Ha Long Bay ( World Natural Heritage )

Location:

Ha Long Bay is located in the Northeast of Vietnam, which is a part of the western Gulf of Tonkin, including the waters of Ha Long City, Cam Pha City and a part of the Van Don Island District. It borders Cat Ba Island to the south-west; to the west is land with a coastline of 120 km. The bay has a total area of 1553 km2 including 1969 large and small islands, of which 989 named islands and 980 unnamed islands. The World Heritage Site has an area of 434 km2 including 775 islands, as a triangle with three peaks: Dau Go Island (in the west), Ba Ham Lake (in the south) and Cong Tay islans (in the east).

Halong Bay is a unique heritage because this place contains important vestiges in the process of forming and developing the earth's history, which is the residence of the ancient Vietnamese people and works of art of great nature with presentation of thousands of rocky islands in a wide range of shape, with many interesting caves creating a lively and mysterious world. In addition, Ha Long Bay is a place where concentrates high biodiversity with typical ecosystem and thousands of species of extremely rich and diverse plants and animals. It is also associated with the cultural values - the heroic history of the nation.

Aesthetic value:

Ha Long Bay is famous for its system of beautiful rock islands and caves. Ha Long Island has two types of limestone islands and shale islands, concentrated in two main areas are southeast of Bai Tu Long Bay and south west of Ha Long Bay. This is the oldest image of the terrain that is between 250 and 280 million years old, as a result of the elevated and downed movement from the continent to the low seas. Carxto erosion, weathering process almost completely create a unique Ha Long in the world.

Hundreds of rocky islands, each island has a different shape which is very lively: Head of people Islet, Dragon islet, La Vong islet, Canh Buom islet, Trong Mai islet, Lu Huong islet... Hidden in these rocky islands are great caves associated with many miraculous legends such as Thien Cung Cave, Dau Go Cave, Sung Sot Cave, Trinh Nu Cave, Tam Cung Cave. It is truly the castle of natural creation in the world. From the past, Ha Long was dubbed by the great poet Nguyen Trai as "the wonder of land in the sky".

Historical geological value:

Ha Long Bay is assessed by two factors: tectonic history and geology-geomorphology. The basic characteristic of Ha Long Bay for over 1000 years is the open sea expansion, the strong erosion of the beach. The corrosive process of active sea water that enhance the unique beauty of the Carpathian strata. Ha Long Bay is the result of long-term geological evolution. Visitors to Ha Long Bay not only come to the wonders of the world but also to a precious geological museum that is preserved outdoors up to 300 million years. These caves are the living proof of the erosion of sea level through geologic time. Ha Long Bay's geological environment is also a cornerstone of other values such as biodiversity, archaeological culture and other human values. Not only that, Ha Long is also one of the cradle of human culture with Ha Long glory in the period of Hau Ky Do Da at the famous archaeological sites such as Dong Mang, Xien Tho, Soi Nhu, Thoi Gieng ...

Ha Long Bay focuses on high biodiversity with tropical ecosystems such as mangrove ecosystem, coral reef ecosystem, seagrass ecosystem, tropical forest ecosystem and especially the specific ecological system.

Up to now, the preliminary assessment of flora in Ha Long Bay has had about 347. Among the 347 known plant species, 16 species are listed as endangered and are in danger. In the rare plant species, there are 95 species of medicinal plants, 37 species of ornamental plants, 13 species of fruit trees and 10 groups of different usages. The islands in Ha Long Bay have a variety of molluscs, especially those inhabiting rocky niches, and up to 60 endemic species. Ha Long seafood is exploited and cultivated including abalone, sea ginseng, wormwood, shrimp, fish, squid (squid, cuttlefish), octopus, blood cockle,…

On December 17, 1994, during the 18th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Council held in Thailand, Ha Long Bay was officially recognized as a World Natural Heritage with outstanding value in terms of aesthetic, in accordance with the standards of the International Convention for the Protection of Nature and Culture of the World. On December 2, 2000, at the 24th Conference of the City of Cairns, Queensland, Australia, the World Heritage Council recognized Ha Long Bay as the World Heritage Site for the second time in terms of geological, geomorphological values. At present, Quang Ninh province is promoting UNESCO to recognize Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site for the first time, based on archaeological and biodiversity values in the Gulf.