Eastern barn owl
- Eurasian hoopoe
- Eurasian moorhen
- Gray nightjar
- Greater coucal
- Great slaty woodpecker
- Green-eared barbet
- Himalayan swiftlet
- Indochinese roller
- Japanese sparrowhawk
- Lesser whistling-duck
- Little cormorant
- Little grebe
- Mountain imperial-pigeon
- Orange-breasted trogon
- Oriental hobby
- Oriental pied-hornbill
- Osprey
- Red junglefowl
- Red-wattled lapwing
- Stork-billed kingfisher
- Vernal hanging-parrot
- Yellow-legged buttonquail
Reptiles
The sightings of reptiles in the park include the following species:[13]
Amphibians
The sightings of amphibians in the park include the following species:[14]
Fishes
The sightings of fishes in the park include the following species:[15]
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Attractions
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The park's major attractions are its waterfalls, including Sai Yok Yai waterfall which flows into the Khwae Noi river. Sai Yok Yai Lek waterfall lies south of Sai Yok Yai along the Khwae Noi. The park also contains numerous caves, the largest of which is Tham Lawa with a length of 500 metres (1,600 ft). This cave complex consists of five large caverns, each containing large stalactites and stalagmites.[16] Another cave system, Tham Dao Wadueng, is 100 metres (330 ft) long and was discovered in 1972 and consists of eight chambers of stalactites and stalagmites.
Sai Yok Noi Waterfall

Sai Yok Noi, also known as Khao Phang Waterfall, is the most popular attraction of the Sai Yok National Park. The waterfall consists of the limestone cliffs collapsing and that became the origin of the name "Khao Phang Waterfall”. The upstream falls from the mountain and flows along the limestone cliffs about 15-meter high. It is popular among domestic and foreign tourists alike, in part because it lies next to the province's trunk road alongside which there is ample parking space.
The Krasae Cave, a small Buddhist shrine next to a section of rail tracks of the Death Railway and the Dao Wadueng Cave, a secluded collection of stalactites, are located near the waterfall. Hellfire Pass Memorial, a museum and tribute to those lost during the construction of the Death Railway's cuttings and trestle bridges, lies about 35 km to the west of Sai Yok Noi falls. A small market geared toward travelers is also nearby. Sai Yok Yai waterfall, some 40 km to the west lies offset from the valley's main road, adjacent to the Sai Yok National Park Headquarters. It comprises a 10-metre (32 ft) picturesque cascade which drops directly into the Kwae Noi River.[17]
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Location
Sai Yok National Park in overview PARO 3 (Ban Pong) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sai Yok National Park.
References
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