in 1893, this mountainous area between the chindwin and myittha rivers was declared a reserved forest and selectively logged for teak. it was little disturbed when surveyors of the food and agriculture organization and the united nations development programme visited it in the early 1980s, who were invited by the government of myanmar to assist in identifying suitable areas for national parks and nature reserves. in 1984, they proposed to establish a tract of as alaungdaw kathapa national park. its name honours a legendary monk who lived there in historical times. the national park was gazetted in 1989 and demarcated with an area of . its actual area reported by myanmar's ministry of natural resources and environmental conservation is .