Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng
Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng - a national park in Vietnam covering an area of 857 km2. The park is located on a giant limestone plateau, in which over 300 grottoes and caves under the protection of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites have formed over millions of years.
The name of the park consists of 2 words: Fongnya - a cave, Kebang - the name of the surrounding forest. The approximate length of the caves is approximately 130 km, of which only 20 km were examined by scientists. In 2009, the Schondong Cave, the world's largest cave, was discovered in the park. The first expedition to this area was equipped with priest Leopold-Michel Kadier, who discovered Taman inscriptions on the walls of the Fongnya cave. In 1935, a local resident found a “fairy cave” - Tienshon, also called it a “dry cave”, a kilometer from Fongnya". In the following decades, several expeditions were equipped for research, but they did not open anything new. In 1990, the British Speleological Association and the University of Hanoi agreed on cooperation and equipped expeditions, during which the Vom cave was investigated, in 1994 Fongnya was investigated. In 1999, the Vietnamese-Russian Tropical Center conducted a study of the flora and fauna of the park. Data from three expeditions made it possible to develop a plan for the protection and development of the region, as well as the assignment of the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Fongnya-Kebang Lanschaft Park has been formed over 400 million years and is the oldest limestone karst formation in Asia. Together with the Lao reserve Hin Namno, the territory of the karst forest is 3177 km2. The limestone is easily eroded, so that water easily washed the rocks, forming caves and underground rivers, and the region has long been exposed to powerful tectonic processes. The Tye and Sean rivers formed almost all the caves in the region. Sean flows into the Fongnya cave and, flowing 20 kilometers south, this section of the river is called Nam-Aki.
In Fongnya-Kebang Park, more than three hundred species of mammals are found, among which 66 are in the Vietnam Red Book, and 22 are listed in the International. The largest population of primates lives in Fongnya-Kebang, of which such species as short-tailed macaques, northern pig-tailed macaques, northern white-cheeked gibbones and asam macaques are on the verge of extinction. Here you can also meet the Malay and Himalayan bear.
After the inclusion of Fongnya-Kebang Park in the World Heritage List, the number of tourists has increased dramatically. You can get to the park on the Ho Chi Minh City highway, by plane, by train from Dongkhoy station. To get into the park you need to buy a ticket at the Shonchat Community Tourist Center. The ticket price includes a boat trip. For tourists, the following types of entertainment are presented: rafting on the Tye River, ecotourism, mountain climbing, tours to caves, visiting attractions and exploring the local flora and fauna.
