South East Asian Trips

Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary, that covers an area of 103.55 square miles, is situated in Kanbalu Township of Sagaing Division. It can be accessed from Yangon via Mandalay to Chatthin, 502 miles by train. Another route by car is from Yangon via Mandalay to Shwebo,that is 577 miles long, and a drive for 80 miles from Shwebo to Chatthin. Since its establishment in 1941, there have been objectives to conserve and protect the dry forest ecosystem and related biological species, to preserve one of the world's most endangered animals, Thamin spp (Cervus eldi Thamin), which can be found only in Myanmar and to maintain an optimum number of them for existence, and to establish an outdoor laboratory to study the ecology of Thamin and the biodiversity.

While Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary is thriving with a variety of forests such as low Indaing forest, high Indaing forest, flooded Indaing forest, upper mixed deciduous forest, grass savanna metric forest, a number of wildlife species can also be found in the sanctuary. They include macaca species, barking deer, wild boar, wild dog, leopard, cat species, bat and guano species, amphibian species, and 158 species of birds and approximately 1,530 of Thamins. Moreover, altogether 69 species of medicinal plants and herbs have been recorded in the sanctuary in the latest inventory survey.

At present, the Ministry of Forestry of the Union of Myanmar is performing education works for conserving natural ecology with the assistance and aid of Smithsonian Institution of the United States of America, and doing research work with the assistance and aid of the Institution as part of the conservation, development and research programmes.

A visit to Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary will be blessed with opportunities for study and recreation such as study of the dry forest ecosystem, study of the advanced research works on wildlife, and study of the medicinal plants, climbers and biodiversity museum in Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary.