Ta Phraya National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติตาพระยา, , ) is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

at the eastern end of the

Sankamphaeng Range The Sankamphaeng Range, also Sankambeng Range or Sungumpang Range ( th, ทิวเขาสันกำแพง, , ) is one of the mountain ranges separating eastern Thailand from the northeast or Isan. It is in Nakhon Nayok, Prachinburi, Sa K ...

in the area where these mountains meet the Dangrek Range, near the Thai-

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n border. It is largely in Ta Phraya District,

Sa Kaeo Province Sa Kaeo ( th, สระแก้ว, ) is one of the 76 provinces (''changwat'') and lies in eastern Thailand about 200 km from Bangkok. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Prachinburi, Nakhon Ratcha ...

, district after which it is named, although the park also includes sectors of Ban Kruat, Non Din Daeng, and

Lahan Sai District Lahan Sai ( th, ละหานทราย, ) is a district (''amphoe'') in the southern part of Buriram province, northeastern Thailand. History Lahan Sai area was originally part of Nang Rong district. The area was fertile and covered by dens ...

s of Buriram Province. The park, with an area of 371,250 rai ~ is east of

Pang Sida National Park Pang Sida National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติปางสีดา, , ) is a national park in the Sankamphaeng Range, covering 527,500 rai ~ in the eastern Thai province of Sa Kaeo. It is 28 kilometres north of Sa ...

. It was established in 1996. Elevations range between 206 and 579 m. The highest mountain is Khao Pran Nut (ยอดเขาพรานนุช). There are also some ancient Khmer temple ruins in the park area such as Prasat Khao Lon. Between the 1970s and the 1990s there were

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

s for Cambodians in this part of the border zone.

Climate

The weather usually influenced by southwestern monsoon and northeastern monsoon. In the southwestern monsoon from May to October, there are high humidity winds blowing from the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...

and the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...

causing rain, about 1,000–1,400 mm per year. The weather consists of three seasons: summer from February to April; rain from May to October; winter from November to January. Average temperature is 39.8° Celsius and the lowest temperature is 14.3° Celsius.

Flora and fauna

The forested areas of the park include

mixed deciduous forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discon ...

dry evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zon ...

, and

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

dipterocarp forest Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

. The fauna of the park includes the

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...

mouse deer Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only extant members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only f ...

common muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

Asian black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sout ...

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

serow The serows ( or ) are four species of medium-sized goat-like or antelope-like mammals of the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were until recently also classified under '' Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the gorals. Extant ...

langur The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications spli ...

gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...

palm civet ''Paradoxurus'' is a genus of three palm civets within the viverrid family that was denominated and first described by Frédéric Cuvier in 1822. The ''Paradoxurus'' species have a broad head, a narrow muzzle with a large rhinarium that is deepl ...

fishing cat The fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declin ...

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

and the

Siamese hare The Burmese hare (''Lepus peguensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. It is found in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Subspecies Three subspecies are recognised; ''L. p. peguensis'', ''L. p. siamensis'' and ''L. p ...

, as well as the

azure-winged magpie The azure-winged magpie (''Cyanopica cyanus'') is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (''Pica pica'') but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belong ...

, the scarlet minivet, and the

long-tailed minivet The long-tailed minivet (''Pericrocotus ethologus'') is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is found in southern and south-eastern Asia where it occurs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakis ...

. Ta Phraya is also home to the endangered Siamese rosewood, a tree species that is being extracted illegally for sale in especially the Chinese furniture market. Armed poachers are coming across the border from Cambodia, and rangers are since 2015 trained in military style counter-poaching measures Stokes, Demelza
"Thailand's forest rangers step up training in violent 'blood wood' war"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', London, 5 January 2016. Retrieved on 11 February 2017.

References

External links

Ta Phraya National Park, Royal Forest Department
(Thai) {{authority control National parks of Thailand Protected areas established in 1996 Dângrêk Mountains Tourist attractions in Buriram province Tourist attractions in Sa Kaeo province 1996 establishments in Thailand Sankamphaeng Range

Climate

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links