Mae Wong

Mae Wong National Park covers 894 km² in the rugged Dawna Range of western Thailand, spanning Nakhon Sawan Province (Mae Wong and Mae Poen districts) and Kamphaeng Phet Province (Pang Sila Thong district). It was established on 14 September 1987 as Thailand's 54th national park and is managed as an IUCN category II area by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation^[1]. It is known as the headwaters of the Mae Wong River and as tiger and elephant habitat.

Mae Wong and the neighbouring Khlong Lan area are part of the Department of National Parks' Thailand Tiger Project, which aims to restore populations of hoofed prey animals to support tigers; a tiger named Wichit was released back into the forest around 2021^[2]. The park maintains grassland and artificial salt licks for deer, barking deer, gaur and wild boar.

The park's forest cover stretches from low-lying river valleys to high ridges. A planned dam on the Mae Wong River was said by opponents to threaten about 1,760 hectares of low-lying forest in the valley^[1]. Its tall mountains are the source of the water that feeds the lowland forests below.

The park is rugged and hilly, especially to the north and west, in the Dawna Range. Its highest point is Khao Mokochu at 1,964 m above sea level, and three main rivers drain the park, the Mae Wong River being the largest^[1]. High, complex mountain ranges along the Thanon Thong Chai chain hold 40 to 50 peaks that descend to the lowlands^[2].

Mae Wong lies in Thailand's monsoon belt, with a wet season in the middle of the year and a drier, cooler season around the turn of the year. The highest ground, including the Mokochu range, is cooler than the Nakhon Sawan plains below.

The uplands were formerly home to Hmong, Yao, Lahu (Muzer) and Karen hill communities^[1].

Mae Wong was declared a national park on 14 September 1987^[1]. In April 2012 the Thai cabinet approved a 13 billion baht Mae Wong Dam to ease dry-season shortages and wet-season floods, which led to a lawsuit in July 2012 and, in September 2013, a 388 km protest walk to Bangkok by campaigner Sasin Chalermlap; the plan was revived in 2016^[1].

Highlights include the Mae Krasa, Mae Rewa and Mae Ki waterfalls, Mokochu Peak and Chong Yen^[1]. A newer viewpoint on the Mo Ko Ju Noi plain looks over the mountains and is nicknamed the "Yosemite of Thailand", and Mae Rewa Waterfall is said to resemble Lower Yosemite Fall^[2].

The nearest city is Nakhon Sawan. Camping and overnight stays reopened on 13 December 2021 at three areas with room for 400 people in total: Chong Yen campsite (100 people), and the riverside and park headquarters campsites (300 together); visitors had to book ahead^[2]. The park received 51,826 visitors in 2019^[1].

The park is part of the Thailand Tiger Project, which plans prey restoration work for the park^[2]. The long-running Mae Wong Dam proposal has been the main conservation controversy, because opponents argue it would flood low-lying forest^[1].