Kon Ka Kinh National Park ( vi, Vườn quốc gia Kon Ka Kinh) is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

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 ...

, established by the decision (167/2002/QĐ-TTg) on November 25, 2002 of the then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Phan Văn Khải Phan Văn Khải (; 25 December 1933 – 17 March 2018) was a Vietnamese politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam from 25 September 1997 to 27 June 2006. Life and career Phan Văn Khải was born on 25 December 1933 in Tan ...

. Kon Ka Kinh National Park is a priority zone for the protection of

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'') ...

in Vietnam and the

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, milita ...

. It is also a biological tourist site. Besides the biological diversity of the flora and fauna here, Kon Ka Kinh plays an important role in the protection of the upstream of the Ba River and the Dak Pne River, which supply water for tens of square kilometres of crops areas of Gia Lai Province and Kon Tum Province. To the west of this national park is the Yaly Hydroelectricity Plant.

General information

Kon Ka Kinh National Park is located on the Kon Tum Plateau, in the areas of districts Mang Yang, K'Bang, and Đắk Đoa of Gia Lai Province. The center of the park is situated in the Commune of Ayun, Mang Yang District, northeast of Gia Lai Province, 50 km northeast of

Pleiku Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in the Central Highlands region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province. Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or De ...

, on an area of 417.8 km² with the geological coordinates: N14°09′ to 14°30′ and E108°16′ to 108°28′. To the north of the park is the Commune of Đắk Roong of K'Bang District; to the south of the park are the Commune Hà Ra and part of Commune of A Yun and Commune Đắk Yă of Mang Yang District; to the east lie the communes of Đắk Roong, Kon Pne, Kroong, and Lơ Ku of K'Bang District; and to the west lies commune Hà Đông of Đắk Đoa District. Kon Ka Kinh was listed as a special forest in 1986 by the Decision 194/CT dated August 9, 1986 of the Chairman of the Council of the Ministers of Vietnam, with an area of 280 km², with the purpose of preserving subtropical forest in the high mountains with species of

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, '' Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμν ...

. In 1999, the Forest Investigation and Planning Institute of Vietnam (FIPI), in conjunction with BirdLife International, created the Kon Ka Kinh Bird Sanctuary Project, which then was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Gia Lai People's Committee in the same year with an area of 417.8 km². Kon Ka Kinh National Park was one of four national parks in Vietnam, together with three other

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

in Vietnam: Ba Bể, Chư Mom Ray and Hoàng Liên), also one of 27 national parks in

was listed on ASEAN Heritage Park.However, according to another website: aseanbiodiversity, retrieved on October 3, 2007,
www.aseanbiodiversity.org
, the number of ASEAN Heritage includes 35 national parks of ASEAN and

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park Phong may refer to: Computer graphics * Phong shading * Phong reflection model * Blinn–Phong shading model * Bui Tuong Phong - creator of the Phong shading interpolation method and reflection model. Other * Phong-Kniang language * Nam Phon ...

in Quảng Bình Province of Vietnam is also included in the heritage list.

Topography

The altitude of this park varies from 570 m (in valley of Ba River to 1,748 m (Kon Ka Kinh peak). Streams from the eastern part of the park are a water source for the Ba River, a twisted river running north–south until it meets the confluence A Yun River and then changes its direction to northwest–southeast before emptying into the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

Tuy Hòa Tuy Hòa () is the capital city of Phú Yên Province in south-central Vietnam. The city has a total area of and a population of 202,030 (in 2012). The city is located approximately midway between Nha Trang and Qui Nhơn. The city is formulate ...

city; while to the west of the river lie distributaries of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

river. Owing to the sloping topography, rivers in this park are short, run fast, and create many waterfalls. Kon Ka Kinh National Park contains 33,565 ha of natural forest, accounting for 80% of the total national park area. It is home to a variety of montane habitat types. There are about 20 square kilometres of broad leaf and needle leaf trees, primarily Pomu ('' Fokienia hodginsii'').

Biological diversity

Flora

Due to the characteristics of its topography, climate, soil conditions, and other factors, this park contains a great deal of biodiversity. It is home to: * Flora typical to North Vietnam:

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and '' Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), t ...

Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Ma ...

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur m ...

Fagaceae The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as ever ...

...etc. These families contrentrate in areas influenced by wet tropical rain. In these area, tree density is high and dominant species are not typical. * Species native to

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

–

Guizhou Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...

and foot of

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

includes: needle leaf of

such as ('' Podocarpus imbricatus''), ('' Dacrydium pierrei''), (''

Nageia wallichiana ''Nageia wallichiana'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a tree 10–54 m high, found in Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. ''Nageia wallichiana'' is the m ...

