Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary

Shwe Mit Zu Pagoda
Sarus Crane
Stork-billed Kingfisher
Tufted Duck
Little Green Bee-eater
Glossy Ibis
Bronze-winged Jacana
Asian Openbill
Purple Heron

Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary

  • Country: 
    Myanmar
  • Site number: 
    2256
  • Area: 
    47,884.4 ha
  • Designation date: 
    02-02-2016
  • Coordinates: 
    25°09'N 96°21'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary Ramsar Site comprises Indawgyi Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in Myanmar, and surrounding lowlands which have mostly been converted to wet rice agriculture. The Lake plays a role in flood control and provides regionally important habitats to at least 20,000 migratory and resident waterbirds. These include globally threatened birds such as the vulnerable lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), sarus crane (Grus antigone) and wood snipe (Gallinago nemoricola). The Site is home to globally threatened mammals such as the endangered hog deer (Axis porcinus) and Shortridge’s langur (Trachypithecus shortridgei), and the vulnerable eastern hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys). It also hosts five species of globally threatened chelonians, of which three are endangered: the Asian brown tortoise (Manouria emys), Burmese peacock softshell turtle (Nilssonia formosa), and the yellow tortoise (Indotestudo elongata). Indawgyi Lake has a high diversity of fish, including seven species recently discovered and endemic to the Site. The 30,000 people living in 16 villages around the lake basin depend on a mixture of rice farming and fishing for their livelihoods. The annual festival held in March at the Shwe Myint Zu Pagoda on the west side of the lake attracts tens of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims.

Administrative region: 
Kachin State

  • National legal designation: 
    • ASEAN Heritage Park - Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary
  • Last publication date: 
    01-02-2016

Downloads

Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS)

Additional reports and documents