Van Long Nature Reserve
Van Long wetland natural reserve is located in Gia Vien district, Ninh Binh province. It is far about 90 kilometers from Hanoi to the south. Van Long is not only a natural reserve of wetlands but also the cultural relics.
Overview
Van Long is a legendary land, a beautiful area and the largest natural reserve of wetlands. Here, guests will be seated on the boat to visit Van Long wetland nature reserve. A large space with spectacular mountain ranges creates a natural wall surrounded a vast expanse of water.
With an area of 3000 hectares, Van Long natural reserve has 32 beautiful grotto such as: Ca (fish) Grotto, Bong (goby) Grotto, Rua (turtle) Grotto, Chanh (lemon) Grotto, each grotto has a unique beauty. The most beautiful grotto is Ca grotto in the Hoang Quyen Mountain. It has 250 meters length, 8 meters height and 10 meters width, the ceiling is stalactites with strange shapes like animal, fish… Especially, there has many catfish, tilapia… According to legend, ancient people caught a fish with 45 kilograms weight so that it named “Ca (fish) grotto”.
Among the grottoes in Van Long, Thung Doi (bat) is the highest grotto with 210 meters height above ground; the largest grotto is Bong grotto (16 meter). There have mountains’ strange name such as: Nghien (inch stand) Mountain, Hom Sach (book box) Mountain, Da Ban (stone table) Mountain, Meo Cao (cat scratch ) Mountain, Tien Co (heaven girl) Mountain, Voi Dung (stand elephant) Mountain, Canh Cong (door) Mountain, Mo Coi (alone) Mountain…(see more article: “Wild nature reserves in around Ninh Binh“)
There are some questions of traveller.
1. How to travel to Van Long wetland nature reserve?
For independent traveller, if you travel from Hanoi or other places as Halong bay, Hue – Dong Hoi – Dong Ha, you can take the bus, motor-bike to Ninh Binh city , from here, you just flow the highways 1 to Gian Khau t-junction, from there, turn on the way to Nho Quan town and Cuc Phuong national park, then turn down in between to Van Long Nature Reserve.
2. How long does Van long boat trip take?
Total time for round trip in Van Long is 1.5 hour boat ride since sitting on board. (read more at: Top 5 – Best Sightseeing by boat trips in Ninh Binh)
3. What specials inside Van Long wetland area?
While you travel by boat along Van long wetlands, you can see the beautiful mountain as mentioned above and can see some animals around as birds, white short langurs and caves (see our pics).