Phong Nha Travel Guide

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a national park of Vietnam, located in Bo Trach district, and Minh Hoa district, Quang Binh province, about 50 km northwest of Dong Hoi city, about 500 km south. The park borders Hin Namno Nature Reserve in Khammouan Province, Laos to the west, 42 km east of the East Sea from the borders of the two countries.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang is located in an area of about 200,000 hectares of limestone mountains in the territory of Vietnam, the Lao territory adjacent to the national park also has an area of about 30,000 hectares of limestone mountains. The core area of the national park is 85,754 ha and a buffer zone of 195,400 ha. In August 2013, the Prime Minister decided to expand the national park to 1233.26 km2 [1]. The park was set up to protect one of the world's two largest karsts with about 300 caves and preserve the northern Truong Son ecosystem in the North Central region of Vietnam. Characteristics of this national park are limestone formations, 300 caves, underground rivers and rare and precious flora and fauna in the Vietnam Red Book and World Red Book. The caves here have a total length of more than 80 km but the English and Vietnamese cave explorers have only explored 20 km, of which 17 km in Phong Nha area and 3 km in Ke Bang area.

In April 2009, an expedition of the British Royal Cave Association discovered and announced Son Doong Cave, the largest sized cave in the world (over 5 km long, 200 m high, and 150 m wide), much larger than Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia, 4 to 5 times larger than Phong Nha. During this survey, the expedition also found many other caves.

The formation of the carcass of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was formed 400 million years ago, from the time of the Paleozoic period and therefore the oldest caravan in Asia.

Experiencing many major changes in stratigraphy and geomorphology, the topography of this area is very complicated. Phong Nha-Ke Bang presents impressive evidence of the history of the Earth, helping to study the history of the geological and topographical history of the region. Phong Nha-Ke Bang area is one of the distinctive and beautiful patterns of complex construction of Southeast Asia. Recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site according to the geological and geomorphologic criteria of 2003, and secondly recognized by the UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site with the criteria of biodiversity and ecology on 3th Jul 2015.