Phong Nha Cave Tour And Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is located in the Quang Binh Province of north central Vietnam. It is approximately 500km south of Hanoi and it borders the Hin Namno National Reserve, a similar limestone zone. The park was created to protect and preserve one of the largest limestone karst regions in the world, which has over 300 caves and grottoes surrounded by a limestone forest. The National Park covers 2000 km2 with underground caves stretching for about 126km altogether. So far only 20 of the caves have been surveyed by Vietnamese and British scientists. The park is named after the beautiful Phong Nha cave and the Ke Bang forest which surrounds the area. The caves already hold many world records and in April 2009 a team of British cave explorers discovered the Son Doong Cave which has been confirmed as the worlds largest cave.
The Phong Nha-Ke National Park covers 200,000 hectares and is known for its parkland, forest and unique limestone caves which have stunning natural formations and grottoes. Small groups of hunter-gatherer people inhabited the forest until recently, living in caves or in houses made of bamboo and leaves. The indigenous Arem-Ma Coong and Ruc. people now live in Government settlements in two villages. There are about 475 people in total who live simple poor lives exploiting the forest products to make a livelihood.

The Quang Binh province has invested in upgrading the amenities within the national park, making it one of the country’s major tourist destinations. A $25million budget has been set aside to help local people improve their standard of living without harming the natural landscape. They are being trained to run tourist services in the area. It is proving very popular with more than 1800 visitors per day visiting the park and learning about the local flora, fauna and history from the guides. The national park has two bird sanctuaries and protects more than 2600 species of wildlife, many of which are in danger of extinction. The main threat to the National Park is from poaching for meat and for the wildlife trade. Illegal timber extraction is another widespread problem, particularly for valuable tree species and for the extraction of essential oils.

Ninety-five percent of the park is covered with lush forest. The area is a fantastic opportunity for researchers and other interested parties to explore the grottoes and caves. So far only 20 of 300 known caves have been fully surveyed, to a total length of 70km and more are still being discovered. The most recent discovery was the Son Doong Cave in April 2009 and this was found to be the largest cave in the world. The biggest chamber is 5km long, 200m high and 150m wide. Within the national park there is a 50m high waterfall, Chai waterfall, and a bull field called Ran Bo where wild bulls are known to mate.
The area is named after the most beautiful and fascinating of the caves found so far, the Phong Nha cave. It has many wonderful stalagmites and stalactites with enchanting names such as the Lion, Fairy cave, Royal Court and Buddha. The Phong Nha has the longest underground river which stretches for 5 miles. It also has the largest caves, the widest and highest cavern entrance, the widest sand banks and some of the most astonishing rock formations in the world. Boatmen take tourists into the caves on boat trips.
The primary tropical forest itself has many rare tropical plants and trees including 751 species of high-rated plants of which 36 species are endangered and listed in the Vietnam Red Book of native endangered and rare species. The forest is home to 381 species of animals, 66 of which are listed in the Vietnam Red Book. The animal species in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park are more diverse than in other national parks and reserves in Vietnam. Visitors are likely to see Asiatic black bears, macaques, deer, wild boar, gibbons and many birds.
Other attractions within this national park are the mountain peaks, 24 of which are over 1000m high and are still unexplored. They offer great opportunities for eco-tourism, climbing and exploration. Between the Peak Co Preu and the Peak Co Rilata are wonderful unspoilt valleys.
Historically and archaeologically the national park has many interesting relics, hieroglyphs, steles, statues and Buddhas which probably belonged to the Cham ethnic minority.
The climate in the area is tropical, hot and humid. From December to February the average temperature is 18C whilst from June to August the mean temperature is 28C. The area sees up to 2500mm rainfalleach year with the majority falling between July and December.