Considered as a “sleeping beauty in forest” because of its wildlife landscapse, Ben En National Park, located in mountainous area between Nhu Thanh and Nhu Xuan districts, Thanh Hoa province (about 45km from the Southwest), is an animal and plant genes reserve site serving not only for science research but also tourist activities.
The Park is covered by more than 160 thousand hectares area of natural forest including 30 thousand ha of buffer forest. The flora in the Park is plentiful with 462 varieties and 125 orders. According to the Director of Ben En Naional Park, Mr. Le Duc Giang said there are the rare hundred year old species with nearly 3m in diameter namely Erythrophloeum fordii (Lim xanh) and many other special ones such as Cinnamomum balansae (Vu huong), Madhucapasquieri (sen mat), Peltophorum pterocarpum (lim xet), Chukrasia tabularis (lat hoa)…; groups of herbaceous plants such as Calamus poilanei Conrard (Song), rattan, bamboo; family Dipterocarpaceae such as Vernicia foridii (Trau), Sapotaceae (Sen), Litsea cubeba (Mang tang ) and over 300 species of rare medicinal herbs in the Park.
Here is also home to diversified animals system with over 1,000 species of forna including 91 species of animals, 201 species of birds, 54 species of reptiles, 31 species of amphibians, 68 species of fish and 499 species of insects. Espcially, many species of mammals have been listed in Vietnam's Red Data Book such as Dhole, Asian Black Bear...
The national park's main attraction is Lake Song Muc with a total area of 4,000ha including 24 islands on the lake with wonderful caves that create a romantic landscape attracting eyes of tourists.
Recently, many national and oversea researchers have paid their attention to the Park through science projects like “Preserving the gene source of some rare and precious plants in Ben En National Park” and “Research on forest restoration after slash and burn farming in Ben En National Park”…
Thanks to the advantages of tourism potential, Ben En national Park will become an ideal eco-tourism destination in the future.
Translated by Thanh Pham (TITC)