Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, a natural heritage of the world, is a part of the region of Quang Binh Province. Phong Nha - Ke Bang is the name of an area located in a limestone mountain area which is about 200,000 hectares wide. It is around 50 kilometres far from Đồng Hới City to the west, and belongs to Quang Ninh Province, Bo Trach Province, Tuyen Hoa Province and Minh Hoa Province.
If we count for this whole limestone mountain area, extending to Lao People's Democratic Republic, the total area is about 400,000 hectares
About the origin of the park's name, it is joint by two parts: the name of Phong Nha grotto and the name of Ke Bang limestone moutainous and forestal area. There is a view explaining for its name like this: Phong Nha means wind (Han ideogram: 風 Phong) and teeth (Han ideogram: 牙 Nha), implying the wind blown from the cave and bristly stalactite like the teeth. But according to Le Quy Don, Phong Nha is the name of a mountainous village formerly. Besides, some people suppose that the name Phong Nha derives from the scenes in which many mountains lie in a regular chain, as mandarins standing in a line in an imperial palace; therefore, people took the words Phong Nha from Han ideogram but in other way (the word 峰 Phong means the top of the mountain and the word 衙 Nha means mandarin) to name for the cave.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang has typical rocky mountains which were formed 400 million years ago and were connected closely with the circle of tectonics and development of the world's history. Moreover, 94% the area is primeval forest; therefore, the diversity level of the forests here is the highest within all forests in Vietnam. For that reason, this National Park, with its salient features about geology and geomorphology which bring global values, has been acknowledged as a natural heritage of the world by UNESCO in 2003.
Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is located in the area of the following wards: Tan Trach, Thuong Trach, Phuc Trach, Xuan Trach and Son Trach of Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province. Its total area is 85,754 hectares. The west borders on the preservative area Hin Namno, belonging to Kham Muon Province of Lao People's Democratic Republic.
According to the latest statistics, this is a primeval forest on a typical limestone mountain with many kinds of symbolic plants such as: Burretiodendron hsienmu, Annamocarya spp., Plantanus kerii, and Hopea spp. The flora here has 152 groups, 511 types of genes, 876 types of veiny plants, including 38 species in the Red Book of Vietnam, 25 species in the Red Book of the world, and 13 endemic species of Vietnam (sao trees and dipterocarpaceae).
On the other hand, in this national park, there is also one area of green fir plantation disposed on the top of the limestone mountain. This area is more than 5,000 hectares, including 2,500 plants with the density of 600 plants/hectare. Especially, the community of green fir plantation here has lived for 500-600 years, considered as the largest in Vietnam.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang is also the living place of 113 wild animals, prominently having tigers and gayals, the biggest bull in the world. There are also 302 kinds of birds, including 35 species in the Red Book of Vietnam and 19 species in the Red book of the world. Besides, they have 81 kinds of amphibian reptiles (18 species in the Red Book of Vietnam and 6 species in the Red Book of the world); 259 types of butterflies; 72 fishes, especially 4 endemic species. In 1996, a new fish of Vietnam was discovered here. In addition, they have 10 primates, making up for 50% of the total species of primates belonging to Vietnam, especially voọc Ha Tinh, sao la, mang. Therefore, this place is evaluated as the park having the most diverse natural ecosystem in all national parks and the reserving biosphere area in the world.
In the buffer zone of this National park, there also have residents of 12 wards with the total area of this buffer zone is 1479.45 square kilometres, locating in Minh Hóa District (Dan Hoa, Hoa Son, Trung Hoa, Thuong Hoa); Bo Trach District (Tan Trach, Thuong Trach, Phuc Trach, Son Trach, Phu Dinh, Hung Trach) and Quang Ninh District (Truong Son). These residents mainly live along the banks of rivers like Chay River, Son River and other valleys with streams at the east and the eastern north.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang has an important meaning as a gigantic creatures museum of Vietnam.
The grotto system Phong Nha-Ke Bang
The grottos in Phong Nha-Ke Bang area can be divided into three main streams: Phong Nha Grotto system, Arch Grotto system and Wearing Out Grotto system.
Phong Nha Grotto system has the total length of more than 40 kilometres, proceeding from the south of Ke Bang limestone mountain area. The main entrance is at Khe Ry Cave and Swallow Cave with the altitude of 300 metres. The caves in this system are disposed like branch-shaped, going to the direction of eastern north - western south. In the system, Phong Nha Grotto (also known as Teeth-Wind, Water Grotto, Lower Phong Nha) with its full length of 7,700 metres is the grotto having most records with "seven best": the longest water grotto; the highest and most beautiful entrance; the most beautiful underground lake; the most magnificent and miraculous stalactite; the longest underground river of Vietnam; and the hugest and most beautiful dried grotto in the world.
The entrance to the grotto is 20 metres wide. Inside the grotto are 14 caves and a 13,969-metre long underground river. The stalactites here have lasted millions years established from water dissolved with limestone and then agglomerated into many shapes such as lion-shape, throne-shape, Buddha-shape, etc. Staying closely to Phong Nha Grotto is Tien Sơn Grotto (Dried Grotto or Upper Phong Nha), another famously magnificent in this area. The entrance to this grotto is about 1,000 metres far from Phong Nha Grotto's entrance, at 200-metre altitude and 980 metres of length. Walking 400 metres from the entrance is a chasm about 10 metres deep, and then an underground stone cave nearly 500 metres long. Because it is very dangerous, tourists are not allowed to enter this area but they can only travel as far as 400 metres from the entrance.
Arch Grotto system is 30 kilometres long in total, beginning from Ruc Ca Rong Grotto and ending at Arch Grotto. It is 360 metres above the sea level. This system is on the axis which follows the common direction of south - north. Ruc Ca Rong River sometimes hides in the stone mountains, sometimes appears at deep, narrow valley, and pours into Chay River at Arch Grotto's entrance.
Wearing Out Grotto system is located in Minh Hoa District and is where Arem ethnic minority live. This system has not been explored much and the information about this system is still very limited.
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