Halong Bay on The World Map

Halong Bay

Location

Halong Bay is located in the North East of Vietnam, is part of the western part of the Gulf of Tonkin, including the waters of Ha Long City, Cam Pha Town, and part of Van Don Island District. It borders Cat Ba Island to the west, with a coastline of 120 km. The bay has a total area of 1553 km2 including 1969 islands, of which 989 named islands and 980 unnamed islands. This World Heritage Site has an area of 434 km2 consisting of 775 islands, such as a triangle with three peaks, Dau Go Island (west), Ba Ham Lake (south) and Cong Tay Island (east).

Halong Bay is a unique heritage because this place contains important vestiges in the process of forming and developing the earth's history, which is the residence of the ancient Vietnamese people. It is also a great artwork of nature with the presence of thousands of islands like the shape of many states, with many interesting caves clustered into a lively and mysterious world. In addition, Ha Long Bay is a place of high biodiversity is concentrated with the typical ecosystem and thousands of species of plants and animals extremely rich and diverse. It is also associated with the cultural values - the heroic history of the nation.

Aesthetic value

Halong Bay is famous for its beautiful rock formations and caves. Ha Long Island has two types of limestone islands and shale islands, concentrated in two main areas are southeast of Bai Tu Long Bay and south-west of Ha Long Bay. The geological age of Halong Bay is 250 - 280 million years old, which is the result of the process of moving up and down many times from the continent to the sea. Carxto erosion, weathering process almost completely create a unique Halong in the world.

Hundreds of islands, each island carries a different and lively shape: Head Island, Dragon island, La Vong Island, Canh Buom Island, Lu Huong island ... Hidden within these rock islands are the beautiful caves that are associated with many miraculous legends such as Thien Cung Cave, Dau Go Cave, Sung Sot Cave, Trinh Nu Cave, Tam Cung Cave ... That is actually the castle of creation in the world. From the past, Ha Long was the great poet Nguyen Trai dubbed as "the wonder of land in the sky".

Geological history

The geological history of Ha Long Bay is assessed through two factors: tectonic history and geology, geomorphology. Basic characteristics of Ha Long Bay for the past 1000 years is the open sea expansion of the bay, strong erosion of the parrots, more Gulf water, saline, and coral growth. The corrosive process of active seawater creates deep vines that enhance the unique beauty of the Carpathian strata. Ha Long Bay is the result of long-term geological evolution. The visitors to Ha Long Bay not only come to the wonders of the world but also to a precious geological museum that is preserved outdoors to 300 million years. These caves are the living proof of the erosion of sea level through geologic time. Ha Long Bay's geological environment is also a cornerstone of other values such as biodiversity, archaeological culture, and other human values. Ha Long Bay focuses on high biodiversity with tropical ecosystems such as mangrove ecosystem, coral reef ecosystem, seagrass ecosystem, tropical forest ecosystem and Especially the specific ecological system.

So far preliminary assessment of flora in Ha Long Bay has about 347 species, vascular plants belonging to 232 genera and 95 families. Of the 347 known plant species, 16 are listed as endangered and are in danger. Of the rare plant species, there are 95 species of medicinal plants, 37 species of ornamental plants, 13 species of fruit trees and 10 groups of different usages. The islands in Ha Long Bay have a variety of mollusks, especially those inhabiting rocky niches, and up to 60 endemic species. Halong seafood is exploited and cultivated including abalone, sea cucumber, peanut, shrimp, fish, squid (squid, cuttlefish, squid), octopus, blood cockle…