Pa Hin Ngam (Thai: ป่าหินงาม) is a National Park in Chaiyaphum province in Thailand. The name Hin Ngam means beautiful stone, where Pa means forest.
In 1985, the Tep Satit Forestry Department first surveyed the area, long popular with the locals, and recommended its protection. In October 1986, the Pa Hin Ngam Park was created, covering 10 km² around the strange rock formations which gave the park its name. In 1993, the Forestry Department of Thailand conducted a more thorough survey including the surrounding area, and recommended that it become a national park. The national park covering 112 km² was created on September 19, 1994, which was officially gazetted in 2007.
The park is located at the boundary of the Dong Phaya Yen Mountains and the Khorat Plateau. The steep cliff at the 846 m high Sut Phan Din viewpoint allows a great view into a valley of the Sonthi River and the Sap Langka Wildlife Sanctuary. The name Sut Phan Din (สุดแผ่นดิน) means end of land, reflecting the steepness of the cliff. This cliff also marks the watershed between the Chao Phraya and the Mekong rivers.
Near the viewpoint is one of the fields of the Siam Tulip (Curcuma alismatifolia), called Dok Kra Jiao (ดอกกระเจียว) in Thai. The dipterocarp forests bloom with the purple flowers at the beginning of the raining season in July.
The park got its name from the strange rock formations in the Hin Ngam Rock Ground, located at the western end of the park. Erosion has carved several large rocks into striking and unusual shapes.
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or park:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his “comb” and “spare shirt,” “leathern breeches” and “gauze cap to keep off gnats,” with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)