''), ('' Fokienia hodginsii'') ...etc. * Species native to Malaysia-Indonesia:

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

such as (''

Anogeissus acuminata ''Terminalia phillyreifolia'' is an Asian species of tree in the family Combretaceae. It has been called buttontree or yon (from ; IPA: ). It is a medium-sized tree found in both primary and secondary tropical and sub-tropical forests. It is rec ...

''), (''

Parashorea stellata ''Parashorea stellata'' (also called white seraya) is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It grows naturally in Laos, Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (a ...

''), ('' Parashorea chinensis'')...etc. *Species native to India-Myanmar: Typical species include:

Combretaceae The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, ''Combret ...

such as (''

Terminalia bellirica ''Terminalia bellirica'', known as baheda, bahera, behada, beleric or bastard myrobalan (Arabic: beliledj بليلج, borrowed from Middle Persian Balilag), Persian بلیله (Balileh), Sanskrit: Bibhitaka बिभीतक, Aksha is a large ...

'') or

Lythraceae Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera, with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include ''Cuphea'' (275 spp.), ''Lagerstroemia'' (56), ''Nesaea'' (50), ''Rotala'' (45), and ''Lythrum'' (35). ...

such as ('' Lagerstroemia tomentosa'') v.v. According to the survey results, Kon Ka Kinh National Park contained 687 flora species of 459 genus and 140 families, of which the class of

Magnoliopsida Magnoliopsida is a valid botanical name for a class of flowering plants. By definition the class will include the family Magnoliaceae, but its circumscription can otherwise vary, being more inclusive or less inclusive depending upon the classif ...

is dominant (104 families, 337 genus, 528 species). Second domination is

Liliopsida Liliopsida Batsch (synonym: Liliatae) is a botanical name for the class containing the family Liliaceae (or Lily Family). It is considered synonymous (or nearly synonymous) with the name monocotyledon. Publication of the name is credited to Scopol ...

(15 families, 82 genus, 111 species). Other division of

Pteridophyta A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns ...

includes 16 families, 32 genus and 40 species. Gymnosperm includes 5 families, 8 genus, 8 species. Kon Ka Kinh is home to several endangered and preserved endemic species, such as: #11 endemic species: (''

Pinus dalatensis ''Pinus dalatensis'', also known as Vietnamese white pine or Dalat pine, is a species of pine endemic to Indochina. In Vietnam it grows in the mountains of the central and south-central parts of the country at elevations of .Businský, R. (1999). ...

''), hoa khế, (''

Afzelia xylocarpa ''Afzelia xylocarpa'' is a tree from Southeast Asia. It grows in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma in deciduous forests. It can reach 30 metres tall with a trunk up to 2 metres in diameter in a mature specimen. Uses The seeds are ...

''), ('' Dalbergia annamensis''), (''

Dialium cochinchinense ''Dialium cochinchinense'', the velvet tamarind, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Ghana, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam and many west African countries. It is thre ...

''), (''

Alchornea annamica ''Alchornea'' is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1788. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, South Asia, Australia, Latin America, and various oceanic islands. Molecular phylogenet ...

''), du moóc, ('' Calamus poilanei''), lọng hiệp, ('' Dendrobium bellatulum''). #Flora in this park includes 24 precious and rare species, valuable for genetic preservation and scientific research and were listed in Vietnam Endangered Red Book and world's Endangered Species Red Book. Of these 34 species, 24 species are listed in Vietnam Red Book, inclusive of 2 E class species (in danger of extinction), 6 V class species (will be in danger of extinction), 7 R class species (rare), 1 T class species, and 8 K class species. Most of the area in Kon Ka Kinh National Park is covered by protozoa with the typical flora: # Evergreen forest, subtropical wet rain and low mountain forest. # Mixing subtropical needle and broadleaf forest, with dominant ('' Fokienia hodginsii'') forest.

Fauna

According to the survey, Kon Ka Kinh National Park is home to 428 animal species, of which, 223 species are of vertebrates living on land (34 ordo, 74 families) and 205 species

Invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

(such as butterfly) of 10 families of (''

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

''). Mammal species including

Indochinese tiger The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, includin ...

and

Yellow-cheeked gibbon The yellow-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus gabriellae''), also called the golden-cheeked gibbon, the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, the golden-cheeked crested gibbon, the red-cheeked gibbon, or the buffed-cheeked gibbon, is a species of gibbon native ...

References

External links

Ka Kinh

Kon Ka Kinh in the report of birdlifeindochina.org

Kon Ka Kinh in the official website of Gia Lai Government Website
{{authority control National parks of Vietnam ASEAN heritage parks Geography of Gia Lai province Geography of Kon Tum province Protected areas established in 2002 2002 establishments in Vietnam