Ha Long Bay - Wonder of land built high in the sky

Ha Long Bay is located in the Northeast region of Vietnam, is a western part of the Gulf of Tonkin, including the waters of Ha Long city, Cam Pha city and part of Van Don island district. The southwest borders Cat Ba island, the west borders the mainland with a 120km long coastline, the Bay has a total area of ​​1553km2 including 1969 large and small islands, of which 989 islands have names and 980 islands have no names. The World Heritage Site has an area of ​​434km2 including 775 islands, like a triangle with three vertices: Dau Go Island (west), Ba Ham Lake (south) and Cong Tay Island (east).

Ha Long Bay - World Natural Heritage

Ha Long Bay is a unique heritage because this place contains important traces in the process of formation and development of earth's history, is the cradle of ancient Vietnamese residence, and is also a work of art. Great creation of nature with the presence of thousands of rocky islands of diverse shapes, with many interesting caves gathered into a world that is both lively and mysterious. Besides, Ha Long Bay is also a place with high biodiversity with typical ecosystems and thousands of extremely rich and diverse species of plants and animals. This place is also associated with the heroic cultural and historical values ​​of the nation.

Aesthetic value: Ha Long Bay stands out with its beautiful system of rocky islands and caves. There are two types of islands in Ha Long: limestone islands and schist islands, concentrated in two main regions: the southeast region of Bai Tu Long Bay and the southwest region of Ha Long Bay. This is the oldest image of terrain with a geological tectonic age of 250 - 280 million years, the result of the movement of lifting and lowering many times from the continent to the sea basin. The process of karst erosion and weathering has almost completely created a unique Ha Long in the world.

Hundreds of rocky islands, each island has a very different and vivid shape: Nguoi's Head Island, Dragon Island, La Vong Island, Canh Buom Island, Trong Mai Island, Lu Huong Island... Hidden in the heart of the stone islands These are beautiful caves associated with many magical legends such as Thien Cung cave, Dau Go cave, Sung Sot cave, Trinh Nu cave, Tam Cung cave... These are truly the castles of creation in the middle of the world. time. Since ancient times, Ha Long has been dubbed by the great national poet Nguyen Trai as "a wonder of the earth built in the sky".

Geological historical value: Ha Long Bay is evaluated through two factors: tectonic history, geology, and geomorphology. The basic characteristics of Ha Long Bay over the past 1,000 years are the sea encroaching and expanding the Bay, strongly eroding the beaches with tiger parrots, the Bay water is clearer, more salty and coral grows. The corrosive process of seawater actively creates deep veins, adding to the unique and fascinating beauty of the Cartesian strata. Ha Long Bay is the result of a long geological evolution process. Visitors to Ha Long Bay not only come to the wonders of the world but also come to a precious geological museum preserved outdoors for 300 million years. The caves are vivid evidence of the erosion process of sea level through geological periods. Ha Long Bay's geological environment is also the foundation for other values ​​such as biodiversity, archaeological culture and other human values.

Ha Long Bay concentrates high biodiversity with ecosystems of tropical waters such as: Mangrove ecosystems, coral reef ecosystems, seagrass ecosystems, tropical forest ecosystems and especially the unique pine ecosystem.

Up to now, preliminary assessment of the flora in Ha Long Bay area has about 347 species, vascular plants belonging to 232 genera and 95 families. Of the total 347 known plant species, 16 species are on Vietnam's red list of endangered and near-endangered. Among rare plant species, there are 95 species of medicinal plants, 37 species of ornamental plants, 13 species of fruit trees and 10 groups with different uses.

The islands in Ha Long Bay have diverse species of molluscs, especially species residing in rock cavities, and up to 60 endemic animal species. Ha Long seafood is exploited and farmed including: abalone, sea cucumber, sea worms, shrimp, fish, squid (squid, cuttlefish, squid), octopus, cockles, mussels and scallops farmed for pearls. …

Ha Long Bay is also a land filled with glorious and heroic history of the Vietnamese people with famous places such as Van Don - where there was a bustling ancient trading port in the 12th century, and Bai Tho Mountain. history, and not far away is the Bach Dang River - evidence of two glorious naval battles of generations of ancestors against foreign invaders. Not only that, Ha Long is also one of the cradles of humanity with the glorious Ha Long Culture of the Late Neolithic period at famous archaeological sites such as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu, Thoi Gieng...

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 exceptional value in terms of aesthetic, according to the standards of the International Convention on the Protection of World Nature and Culture. On December 2, 2000, at the 24th Conference in Cairns city, Queensland, Australia, the World Heritage Council recognized Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site for the second time according to geological value standards. , geomorphology. Currently, Quang Ninh province is promoting a submission to UNESCO to recognize Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site for the third time, based on the archaeological and biodiversity values ​​in the Gulf region.