Dong Phayayen Khao Yai Forest Complex

Dong Phayayen

spans 230 km across 6 provinces of Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachinburi, Srakaew and Burinun between Ta Phraya National Park on the Cambodian border in the east, and Khao Yai National Park in the west. Second largest in Thailand the site covers an area of 6,155 square kilometers, including evergreen forests and grasslands 400-1000 m above sea level. It is home to 2500 species of fauna 16 of which world exclusive; 392 birds like red jungle fowl and green peafowl; 112 mammals including Asiatic black bears, Asian elephants, gaurs, tigers, gibbons, Indian sambar deer, crab-eating macaque, Indian muntjac, dholes, and wild pigs. Its waterfalls include the 80 m Heo Narok and Heo Suwat made famous from the film The Beach. The area contains substantial  and important tropical forest ecosystems, which can provide a viable habitat for the long-term survival of these species.

Dong phayayen

Khao Yai along the Sankambeng Mountain Range or Phanom Dong Rak was a deep jungle infested with wild animals and malaria fever, causing only death to passers-by; it was called Dong Phaya Fai, Infernal Jungle. The Second King to HM Rama V renamed the site to a more auspicious appellation of Dong Phaya Yen, Cool Jungle.

Around 1922 a small settlement was built with cultivated land by people migrated from Nakhon Nayok. Its remoteness attracted and became a refuge for criminals and fugitives. Plad Jang, a retired Adjutant General of the Eastern Army, was assigned to bring the settlement into order. Succeed he did and was reassigned, Dong Phayayen

governor of the area, relocated the settlement 30 km into plains, and much later, at 75, died of malaria. For his bravery and benevolence to the villagers a shrine was erected and named the Father of Khao Yai. In 1959 the then Prime Minister Marshal Sarit Thanarat coordinated the ministries of Agriculture and the Interior to establish it as Khao Yai National Park on September 18, 1962. A major role in its establishment was received 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.

Dong Phayayen khao yai