Bạch Mã National Park

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Coordinates: 16 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  N , 107 ° 49 ′ 0 ″  E

Relief Map: Vietnam
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Bach Mã National Park
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Vietnam
Bach Ma National Park

The National Park Bạch Mã ( Vietnamese Vườn quốc gia Bạch Mã ) is a national park in Vietnam . It is located 45 kilometers southeast of Huế and 85 km northwest of Hội An and forms the core of the last closed forest area in central Vietnam. The park, founded in 1991, is 22,000 hectares in size and is home to various vegetation zones from the coastal plain to the almost 1,500 meter high summit of the Bạch Mã mountain.

history

The French founded a small summer health resort on the summit plateau in the 1930s, which was mainly visited by French colonial officials. The first protection zones were established in 1937, and a paved summit road was in operation from 1939. With the defeat of the French in Dien Bien Phu (1954), Bach Ma was quickly forgotten. During the Vietnam War , the American armed forces recognized the strategic importance of the Bach Ma Mountain in order to control the coastal plain between Huế and Đà Nẵng from there . The military set up a helicopter base directly on the summit and defended it against numerous attacks by the Vietnamese resistance. Trenches and a dilapidated tunnel system below the summit are still a reminder of this today . The forests were also damaged by Agent Orange . Plans to repair part of the tunnel systems for tourist purposes were abandoned in favor of nature conservation. As a side effect, the facilities are now inhabited by animals, especially bats.

After the end of the war, the area around the Bach Ma mountain was cultivated by several state forest companies. Meeting high production quotas had priority over sustainable forestry, and within a few years the formerly lush tropical rainforest was cleared.

Flora and fauna

The park is considered a floristic center of high biodiversity in Indochina; there are more than 1400 described plant species here. This corresponds to about a fifth of all species in Vietnam on just 0.07 percent of the country's area. According to a list available at the park entrance, 330 species of birds live here and can be observed. Some rarities such as the Crested Argus ( Rheinardia ocellata ) or the Silver Pheasant ( Lophura nycthemera beli ) are relatively common, looks more rarely the Edwards's Pheasant ( Lophura edwardsi ).

Nature and infrastructure

The national park administration maintains several hiking trails (maps available from the visitor center) that are easy to tackle with sturdy shoes. From the highest point of the mountain, in good weather, you have a panoramic view of the ridges of the Annamite chain to the lagoon of Cau Hai and the offshore coast. The 200 m high rhododendron waterfall is worth seeing . A staircase with 689 steps leads to the base of the waterfall. Further cascades can be found along the five-lake hiking trail or the pheasant trail .

The park administration operates several inns at the park entrance and on the summit plateau, which are ideal starting points for day excursions. Some of the old colonial buildings in the park have been stylishly renovated and are now used as guest houses. With more than 8,000 mm of annual precipitation , the mountain Bach Ma leads the rain statistics of Vietnam; During the rainy season from November to January it can often rain for days.

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