With the over 200,000ha of parkland in Bo Trach and Minh Hoa districts, Quang Binh Province, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is a part of the oldest limestone mountain in Asia with the unique forest type of needle-leaved one growing on the limestone mountain with the height of from 700 to 1,000m.
According to initial statistics, the primitive tropical forest in Phong Nha-Ke Bang houses 2,651 high-ranked species of plant, more than 1,000 species of fauna, including 23 animal species listed in the IUCN Red List. There are 356 bird species, 97 reptile ones, 47 amphibian ones, 270 butterfly ones, 50 water mammal ones. In particular, there are 10 orders of primates, comprising of 50% in total in Viet Nam. In the area, there are thousands of caves and grottoes, especially Phong Nha situated at a magnificent range, which was formed for hundreds of millions of years. In addition to the diversity in the ecosystem, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is home to archaeological and historical relics, such as an ancient hieroglyphic script of the Cham ethnic minority, King Ham Nghi's base built for the resistance war against French colonialists in the late 19th century at Ma Rai Mountain... Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was recognised as a World Natural Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in July 2003.
