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Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park | |
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| IUCN Category II (National Park) | |
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| Location: | Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 98,08 km² |
| Established: | 1966 |
Khao Sam Roi Yot (Thai: เขาสามร้อยยอด) is a marine national park in Sam Roi Yot district, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand. It covers 98.08 km², of which 20.88 km² are marine areas. The park was established in 1966, and was the first marine national park of Thailand.
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The name Khao Sam Roi Yot means Mountains with 300 peaks, which describes the landscape of the park quite well. The limestone hills rise directly at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand, with the highest elevation Khao Krachom 605m above sea level. Between the hills are freshwater marshes. However several of these marshes were converted into shrimp farms, as only 36 km² of the total 69 km² of marshes are part of the national park. 18 km² of these marshes are scheduled to be declared a Ramsar site.
Two beaches are included in the park, Hat Laem Sala and the larger Hat Sam Phraya, near the park headquarter at Ban Khao Daeng.
Rare animals in the park include the Mainland Serow (Nemorhaedus sumatraensis), Dusky Langurs (Trachypithecus obscurus), as well as many bird species. In the ocean occasionally Irrawaddy Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) show up.
The area of the Khao Sam Roi Yot was probably the site where King Mongkut convened with European guests on August 18, 1868 to observe a total solar eclipse. The king was very interested in astronomy and had calculated the date and location of the eclipse himself. However he contracted malaria during that event, and died shortly later.
Later kings also visited the area, especially the Phraya Nakhon cave. The cave consists of two caverns, illuminated by the collapsed roofs. For the visit of King Chulalongkorn in 1890 the Kuha Karuhas pavillon was built inside the cave. Later King Vajiravudh as well as the current king Bhumibol Adulyadej visited the cave.
The giant Mong Li and his wife, who lived on the western coast of the Gulf of Thailand, had promised their daughter independently to Chao Lai and the emperor of China. When the daughter became old enough to marry, both future husbands arrived at the same date. Mong Li then cut his daughter into two halves. Chao Lai turned himself into a hill, while the traditional fruit basket to be presented to a Buddhist monk has turned into the Khao Sam Roi Yot mountains. The islands Ko Chang and Ko Kong on the other side of the gulf were the elephant and the ox-cart with the wedding presents.
