Vietnam New Destinations >> Quan Lan island & Bai Tu Long National Park

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Quan Lan island & Bai Tu Long National Park

Halong Bay is known to the World of its beauty, we suggest that you spend some extra days here to cruise further to Bai Tu Long Bay and National Park and for those who are beach lovers can find it there a paradise of white sandy beaches.

Quan Lan island belongs to Bai Tu Long Bay, a part of an island range on the outside of the Ton Kin Gulf. It has an area of about 11 sq. km, and features eight populated hamlets. Quan Lan Island stretch toward East – West from the foot of Vân Ðon Range to the Gót Mount with many high mountains to the east barring waves and winds, protect the villages. The island is situated on an important navigation route that connects China, Japan, Thailand and Philippines to Vietnam. Along two sides of the island are tens kilometres of sand beaches. This is the endless resource for glass making which the sea gives to man and it is also the extremely interesting tourism.

Since the 11th century, Quan Lan had been one of the centres of the ancient commercial port of Vân Don, which was animated and prosperous at the time. Today, there are still many vestiges linked to the ancient commercial port. This also explains why the island, lying deep in the sea, has the large pagodas and archaeological sites seen today.

On the island there is the Quan Lan Communal House built in the 18th century; exceedingly beautiful and almost entirely preserved. Next to it is Quan Lan Pagoda (Linh Quang Tu), which is dedicated to Buddha and God Liêu Hanh. The pagoda also worships the statue of old Hau, a local person who made lots of contributions to the construction of the pagoda. The statue features a gentle and cheerful old woman, which adds an original character to the pagoda. Beside Quan Lan Pagoda lies Nghe Quan Lan (Duc Ong) Shrine, which is dedicated to Pham Cong Chinh, a local people who participated in the historical Van Don battle against the Yuan invaders. He was later honored as a god. Quan Lan has many valuable sea products such as octopuses, butterfish, mackerel, holothurian, shrimp and others...

Bai Tu Long National Park, in the northern province of Quang Ninh, was set up by the Government in 2001. The park covers the islands of Ba Mun, Tra Ngo Lon, Tra Ngo Nho, Sau Dong, the Sau Nam islands and another 20 smaller karst islands.

The park has 494 different plant species, 37 animals, 96 bird species, 15 amphibian species, 22 species of reptiles and 391 marine animals, according to a biodiversity study by British NGO Frontier Viet Nam.

One of the most endangered animals in the park is the dugong, also known as a sea cow. Listed in Viet Nam’s Red Book, the dugong is a large whale-like sea mammal that is in fact, more closely related to the elephant than the whale. Minh Chau fishermen found a 500kg dugong in park waters last December.

Safeguarding the park’s ecosystem is difficult because the area’s main communes of Minh Chau, Quan Lan, Ban Sen, Van Yen and Ha Long are far apart, spread across several islands, chief park ranger Pham Van Sy said.

Tours to get to Quan Lan Island and Bai Tu Long: Not of many ones know about this very new island and national park thus there are not yet group tours, for those who love to explore this lovely beach island and national park, will need to get an expert advise from SMILE, custom made and escorted tours are available here with us.

Thank you and see you here to explore the brand new Quan Lan beaches and Bai Tu Long National Park.