A Haven of Life

Thailand is country of many blessings, not least of them its geographic location which packs an extremely varied landscape into an area smaller than the state of Texas. From its northern tip at Mae Sai bordering Myanmar to its southern most point in the jungle-covered hills above Betong is adistance of some 1,650 kilometres - roughly as far as from New York to Miami.

Thanks to its length north to south, Thailand has the most diverse climate in Southeast Asia. In northeastern Loei, the temperature can drop to freezing point between November and February. In the south, it stays a balmy 30 to 35 degrees all year round. The southern island of Phuket has five months of monsoon rains and only two dry months compared to six in the northern capital of Chiang Mai.

Other reasons for the immense natural wealth of the country's four distinct geographical regions include warm, shallow, seas where marine life abounds and the still extensive coastal mangrove forests.

Spread fan-wise around the fertile central flood plain of the Choa Phraya River, these four regions include the relatively high and dry plateau of the Northeast, the north-south alignment of the mountain ranges of the North and West, and the narrow southern isthmus. In this last region, plentiful rain fosters lush tropical forest together with its teeming wildlife.

All of this means that the country has at least eight distinct types of forest which include not only tropical rain forest, mixed deciduous forests and tidal mangroves, but bamboo, pine, and some temperate forests above 1,600 metres.

This astonishing abundance of vegetation is the habitat of an eqully amzing wealth of wildlife. Tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, bears, gibbons, leopards, and the massive gaur, the world's largest species of wild ox standing two metres or more at the shoulder, co-exist with thousands of species of beetles, butterflies, and fish.

From Park to Wilderness

For generations, Thailand's hardwood forests were primarily valued for the commercial value of the timber they provided; the first national park at Khao Yai was not established until 1961. Thailand soon made up for lost time, however, and there are now 79 national parks, 89 wildlife and "non-hunting" sanctuaries, and 35 forest reserves. Eighteen parks protect the marine resources of islands and mangrove coasts.

Fully 13 percent of Thailand's land area has been set aside for environmental protection, an area of more than 6.5 million hectares. This is one of the highest ratios of protected land to total area in the world. Malaysia currently protects some 3.5 percent of its territory, Japan 6.5 percent and the United States 10.5 percent of its total land area.

Another aspect of Thailand's efforts to conserve its natural heritage is that many of the pretected areas adjoin one another. Although different management regimes apply to the various categories of reservation, vast areas cohere under some form of protection.

The prime example of this synthesis is the Thung Yai Naresuan-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. It covers 622,000 hectares and is a World Heritage Site, by far the largest in the whole of Asia. This vast area is further protected by adjoinging reserves, including the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary of 250,000 hectares to the north, and the Sri Nakharin and Khao Laem National Parks to the south. Each of these covers an area of about 150,000 hectares.

If one takes into consideration all of the various kinds of protected areas, there exists an almost continuous corridor of protected land running north to south along Thailand's border with Myanmar. This mountainous, heavily-forested, high-rainfall area has been the least disturbed, and so contains most of the remaining natural wealth.

Most of these parks are accessible by road, offer simple accommodation and charge a modest admission fee. The park system provides a visitor with easy access to the full array of THailand's wonders, from the norhtern mountain pine forests of Doi Inthanon to the dense southern rain forest of Thale Ban National Park in the border province of Satun; from the Phu Chong Nayoi forest on the Lao border to the northest, to the dazzling coral of Ko Tarutao National Marine Park in the southwest.