U Minh Thượng National Park or National Park of Upper U Minh (

Vietnamese language Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, several times as many as the rest of the ...

: Vườn quốc gia U Minh Thượng) 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 ...

in the province of Kiên Giang,

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 ...

Establishment

It was established according to decision number 11/2002/QĐ-TTg, dated 14 January 2002, signed by then Vietnamese Prime Minister

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 17 November 1949) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 2006 to 2016. He was confirmed by the National Assembly on 27 June 2006, having been nominated by his predecessor, Phan Vă ...

. This decision turned the U Minh Thuong Nature Reserve into U Minh Thuong National Park.

Area and location

The park covers approximately with the nearest city being

Rạch Giá Rạch Giá () is a provincial city and the capital city of Kiên Giang province, Vietnam. It is located on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. East of city, it borders Tân Hiệp and Châu Thành town, ...

Flora and fauna

U Minh Thuong National Park is widely considered the richest region of the

Mekong delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...

in terms of plant and animal

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'') ...

. It boasts of over 243 plant species. The park has a rich and varied

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...

ian population, totaling an impressive 32 species, including

hairy-nosed otter The hairy-nosed otter (''Lutra sumatrana'') is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to Southeast Asia and one of the rarest and least known otter species. It is threatened by loss of natural resources and poaching. Description The hairy-nosed otter has ...

s and

fishing cat The fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declin ...

s. U Minh Thuong National Park is a haven for rare and endangered birds. A total of 187 species of birds has been recorded here, including the

oriental darter The Oriental darter (''Anhinga melanogaster'') is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while its body is submerged in water ...

, spot-billed pelican, black-headed ibis, glossy ibis, greater spotted eagle and

Asian golden weaver The Asian golden weaver (''Ploceus hypoxanthus'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or f ...

. There are also a total of 39

amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...

species and 34 species of fish in the park. Both the

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been l ...

and the

Siamese crocodile The Siamese crocodile (''Crocodylus siamensis'') is a medium-sized freshwater crocodile native to Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The species is critically endangered a ...

were once found here, but a 2002 study concluded that both species were extinct in the park. Otter from Cambodia.jpg, Hairy-nosed otter Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) 2.jpg, Fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) - Flickr - Lip Kee.jpg, Oriental darter Asian Golden Weaver (Ploceus hypoxanthus) - male.jpg, A male Asian golden weaver

First Indochina War and Vietnam War

During the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

the U Minh Forest was a

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

stronghold. In 1952, 500 French paratroopers dropped into the U Ming forest to attack

and were never heard from again. 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 ...

it was a

Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

base area. Officers

Humbert Roque Versace Captain Humbert Roque "Rocky" Versace (July 2, 1937 – September 26, 1965) was a United States Army officer of Puerto Rican-Italian descent who was posthumously awarded the United States' highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for h ...

and James N. Rowe of the United States Army were captured by the Vietcong during a battle in the U Minh Forest in October 1963. Versace was posthumously awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

by American Military and Rowe escaped five years later. American politician

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

commanded a Swift boat in the area during the Vietnam War, known as the American War in Vietnam.

References

External links

Factsheet on U Minh Thuong National Park
* YouTube
Footage

ARVN Rangers The Vietnamese Rangers ( vi, Biệt Động Quân), commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the light infantry of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers ...

of the South Vietnamese Army patrolling in the U Minh Forest (1970) {{DEFAULTSORT:U Minh Thuong National Park Geography of Kiên Giang province National parks of Vietnam Protected areas established in 2002 2002 establishments in Vietnam Vietnam War sites ASEAN heritage parks