Hkakaborazi National Park
Designation
ASEAN Heritage Parks
Body
| Hkakaborazi National Park - Myanmar's largest park and highest mountain |
| First established as a forest reserve in 1996, Hkakaborazi National Park was declared a national park in 1998. It is the largest national park in Myanmar, occupying an area of 381,246 hectares (1,472 square miles) in Putao district in Kachin State, in the northernmost part of Myanmar. It features Mt. Hkakaborazi, which at over 19,000 feet (5,791.2 meters), is the highest mountain in Myanmar, and the highest snow-capped mountain in Southeast Asia. Formed with mountain ranges, waterfalls, rapid streams and ravines, it is the largest natural park in Myanmar. Hkakaborazi is the natural habitat of numerous species of wildlife, including some rare birds and animals, and is also home of the rare black orchid". The Park's dominant forests and vegetation types include evergreen forests, hill pine forests, and moist upper mixed deciduous forests. The area also contains the headwaters of the country's most important river system, the Ayeyarwady, which drains vast expanses of agricultural lands and helps sustain extensive rice production." |