Nakai-Nam Theun National Park in Nakai District, Khammouane Province,

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, is one of the last remaining wildernesses in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Nakai-Nam Theun covers approximately 4,270 km² of the Annamite Range and the adjacent Nakai Plateau in Khammouane and Bolikhamsai Provinces. It was designated a national park on 15 February 2019 by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 36, 15 February 2019. It is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF). It is adjacent to the Vu Quang National Park of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. The terrain of the park is rugged, and the crest of the Annamite Range runs along the eastern edge of the park on the border with Vietnam. Phou Laoko (2,286 meters elevation) is the highest peak in the park.

Rivers

From north to south, riversheds in the park consist the following rivers: *Nam Kata (eastern part only; the Nam Houay, on which the town of Na Kadok is located, is a tributary) *Nam Xot *Nam Mon *Nam Theun *Nam Noy *Nam Pheo (a tributary of the Nam Noy) *Nam One All are tributaries of the Nam Theun to the southwest in the Nakai Plateau.

Flora

A series of surveys conducted since 1994 by the co-operative programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Lao Department of Forestry, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) have revealed that the area has a high biodiversity value. Semi-evergreen forest, deciduous dipterocarp forest and stands of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

are all found on the Nakai Plateau and in the Annamite foothills. Dry evergreen forest predominates on the slopes of the Annamites below 1800 meters elevation, with patches of '' Fokienia hodginsii'' forest, a commercially valuable cypress-like

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

, from 1,400 to 1,700 meters elevation. Wet evergreen upper montane fagaceous forests occur above 1,800 meters elevation, and include species of oak (''Quercus''), '' Castanopsis'', and '' Lithocarpus''.BirdLife International (2023
Important Bird Area factsheet: Nakai-Nam Theun
Retrieved 3 June 2023. Above c. 2,000 m the fagaceous forest gives way to more stunted,

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

-dominated ericaceous cloud forest. Species of plants listed as threatened by IUCN include conifer '' Cephalotaxus mannii''. The only known population of Vietnamese White Pine in Laos is in Nakai-Nam Theun.

Fauna

Mammals

Species of mammals, some discovered relatively recently, include the following: *

Saola The saola (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is a forest-dwelling bovid native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was described in 1993 following a discovery of ...

* Giant muntjac * Roosevelt's muntjac * Truong Son muntjac * Indo-chinese warty pig *

Heude's pig The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

* Annamite striped rabbit * Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus'') * Indochinese tiger *

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

Birds

More than 400 bird species have been identified in Nakai-Nam Theun and the adjacent northern extension. This is by far the highest avian species richness of any site yet surveyed in Laos and is the highest recorded in a single protected area in Southeast Asia. The park is home to Indochina's largest population of rufous-necked hornbill (''Aceros nipalensis''). Birds present in the park's upper montane forests include the threatened beautiful nuthatch (''Sitta formosa''), along with species characteristic of the wet evergreen rain forests on the eastern slope of the Annamites, like the Vietnamese crested argus (''Rheinardia ocellata'') and short-tailed scimitar babbler (''Napothera danjoui'').

Languages

Many endangered Vietic languages are spoken in the Nakai-Nam Theun area. The Vietic peoples are the indigenous peoples of the Nakai-Nam Theun area, and have deep knowledge of the local ecology. The Saek language, which preserves many archaic phonological features not found in any other Tai language, is also spoken in the area, often alongside Vietic languages in the same villages. Saek speakers had lived in the area for about 300 years, and had originally come from Vietnam. Bru speakers had moved to the area in the 1800s and 1900s, and now make up the majority of the population. Lao and Vietnamese speakers, most of whom are recent migrants, are also found in the vicinity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakai-Nam Theun National Park Geography of Khammouane province Geography of Bolikhamsai province National parks of Laos Protected areas established in 2019 2019 establishments in Laos Important Bird Areas of Laos