Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary
Location: Sagaing Division, Khamti District, Khamti and Hommalin townships.
Area: 531456 acres
Access: Approach – By boat ,by car and by plane.
- By boat- 4 days upstream along the Chindwin river from Monywa.
- By car – about 300 miles north of Monywa along Monywa-Khamti road.
- By plane- Fly Mandalay to Khamti ,then take a downstream boat ride.
Forest / vegetation types: Lowland evergreen forest with some area of wetland.
Wildlife: Inhabits about 37 mammals including, the endangered Bengal Tiger.
180 species of birds, including the endangered White-winged Duck.
Opportunities for Study and Recreation
- Bird-watching
- Trekking
- Studying mammals and plants.
Geographically bounded between Uyu and Chindwin rivers, the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary has been the largest nature protected area in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar since its foundation in 1974. Covering 531,456 acres, this wildlife sanctuary hosts a variety of critical Asian large mammal species, such as tigers (Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), Asian largest Bovidae species the Gaur (Bos gaurus) and until not long ago the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).
Tigers used to thrive in this sanctuary, as documented by numerous field reports collected in the 80s and 90s. In 1999, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with the Myanmar Forest Department engaged in a 3-year long scientific study to determine the status and distribution of tigers through the use of camera traps. This extensive study provided evidence of the presence of tigers not only within the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, but also in the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary and in the Tenasserim Range (South of the country, where FFI is leading another ITHCP-funded project). These findings resulted in a National Tiger Action Plan for Myanmar, a document outlining the updated national strategy for tiger conservation and management that instructed conservation efforts for the following decade.