Its status was changed to a king amphoe and moved to Tak Province effective 1 January 1926.

[2] It was thought that the name Umphang came from Karen word Umpa, meaning the act of opening a bamboo container.

This was performed by Burmese to show passports stored in the bamboo to Thai immigration officers.

[3] Most of Umphang is mountainous, geographically separated from the east part of Tak Province by the Thanon Thongchai Range (ทิวเขาถนนธงชัย).

A large number of the 28,000 population are hill tribes with Karen people making up the largest proportion.

Highway 1090, 164 km in total, has two lanes during much of the way and contains 1,219 curves, a number proudly displayed at numerous places in Umphang.

Efforts to finish this project surfaced a few times, but was eventually rejected due to the virgin forest in the path of the road.

Another project linking Umphang to Amphoe Sangkhla Buri, Kanchanaburi Province was proposed in 2004, but was immediately rejected.

The peak season for tourism is in December and January when the water level is still high and the road to waterfall (25 km) is open to the public.

An alternative way to reach the waterfall is by whitewater rafting downstream along the calm section of Klong River and then continuing overland on foot or by car for another about 12 km.

[14] It is a waterfall dropping directly into Klong River deep in Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary with no road access.