Botanical Garden: A Wonderful Destination

Located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, the Botanical Garden is an attractive destination for tourists when traveling to Quang Binh. Wild but close, majestic and friendly, this is a beautiful highlight in the journey to explore the primeval forest with diverse and rare flora and fauna, beautiful natural landscapes…

Visitors explore Botanical Garden

From Phong Nha-Ke Bang tourist center, follow Road 20 Quyet Thang under the shady forest canopy to km9 to reach the Botanical Garden. Before entering the forest, visitors can visit the exhibition house with rare animal and plant specimens typical of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. This is where dry specimens are stored for scientific research and environmental interpretation.

Here, visitors can see a collection of specimens of endemic and rare plants and animals of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and some geological and geomorphological specimens, including a specimen of a four-rayed coral species, which is scientific evidence of an ancient geological and geomorphological system formed over 400 million years ago that can be seen in few places.

Wind Waterfall – Botanical Garden

Saying goodbye to the exhibition house, carrying a map of the large garden with an area of ​​over 40 hectares, in the quiet space of the old forest, groups of tourists followed each other into the forest. The small stone-paved path just enough to take visitors deeper into the forest. The deeper into the forest, the lower the temperature, so even in the middle of a hot summer afternoon, the air was still extremely cool.

After about fifteen minutes of walking under the cool canopy of the primeval forest, the Wind Waterfall suddenly appears. Originating from Vang Anh stream, the waterfall is about 30m high. Visitors can stop on the first wooden steps from above to admire the Wind Waterfall with its white foam, as beautiful as a watercolor painting. The forest is quiet, only the sound of the waterfall mixed with the occasional sounds of animals and birds. Following the wooden steps precariously on the cliff, visitors get closer and closer to the foot of the Wind Waterfall to be able to touch the cool water seeping through the large rocks along the bottom of the stream…

If Wind Waterfall is the ideal stop for most visitors, the journey along the stream bed into the Botanical Garden is a challenge to the courage and desire to explore of those who love adventure. Starting from the end of Gio Waterfall, the stream bed gradually narrows and deepens. To go deeper into the forest, visitors must swing along a large rope running along the stream bed. Slippery rocks, deep streams appearing and disappearing, steep cliffs… make the journey to discover the miniature version of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park more and more attractive…

Saying goodbye to the bumpy road along the stream bed with a length of several hundred meters, visitors turn left, follow the small trail and go up to the top of the mountain. Along the steep and dangerous road, while experiencing the feeling of conquering challenges, visitors can also admire the rich flora with nearly 500 species of trees of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Among them are some rare species of trees with a circumference of up to 300cm such as green lim, lau gu, huynh and especially the presence of a hundred-year-old Sao Viet Nam tree with a circumference of over 3 people, a rare species of tree that has just been named and scientifically identified.

Along with the majestic beauty of Wind waterfall, the mystery and danger of the sightseeing route along the stream, Vang Anh lake is one of the interesting destinations of the Botanical Garden. Lying quietly under the shade of the primeval forest, Vang Anh lake is a suitable place for visitors to relax by swimming, camping and resting. After Vang Anh lake, continuing the sightseeing route, visitors can see the hornbill with many large individuals. Especially, you can see the dance of peacocks, one of the ten most beautiful birds on the planet…

Vang Anh Lake

It can be said that the Botanical Garden is a miniature version of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park with its unique flora and fauna, beautiful landscapes, and especially the feeling of conquering challenges and adventures through each sightseeing spot. With a total length of about 4,000m, this place is truly an attractive destination for many tourists.

Talking to us, Mr. Le Thuc Dinh, Director of the Center for Rescue, Conservation and Development of Organisms, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, the unit managing and exploiting the Botanical Garden, said: Of the total of nearly 3,000 visitors to the garden since its opening (April 2015), there were nearly 1,800 foreign visitors. This is a very modest number compared to the potential of this attractive tourist destination.
In the coming time, the unit will continue to promote, maintain and develop a number of services such as motels and mobile tents so that visitors can organize camping and have great experiences such as observing nocturnal animals, interacting with campfires, sleeping overnight in the primeval forest…
Along with the beautiful cave system that has created the brand “Kingdom of Caves” for Quang Binh homeland, hopefully more and more tourists will experience the wonderful feelings when coming to the Botanical Garden, one of the interesting attractions that contributes to bringing more and more perfect beauty to the land known as the “Kingdom of Caves” in the west of the province.

Ngọc Mai

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