Location       :     Panom Sawai National Park, Na Bua Sub-district, Muang District, Surin

Open             :     Open every day 08:30 – 16:30

Further Enquiries :  at TAT Surin Office Tel. 044-514-447-8

The park covers areas of Na Bua, Sawai, Muang, Prathadbu, Plai and Prasat Sub-districts within the National Forest Reserve Khao Sawai. The forestry department announced its status as a National Park on 22 June 1984, with approximately 3,456,000 sq.m within its boundaries. Panom Sawai Mountain is a lone mountain amidst the Surin rice paddy plains and beautiful scenery surrounds the mountain.
Panom Sawai is in fact a completely extinct volcano causing the surrounding area to be littered with rock plains and has abundant wild orchids in the forest and is considered to be one of the national parks honouring H.M.the King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great. “Panom Sawai” is of local Surin dialect with Panom meaning mountain and Sawai meaning mango. It in fact consists of 3 intertwined mountains which have different local names which are Panon Grol meaning Stall mountain at 150 meters, Panom Proah meaning Male Mountain at 220 meters and Panom Sarai meaning Female Mountain at 210 meters.
Panom Sawai National Park is also the location of sacred objects of Surin people. Its importance is since ancient times with a Khao Sawai ascending procession, ringing 1,180 bells, paying homage to holy relics in the 5th Lunar month annually. The ancestors of Surin considers this as a traditional holiday divided into 2 periods. The first period is called Domduj meaning the small holiday where people only stop working for 3 days. The second period is called Domthom meaning big holiday where people stop working for 7 days. And when it is the 1st day of the waxing moon of the 5th Lunar month the people of Surin will commence with the ascending procession merit making ceremony and is considered to be the New Year’s day in the Lunar calendar. The people of Surin will stop work and walk up Khao Sawai Mountain to pay homage to holy relics and receive blessings for themselves and their families. The holy relics are the big Buddha statue, Phra Buddhasurintaramongkol (Blessing pose), Phra Samana Kodom (Black Buddha), Replica of the Buddha’s Footprints, Stupa containing the ashes of Luang Pu Dul Atulo (Phra Rachawuthajarn) a revered senior monk of the meditation path, Chapel of Luang Pu Suan (Phra Kru Panom Silakun), Panom Sawai Sandstone Sanctuary, Shrine of the Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin), Holy Stone Turtle, Holy Pond, and the Stupa containing the ashes of the 8th Lord Governor of Surin. In ringing the 1,180 bells is a form of blessing and believe to make the person well know in faraway areas like the sound of the bell.