It is a fitting name to describe this mountain range that effectively constituted a natural buttress between the Khorat Plateau and the plain of Central Thailand.

To the east this range connects with the Dângrêk Mountains, a longer system running in an east-west direction that stretches into Laos.

Finally, 875 m high Kao Kamphaeng and 558 m high Kao Dan Fai Mai are at the eastern end of the western massif, where there is a valley through which passes Hwy 304 (AH 19), between Kabin Buri town and Nakhon Ratchasima.

Further eastwards the average height of the peaks descends to around 400 m and Hwy 348 crosses in this lower area from north to south where the range connects with the Dângrêk Mountains.

After an attempt by government forces to capture the outlaws in the area, the villagers were relocated onto the plains some 30 km away.

Boonsong Lekakul, one of the 20th century's most famous conservationists in Thailand, played a major role in the establishment of the protected area.

[5] In 1982 a road was built that made it easy for Bangkok residents to reach the main protected area of the mountains.

Homes and residential villas have been built illegally within the limits of officially protected areas of the forest in Khao Yai[7] and in Thap Lan National Park.

Although officially a protected tree, the cutting and trading of endangered rosewood trees has been going on unabated in Thailand's mountainous forested zones, even in the protected areas such as Thap Lan, Pang Sida, and Ta Phraya National Parks, as well as in the Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary.