Kanchanaburi: Parks and Gardens

The Erawan National Park is situated in Kanchanaburi, Thailand and covers 550 sq km of high-mountains and valleys. The mountains on the eastern side rise as high as one-thousand meters and have limestone cliffs.

This results in the natural protection of the area from the eastern monsoon, thus leading to low-to-average rainfall. It was Thailand’s twelfth major national park in 1975. The best season to visit the park is from November to February as the weather is pleasantly cool.

The prime attraction of the park is the magnificent 7-tired Erawan Waterfall. The waterfall is named after the mythical Hindu war-elephant Erawan, who is three-headed and white in color. Many small streams also originate from the mountains in the park and it houses four caves.

Almost eighty percent land area of the park is covered with deciduous forests, which contain various tree-species like, Hopea odorata, Pterocorpus macrocarpus, Spondias pinnata and Afzelia xylocarpa. Bamboo, dipterocarp and dry evergreen forests can also be found.

The park fauna is as varied as its flora, with a wide range of reptiles, mammals, amphibians and birds making the park its home.