Bạch Mã National Park ( vi, Vườn quốc gia Bạch Mã) is a protected area in central
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, near the city of
Huế
Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...
. It covers 220 km
2 and comprises three zones: a strictly protected core area, an administrative area and a buffer zone.
In 2004, the park was being considered for expansion in order to create a corridor from the border with
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
to the sea.
The park can be accessed by foot, moped or with a park guide's car.
History
In 1932, the summit of Bạch Mã was selected by the French engineer Girard to become a hill station for the colonial administration of Hue. In the following years, a village including 139 villas and hotels was created. To accommodate holidaymakers and to avoid commuting on the steep, road to the next major town, there was a post office, a market, and a hospital. By 1937 the number of holiday homes had reached 139 and it became known as the "
Dalat of central Vietnam". Most of the visitors were high-ranking French
VIP
A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots.
Examples inc ...
s. Not surprisingly the Viet Minh tried hard to spoil the holiday – the area saw some heavy fighting in the early 1950s. After independence from the French, Bạch Mã was soon forgotten and the villas abandoned; today they are in total ruin and only a few stone walls remain. At an elevation of 1250 meters above sea level, the national park is a popular summer retreat for the Vietnamese, who come to feel the relief of the cooler temperatures of Bạch Mã.
The area around Bach Ma was first protected as a series of forest reserves in 1937 and was declared a protected area by the government of
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
in 1962. In 1986 the area was established as a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
. The forests of the park, like
Cát Tiên National Park
Cát Tiên National Park ( vi, Vườn quốc gia Cát Tiên) is a national park located in the south of Vietnam, belonging to the area of 3 provinces Đồng Nai province, Đồng Nai, Bình Phước province, Bình Phước and Lâm Đồ ...
, suffered from the use of defoliants like
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
Biodiversity of Bạch Mã
Bạch Mã National Park is situated in the
Annamite Mountains
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately through Laos, Vietnam, ...
and is one of the wettest places in Vietnam. Its mountains are composed mainly of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, and the topography of the park is generally very steep.
Bạch Mã's position, at the
biogeographical
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
border between northern and southern Vietnam, combined with its variety of habitats, ranging from the coast to high mountains, means the park is rich in
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
. It is located in an area that is considered a centre of plant diversity in Vietnam. The main vegetation type is moist
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
and
montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
, as well as areas of
scrub and grassland where human disturbance has been high.
The mammals of the park are not well known, though historically it held important species such as the
Asian elephant
The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
,
white-cheeked gibbon and
red-shanked douc langur. It also protects important bird species, especially Vietnamese
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
s such as the
Vietnamese crested argus
The Vietnamese crested argus (''Rheinardia ocellata'') is a large and spectacular peafowl-like species of bird in the pheasant family with dark-brown-spotted black and buff plumage, a heavy pink bill, brown irises and blue skin around the eyes. ...
,
Annam partridge and
Edwards's pheasant
Edwards's pheasant (''Lophura edwardsi'') is a bird of the pheasant family Phasianidae and is endemic to the rainforests of Vietnam. It is named after the French ornithologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards and first described to science in 1896. The ...
, which had been thought extinct.
External links
Official websitepage on Bạch Mã National Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bach Ma National Park
National parks of Vietnam
Geography of Thừa Thiên Huế province
Protected areas established in 1986
1986 establishments in Vietnam
Tourist attractions in Thừa Thiên Huế province