Starting by boat at Phong Nha, you can visit some of the park’s most beautiful caves: the famous Phong Nha Cave with its underground river, the beautiful Tien Son or Fairy Cave and the
Trang 1Welcome to Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park
Why is the park a World Natural Heritage Site?
The geological processes that form the area started
millions of years ago Today, the mountains and caves
display an impressive amount of evidence of Earth’s
history It is a site that can help you to better
understand the geological and geomorphical
processes that shape the earth This is why
UNESCO declared the park a World
Natural Heritage Site in 2003
Which caves can you visit?
Starting by boat at Phong Nha, you can visit some of the
park’s most beautiful caves: the famous Phong Nha Cave with its underground river, the beautiful Tien Son or Fairy
Cave and the mysterious Toi or Dark Cave (The map of the
boat tour is on the last panel)
Situated about 30 km along the road from Phong Nha,
Paradise Cave, is yet another cave that is also open to the
public
Rich biodiversity
The park is also unique because of its primary limestone forest and its rich biodiversity: nearly 2,700 plant species and 1,200 animal species have already been identified here More discoveries can be expected
Please join hands with us to protect this Heritage Site for future generations!
Did you know?
The park is famous for its beautiful caves and
karst mountains There are 145 caves in the park
which have been explored and mapped Many
more caves are still to be explored in this vast
remote jungle area The park area is currently
about 85,000 hectares (ha) There are plans to
enlarge it to about 120,000 ha It is part of a
greater area of karst mountains, which includes
the Hin Nam No National Biodiversity
Conser-vation Area (NBCA) in neighbouring Laos
World Natural Heritage Site
LAOS
VIET NAM
Son Doong is known as the largest cave passage
in the world Explored only in 2009 it is 7.6 km long,
150 m high and 200 m wide
Khe Ry cave, with the length of 18.9 km,
is the longest river cave in Asia
The combined surface of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (PNKB NP) and the Hin Nam No
NBCA amounts to 200,000 ha and it is the
largest and oldest karst area in South-East Asia.
Trang 2The Karst Mountains of PNKB
Why are the mountains precious?
The karst mountains of Phong Nha - Ke Bang took millions of years to develop They provide a unique environment for animals and plants The caves
inside the mountains are important habitats for cave dwelling species Many of the animals and plants
found here are already listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List and the Viet Nam Red Data Book
The mountains and caves took millions of years to develop
If we destroy them, they can never be restored
The mountains in Phong Nha are made out
of limestone layers, which were formed 465
to 250 million years ago at the bottom of an
ancient sea About 250 to 230 million years
ago, these layers were pushed upwards by the
movements of tectonic plates and became
exposed to rainwater
The earth’s crust is formed by ‘tectonic plates’, which
float on the liquid inner part of the earth They move
very slowly; so slow that we do not realise it When
they touch, some parts of the earth’s crust are moved
upwards, while others are moved downwards
What does ‘karst’ mean?
The word ‘karst’ is derived from the Karst region of Slovenia It is now applied worldwide to any area of limestone, which is characterised by underground drainage, caves and sinkholes as a result of limestone being dissolved by freshwater The cracks, rock
formations and caves in the illustration below are typical elements of karst mountains
Limestone – a very special rock
Limestone is a very special rock: it is formed in seawater but it dissolves when exposed to air and rainwater This dissolution happens not only via
mechanical forces but also through a chemical process (See next panel)
Dry cave
Wet cave
Stalactites
Stalagmites
Underground river
Vertical crack
Horizontal crack
Columns
Did you know?
Karst mountain in PNKB NP
Example of Karst formation in PNKB NP
In the park you can see parts
of the earth that used to be under an ancient sea millions
of years ago
Trang 3How were the caves formed?
When the limestone layers were pushed out of
the sea, they became cracked Rainwater becomes
slightly acidic after absorbing carbon dioxide from
the air When it falls into the limestone’s cracks, it
is pulled down by gravity While seeping through
the limestone, by a chemical reaction with the
calcium carbonate in the stone, the water becomes
a bicarbonate solution
This solution constantly carries away little
particles of limestone The cracks grow
increasingly wider, until they form huge
caves inside the mountains
PNKB NP lies in an area with an average
annual rainfall of 2,000 to 2,500 mm
The massive rainfall and the huge limestone
massif are ideal conditions for cave
formation This is why there are so many
caves and grottos in the park.
Cave-dwelling animals cannot survive outside the caves
Is there life in the caves?
You might think that caves are dark, cold places harbouring no life In fact, a number of animals prefer darkness and actually need to live in caves These animals are called troglobites
They are amazing animals:
• Some animals do not have eyes, because they
are of no use in the cave’s darkness
• Many animals have extremely long antennae,
because they need to feel their way around
• Many bats and some birds use echolocation to
find their way around in the dark
Why are there rock formations?
Every rock formation in a cave begins with a single drop of water laden with mineral calcite When the drop falls, it deposits the thinnest ring of calcite
Each subsequent drop that forms and falls deposits another calcite ring These accumulated drops form
the huge stalactites that we can see hanging down
from the ceiling Where the drops splash onto the floor, more of the solution evaporates and deposits
tiny bits of calcite on the floor (forming stalagmites)
Over millions of years, these tiny amounts add up to huge rock formations
Stalactite
An eyeless scorpion with a transparent body was discovered inside the Tien Son cave in 2010
and named the Viet Scorpion (Vietbocap canhi)
Did you know?
Stalagmite
Column Drops of solution
Stalagmite in the Phong Nha cave
Lesser False Vampire Bat
(Megaderma spasma)
Trang 4The Treasures of Phong Nha - Ke Bang
The animals living in the caves will go extinct
if YOU do not protect them!
Famous Phong Nha Cave
This cave is not only famous for its size and underground
river, but also because it served as a hiding place with an
underground hospital for the Vietnamese army during
the American war The Ho Chi Minh trail runs through
Phong Nha, which is why the area was subjected to
heavy bombing during the war Inside the cave you can
see writings of the old Kingdom of Champa (see photo)
Beautiful Tien Son Cave
The Tien Son Cave lies 200 m above the Phong Nha cave Millions of years ago, the Son River probably flowed through Tien Son Over time, the water cut down through the rocks and the river now flows through the
Phong Nha Cave The Tien Son Cave is now a dry cave, filled with huge columns, stalactites and stalagmites
Mysterious Dark Cave
The mysterious Dark Cave (Hang Toi) is situated approximately 5 km west from the Phong Nha cave
on the bank of the Chay River The cave’s entrance
is surrounded by a dark forest, a favourite place for monkeys If you are lucky, you might see one of them!
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Six rules of cave behaviour
• Do not smoke, litter or
spit in the caves
• Do not eat or leave
any food in the caves.
• Do not leave money or
other offerings in the caves.
• Do not leave the
marked pathways
• Do not touch the rocks
• Sssh! – Avoid loud
conversations
Ecological and Cultural Tourism Centre,
Phong Nha Village
Park Headquarter
Phong Nha Cave
Tien Son
Cave Dark Cave
Phong Nha-Ke Bang
National Park
Champa Dynasty script remained in Bi Ki Chamber