LAMPI Marine National Park, Myanmar’s first marine park, hosts large crowds of domestic travellers and tourists yearly, and the Wa Ale Resort will be opened in the last week of this month.
The Lampi Marine National Park, about 60 nautical miles from Kawthoung, covers 100.15 acres and possesses biodiversity, offering varieties of botanical, biological, and marine-related amphibians.
“The Wa Ale Resort, which tourists would like to visit, will be open by the end of October this year due to weather conditions. Normally, we open it in early October. It is opened under a rental system on the land of the Forest Department. The tourist agencies licenced by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism arrange day trips for tourists from Kawthoung. The tourists who stay at Wa Ale Resort stay for a week or ten days, depending on their visa status. The international tourists come there during the open season. It is a proper place that the tourists like. If we can upgrade the transportation, power and basic infrastructure, the tourism of this region will develop more. We keep doing study and supervisory together with conservation for the sustainability of the marine national park,” said U Kyi Oo, the warden of the park.
The visitors to Lampi Island prefer canoeing watching amphibians and birds in the forest. They also like windsurfing, diving, enjoying the coral reefs and studying the living style of Salon people. Moreover, they like walking in the sand and sunbathing.
Lampi Island is 30 miles long and seven miles wide. It boasts a variety of biodiversity, 288 species of water birds and resident birds, and is home to hornbills and common bottlenose dolphins or Atlantic bottlenose dolphins.
Myanmar has two marine national parks, Lampi and Kyun Nantha. Lampi Marine National Park is one of the ASEAN Heritage Parks. International tourists visit the Wa Ale Resort in Lampi Marine National Park every year. — Nyein Thu (MNA)/KTZH