Erawan

Erawan National Park was created in 1975 in Kanchanaburi province, in western Thailand, and protects some 550 km² of monsoon forest on limestone relief.

Its central feature is the waterfall that gives it its name: a stepped fall in seven tiers along some two kilometres, in which the water drops over travertine formations that it has itself laid down, creating turquoise pools between rock terraces. The name refers to Erawan, the three-headed elephant of Hindu mythology, from the resemblance tradition attributes to the uppermost tier. It is one of the most visited parks in the country, with visitor numbers heavily concentrated at the lower pools.

Beyond the waterfall, the park preserves evergreen and deciduous forest on karst, with caves such as Phrathat, and a fauna that includes white-handed gibbon, macaques, hornbills and a fish community in the pools, where the so-called doctor fish nibble at bathers' skin. The park forms part of Thailand's western forest complex and borders the Srinakarin reservoir.