Cát Bà National Park ( Vietnamese: ''Vườn Quốc Gia Cát Bà'') is a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

designated as a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

in northern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. The park is part of

Cát Bà Island Cát Bà Island is the largest of the 367 islands spanning that comprise the Cat Ba Archipelago, which makes up the southeastern edge of Lan Ha Bay in Northern Vietnam and maintains the dramatic and rugged features of Hạ Long Bay, Ha Long Ba ...

in Hạ Long Bay and is administered by the city of Haiphong. The park is located approximately east of Hai Phong, covering about and comprising of land and of inshore water. The Cát Bà langur, also known as the white-headed langur (''Trachypithecus poliocephalus'') is resident within the park and is classified by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

as a

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

; one of the rarest in the world.

History

Cát Bà National Park was established on 31 March 1986 under No.79/CP decision of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam (now the government). The park has been a popular tourist destination, since the mid-1990s with wealthy Chinese and Vietnamese tourists. The tourists created a demand for traditional medicine and development and logging led to the near extinction of the white-headed langur with numbers falling from 2600 to just 40 in 2003. In 2016 there are 67 (± 5).

Geography

Cát Bà National Park is situated off the north-east shore of Viet-nam and covers most of Cát Bà island; the park headquarters are at Trung Trang. The island is mainly

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with alternating narrow valleys running north-east to south-west. There are many rugged hills with elevation to ; most are in the range . The geographic coordinates are: :20 ° 43'50 "-20 ° 51'29" north latitude. :106 ° 58'20 "-107 ° 10'50" east. There are five main soil groups: * The limestone soil: It is weathered soils or brown reddish-brown limestone and sandstone, soil> , pH = 6.5 to 7. Distributed under the forest canopy, scattered in the garden. * The hills are forested with brown soil or weathered limestone, less acidic or near neutral. In this soil white or gray yellow brown clay shale developmson the hills, with thin and rocky soil. * The valleys have soil on limestone, concentrated in the valleys, the natural forest cover. * The Thing Valley land flooding, mainly developed by the accretion process, the rainy season usually submerged, surface soil medium or thin. * The accretion of land submerged by product deposition in the estuary, the mangrove area development on the Cai Vieng, Phu Long. The area of the park is , of which is forest and of sea. Forest includes

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

, secondary and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

Biological resources

Flora

Over 1,500 species of plants have been recorded including 118 trees and 160 plants with medicinal properties.

Fauna

So far 282 species have been recorded. These include 32 species of mammals, 78 birds species, 20 species of reptiles and amphibians, 98 species of zooplankton, 196 species of marine fish and 177 species of coral. The most commonly seen mammals include

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term ''civet'' applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's div ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

, macaques and squirrels. The island is on a major migration route for

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

which feed and roost in the mangrove forests.

References

External links

Vietnam online

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cat Ba National Park National parks of Vietnam Geography of Haiphong