Hin Nam No
World Heritage Site
Park Type
World Heritage Site & National Park
Year Established
1993
Total Area
94,121 ha
Provinces
Khammouane
Map
Things to See & Do
Important Visitor Information
Access
The road to Nong Ping Village at the entrance to the Xe Bang Fai Cave is now paved all the way, so access is good. Getting to other attractions requires travel on dirt roads, along what was historically called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Trips to Hin Nam No can be done as part of a larger Loop around Khammouane Province.
Tours
All trips into the park require local, village guides at the very least. Nong Ping Village has a boat association that takes visitors on short tours into the Xe Bang Fai Cave. There are also village guides at other locations who can take visitors trekking. For kayaking expeditions into the Xe Bang Fai Cave, booking must be done with a tour operator (contact Green Discovery).
Fees
Visitors must be a nominal fee to enter the Xe Bang Fai Cave at Nong Ping Village, which includes boat association, village and district fees. At other attractions visitors must pay for guide, village, district and protected area fees. Kayaking expeditions require paying a package price that includes village, district and protected area fees.
Biodiversity
Hin Nam No National Protected Area is of global significance for the conservation of biodiversity because its variety of habitat and forest types provided by the landscape geomorphology support a high diversity of animals and plants, including a number of globally threatened species, endemic species and karst specialist species. Hin Nam No NPA is situated where the Central Indochina Limestone meets the Annamite Mountains. The property lies within the boundaries of the Northern Annamites Rain Forest Ecoregion, one of the Global 200 Ecoregions considered most crucial to the conservation of global biodiversity. More specifically, within this ecoregion the Central Indochina Limestone has been identified as a priority landscape which is critical and globally significant for the conservation of primate species and limestone specialist species.
Red-shanked Douc Langur
Type of wildlife
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Status:
Threatened
Southern White-cheeked Gibbo
Type of wildlife
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Status:
Important Forest Species
Black (Haitinh) Langur
Trachypithecus hatinhensis
Hin Nam No harbours one of the largest populations of the Black Langur in the world.
Status:
Endangered
Rufous-necked Hornbill
Aceros nipalensis
Hin Nam No has four species of hornbill (Bucerotidae), one of which, the Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis, is globally threatened.
Status:
Vulnerable
Topography, Climate & Forests
Topography: Hin Nam No National Park forms a sizable proportion of one of the most notable, large karst landscapes in Southeast Asia, the Khammouane Karst – Phong Nha-Ke Bang Landscape (KK-PNKBL). The Him Nam No and Phong Nha-Ke Bang karsts may be best described as a large dissected plateau, and is therefore of high elevation. A notable portion of Hin Nam No is above 500m.
Climate: Hin Nam No National Park is in the Southeast Asia monsoon climate regime. During the winter (November-February), is the northeast monsoon, characterized by cold dry air and infrequent and light rain. For summer (May-August), warm winds from the southwest carry moisture from the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand to the part of the trough in the Lao P.D.R. region where vertical convection causes the rainfall, large amounts during the height of the monsoon season.
Forests & Habitat: In total, 11 major habitat types have been identified in Hin Nam No National Park, including seven forest habitats, bare rock (or sparse, stunted forest on limestone), two wetland habitats, and cave habitats. Hin Nam No itself is situated in the heart of Lao P.D.R.’s main topographic feature, the Annamites Mountain Range, which runs roughly north to south along the Lao-Vietnam border and into south-central Laos, and belongs to the Indochinese Rainforest biogeographical province in the Tropical Humid Forests biome (Udvardy, 2005)
People & Culture
There are 19 guardian villages with allocated management responsibilities in Hin Nam No National Parkwhich are part of five village clusters: Ban Dou and Langkhang (now counted together as Thongkham by the district), Kha Nyou, Nongping and Nongma. In total, 7,624 people lived in 1,493 households in these 19 villages in 2011, which increased to 8,099 persons in 1,570 households in 2014. The 19 guardian villages constitute 25.6% of the total population of Boualapha district (31,676 persons in 2014) (Data from Hin Nam No National Park Co-management Plan, 2015). There are no villages situated within the protected area any longer.
There are no true ethnic Lao villages in the district. The lowland Tai-Kadai speakers are either Kaleung, Yooy, or Phou Thay (including the Katak subgroup). The main Katuic languages are mostly Brou and Tri. There are two groups in the far southwest of the district, Piou and Diao, which may be either Katuic or Phouthai groups. It is very likely that the Ruc, a group of foraging nomads, also live in Hin Nam No NPA (Chamberlain, pers. comm.; Chamberlain et al., 1996).
Conservation & Management
As a World Heritage site, Hin Nam No management is guided by a multi-stakeholder committee at the provincial level. In addition, a multi-stakeholder committee at the district level – the Hin Nam No NPA Collaborative Management Committee or District Co-Management Committee (DCMC), has been overseeing local-level management. In total 19 villages co-management committees (VCMC) have been established consisting of 66 members (four females). The VCMC conducts meetings at the village level and reports to the village cluster level. The VCMC institutional framework and rights and duties are formulated in detail in the co-management agreements.
📍Address: Protected Area Management Division, Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Khouvieng Road, Vientiane, Lao PDR
📞 +856-021-215000
📩 [email protected]
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