Hat Wanakon National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติหาดวนกร) is a

sand beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

and marine national park in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, western Thailand. It overlaps two

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

s of Prachuap Khiri Khan: Mueang Prachuap Khriri Khan and Thap Sakae, with an area of 23,750 rai ~ . The beach is on

Petchkasem Road Phet Kasem Road (, , )ราชบัณฑิตยสถาน. ''อ่านอย่างไร และ เขียนอย่างไร ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยสถาน.'' พิมพ์ครั้งที่ ...

(Highway 4) about 23 km (14 mi) from Prachuap Khiri Khan town towards Thap Sakae, about 300 km (186 mi) from Bangkok.

History and geography

This area was originally a forest park. Later it was upgraded to a national park in 1992, the 76th national park and the 18th marine national park in Thailand. The landscape here is sparse wooded with various species such as Indian thorny bamboo, Burmese rosewood,

crape myrtle ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...

, Queen's flower and

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

. left, Lone tree at the beach The twin islands, Ko Chan (เกาะจาน) and Ko Tai-si (เกาะท้ายทรีย์), are about seven kilometres (four miles) offshore. Surrounding them is the most abundant

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

in the Gulf of Thailand. It contains many species of corals,

soft coral Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different f ...

s and other aquatic creatures for a distance of approximately two kilometres (one mile) and a depth of approximately 8–10 m (26.25-32.8 ft). The rare species ''

Acropora cytherea ''Acropora cytherea'' is a stony coral which forms horizontal table like structures. It occurs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean in areas with little wave action, favouring back reef environments from depth. Description ''Acropora cytherea'' is a colo ...

'' can be found here. Fishing boats are not allowed to enter the area.

References

{{National and forest parks in Thailand category:Beaches of Thailand Tourist attractions in Prachuap Khiri Khan province category:National parks of Thailand

History and geography

See also

References