One of the first all-weather roads in Burma was across the Karen Hills connecting Taungoo with Loilem.

Lawpita Falls, Myanmar's largest hydropower plant, built by the Japanese as war reparation, is located in these mountains.

[6] The Karen Hills rise from Burma's central plain and stretch for 120 km eastwards in their broadest part until they reach the Salween (Thanlwin) River valley.

Owing to the activity of the Tatmadaw in the area many local people have moved across the border into Thailand where they live in refugee camps.

Among the rare and vulnerable species in these highlands, Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat and the holoparasitic flowering plant Sapria himalayana deserve mention.