Just like our visit to the Moeyungyi
Weetlends, our visit to Kyaiktiyo Wildlife Sanctuary was mostly insired by the http://birding.sstmyanmar.com/kyaikhtiyo-wildlife-sanctuary. Mount Kyaiktiyo is
mostly famous for its Golden Rock Pagoda at its top, but there are apparently
some reasonable forests on the mountain. We based ourselves at Kinpun Base
Camp, from which we walked up the mountain on the first day towards the Maha
Myaing Paya. First you pass through a lot of cleared forest and later through
crappy secondary forest. Here we only found a Black-necked Laugher and some
Crested Treeswifts.
The next day we took one of the trucks
taking the pilgrims up the mountain in the hope to find better forest at higher
altitude. We decided to walk down from the Golden Rock back to Kinpun. First
you pass countless vendors, but later there are some patches of secondary
forest which contained amongst others Vernal Hanging Parrot, Green-billed
Malkoha, Blue-winged Leafbird, Crested Goshawk, Buff-breasted, Puff-throated
and Striped Tit Babbler, Lesser Necklaced Laugher, Little Spiderhunter and
Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbill.
Even though we saw some interesting
species, I don´t understand why this is a “wildlife sanctuary”. Maybe we did
not find the right trails and birded in the wrong places, maybe the time of the
year was not right, but in my opinion the human pressure on the forests here
seems just too much. It still is an interesting site from a cultural
perspective, but the fact that foreigners have to eat and sleep at specially selected
places and are completely separated from the local people creates a weird
atmosphere.
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| Ridiculously large butterfly (Attacus atlas) |
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