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Ba Be is Vietnam’s largest natural lake and is
now the centrepiece of an extensive National
Park. The park and the surrounding area is
limestone country, so lakes, waterfalls, caves
and unusual rock formations abound. The whole
area is richly forested and home to many ethnic
minority communities.
The National Park is covered by tropical and
semi-tropical evergreen Thailandian monsoon
forest. The bio diversity is rich – 50 animal
species, over 400 plants and many species of
insects, reptiles and birds. The ten seriously
endangered animals in the park include two
primates, the Black Gibbon and the Tonkinese
'snub-nosed' monkey.
The latter is one of the world’s rarest species
and on the brink of extinction. Flora and Fauna
International is working with the park authorities
and other agencies to save this attractive
creature.
The lake itself is really three lakes linked by
wide channels. Overall, it’s about 7km long and a
kilometre across at its widest point, and contains
around fifty species of freshwater fish. The
surface is nearly always calm, making a boat trip
a peaceful experience. In adddition, there are
islands and caves to visit.
Within the park’s boundary there are a several
small villages inhabited by members of the Tay,
Red Dao, Coin Dao and White H’mong ethnic
minorities. However, the colourful costumes
typical of most of these groups are seldom in
evidence apart from performances and
demonstrations for tourists.
Some of the villages offer basic, but reasonably
comfortable, homestays. An alternative is the
park’s guesthouse, which provides basic
accommodation only. Elsewhere, there is limited
local standard accommodation in Cho Ra town, about
18km away outside the park.
Ba Be can only be reached by road - the 250km
journey takes between six and eight hours. The
road gets rough along the latter part, but the
excellent scenery compensates.
An interesting stop en-route is Thai Nguyen, a
centre of heavy industry based on steel
manufacturing, and the unlikely home of the Museum
of Nationalities of Vietnam. It provides an
informative overview of the country’s many ethnic
minorities, particularly useful for visitors that
haven't already visited Hanoi's excellent
Ethnology Museum
Further north is Cao Bang province, a remote area
on the border with China. Cao Bang is sparsely
populated. It has very few large settlements but
several ethnic groups in villages hardly affected
by tourism.
The limestone ‘karst’ scenery is attractive,
unspoilt and fich in bio-diversity. Few visitors
venture further north than Ba Be, so Cao Bang vies
with the remote northwest as one of the best
places to see truly authentic ethnic minority
lifestyles.
From Cao Bang, it’s possible to loop round to the
south via the border town of Lang Son to Quang
Ninh Province and Ha Long Bay. However, the road
is poor, and the scenery is not particularly
interesting
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