Click here to go to registration site for walking competition site in Bach Ma Impression 2008 |
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Bach Ma National Park is located in central Vietnam in the province of Thua Thien Hue, around 700 km south of the country's capital Hanoi and 1000 km north of Ho-Chi-Minh-City (Saigon). The national park covers an area of about 22,000 ha in the districts of Phu Loc and Nam Dong. It was created in 1991 to protect the centre of the last corridor of forest stretching from the South China Sea to the Annamite mountain range at the border with the Lao PDR. With steep mountains and dense forests this area is home to a wide variety of animals and plants. At the base of the mountains there is tropical monsoon forest, above 900 m sub-tropical forest. There are species from both northern and southern Vietnam, and Bach Ma is recognized as one of the areas of Indochina with high biodiversity. Bach Ma mountain peak is the highest point in the park at 1450 m above sea level and is only 18 km away from the coast.
The South Vietnamese government designated the Bach Ma - Hai Van National Park in 1962 but the conservation initiatives did not last very long. The Vietnam War saw heavy fighting in the park as the summit was used as an advanced helicopter base by the US Military. The American troops took advantage of the view from Bach Ma summit across the coastline and attempted to control the area between Hue and Da Nang. Evidence of this period remains in the form of unexploded ordinance and some hills still have not fully recovered from the spraying of defoliants.
The climate in Bach Ma National Park is tropical with two distinctive seasons caused by the monsoon winds. There is hot and dry wind occurring from May to August and can be typhoon from June to November.
Flora Fauna
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The fauna of Bach Ma National Park is very various with a lot of endemic and rare species. Until now, scientists have identified 1.493 species including 132 species of mammals (occupy half of all mammals known in Vietnam), 358 bird species, 31 reptile species, 21 frog species , 57 fish species and 894 insect species. Nine species of primates are confirmed in Bach Ma, including macaques, langurs, loris and the white-cheeked gibbon. The elusive Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)was only discovered in Vietnam in 1992 and is also present in the protected area. Large predators, such as tiger and leopard, may still remain in remote areas of the park. The 358 species of birds that have been observed in the park represent over one-third of the species found in Vietnam. There are seven species of pheasants, including the rare endemic Edward's pheasant (Lophura edwardsi). Historically, this species was very common in the forests along the foot of the mountain but was already considered to be extinct by the 1940s. More than 50 years later, it was rediscovered in the park and has become the symbol of Bach Ma National Park.
The national park office has several departments as there are:
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