Xuan Son National Park - An attractive destination for wildlife in the Northern region

Located at the end of Hoang Lien Son range, Xuan Son National Park has a core area of ​​15,048ha and a buffer zone of 18,639ha, of which the strictly protected area is 9,099ha, the ecological restoration area is 5,737ha, and the service - administrative area is 212ha; spread over the communes of Xuan Son, Dong Son, Tan Son, Lai Dong, Kim Thuong, Xuan Dai, Tan Son district, Phu Tho province.

Xuan Son National Park is gradually becoming a natural ecotourism and community experience tourism area. Coming to Xuan Son community tourism village, you can not only admire the majestic natural beauty, learn about local culture but also enjoy the unique mountain culinary specialties here. Xuan Son forest is the homeland of nine-spur chickens, the habitat of lonely bananas, and has the most beautiful cho chi forest in the Northwest. In particular, Xuan Son is more attractive to tourists because of the typical dishes of ethnic minorities, such as: multi-spur chickens, badger pigs, wild pigs, and many kinds of wild vegetables such as rau sang, rau bo khai, rau ro...

Tourists come to Xuan Son National Park (Photo: Internet)

Phu Tho has had many investment projects in infrastructure construction and technical facilities for tourism in Xuan Son National Park in recent years, which have been focused on implementation in conjunction with forest protection and biodiversity conservation. Mobilizing investment capital to build a road from Dong Quang bridge to National Highway 32 at Viet Tien intersection (Dich Qua commune, Thanh Son district) connecting with Xuan Son National Park.

Deploying the construction of the project to improve the ecological landscape of Du hamlet, the cultural house of Du hamlet and the tourist support consulting point associated with the display and organization of community cultural activities in Du hamlet, Xuan Son commune; building a number of models to create highlights for tourists to visit, take photos and check-in at destinations such as: Resting huts, "Xuan Son water wheel", "Xuan Son tourist flower road"; building a system of promotional and introductory signs associated with signs to Xuan Son National Park; building a model to support households to develop community homestay tourism associated with eco-tourism...

Tourism technical facilities have been initially invested, community ecotourism products are clearly taking shape at Xuan Son National Park tourist area and attracting more and more tourists to visit and experience. Xuan Son National Park tourist area has been approved by the Prime Minister to be added to the list of potential locations for developing National Tourist Areas to continue mobilizing resources for investment in tourism development.  

Fun activities at Xuan Son National Park Tourist Area (Photo: Internet)

Xuan Son National Park is the only national park with primeval forest on limestone mountains (2,432ha). At an altitude of over 1000m with a humid environment all year round, and many rich forest layers, Xuan Son National Park is very suitable for the development of perennial trees such as: White oak, chestnut, oak and magnolia.

In addition, there are also typical species of the Northwest region such as: salted tau, duoi leaf tau, cho chi, nghien, bitter bamboo... In particular, there are trees that are thousands of years old, located right in the hamlets where people live and are safely protected. Besides, Xuan Son is also a rich forest of medicinal plants with 665 species and fruit trees or vegetables with 132 species. Xuan Son's climate is suitable for the development of rau sang, a precious tree, bringing high economic benefits to people because all parts of the tree can be eaten or used as medicine.

Xuan Son National Park is home to about 880 animal species, of which 46 are listed in the Vietnam Red Book and 18 are listed in the World Red Book. Many species are typical of the Northwest fauna such as: gray langur, dog-billed gibbon, silver-cheeked plow, red-bellied white-tailed squirrel, bear, leopard, pheasant, money chicken, ground eagle... in particular, the mountain goat has the most in the country.

The most famous is the nine-spurred chicken specialty - according to legend, this is one of the gifts that helped Son Tinh win the King Hung's son-in-law competition to marry the beautiful My Nuong. The place that raises the most spurred chickens is Coi village - located deep in the heart of the forest. The Dao village has about 100 simple houses sheltered by high mountains and old forests.

In addition to the attraction of rich flora and fauna, Xuan Son also has many amazing natural landscapes. Located in the Xuan Son National Park complex, there are three mountain peaks over 1,000m high: Voi Mountain, Ten Mountain and Can Mountain with hundreds of caves; rivers and streams and many waterfalls over 50m high, covering caves and rock crevices, blending the silver waterfall color with the green color of the old forest, making the landscape both majestic and poetic.

The Sang tree is a small tree, some trees are up to 13 meters tall. The Sang leaves are simple, smooth, fleshy, and have a leathery surface. The petiole is about 5 mm long. The leaf blade is lanceolate, or oval, ovate, or inverted ovate. The Sang tree provides a large source of protein and vitamins. In 100 grams of edible young shoots and leaves, there are 76.6 grams of water, 8.2 grams of protein, 10.0 grams of carbohydrates, 3.4 grams of fiber, 1.8 grams of ash; 1.6 mg of carotene, 115 mg of vitamin C. Due to favorable natural conditions, Xuan Son has the highest density of Sang trees in Vietnam.

With its rich flora and fauna, many people compare Xuan Son to a golden forest at the end of the Hoang Lien Son range. To fully explore the beauty of Xuan Son National Park, visitors must spend several days in the forest. For those who love nature and adventure, Xuan Son National Park is a great destination. This place not only has high, steep mountains but also many caves, waterfalls, streams... suitable for developing eco-tourism.

For many years, ethnic minorities in Xuan Son National Park have been raising a special breed of badger and wild boar to prepare special dishes. The ethnic minorities in Ben Than, Dong Son commune have a very unique way of raising pigs. The Dao people here only buy a pair of breeding pigs of the black breed, with a high forehead, long snout, mouse ears, small stature, only reaching 10-15kg at one year old, then release them into the forest near their house so that they can dig the ground, carry leaves to make nests, forage, and give birth.

Pigs' food consists of insects such as worms, crickets, snails; leaves, tubers, and fruits. Ben Than village is surrounded by limestone mountains with many precious medicinal plants growing naturally, so when pigs eat these plants, their meat smells like wild boar meat and contains many nutrients that are good for health. This breed of pig eats a lot and lives in the wild, so its reproductive ability is also very good, each litter gives birth to 10 - 20 piglets.

The cave system is very massive, including famous caves such as Lang Cave, Tho Than Cave, Na Cave hidden deep in the old forest with many eye-catching stalactites. Tien Cave is an underground cave in the heart of a marble mountain, 10km long. In the cave, there is a ventilation path leading straight to the top of the mountain, making the air fresh and cool.

In a day in Xuan Son, the climate changes through 4 seasons: the morning is cool and fresh like spring; the noon is warm like summer; the afternoon is cool like autumn; the evening is chilly.

The beautiful scenery of Xuan Son mountains and forests fascinates many tourists. With great tourism potential, favorable for developing many types of tourism, Xuan Son is attracting domestic and foreign tourists.

Combining eco-tourism, community culture and promoting the natural and landscape values ​​of Xuan Son National Park in both the core and buffer zones along with local products will create an attractive destination, attracting many domestic and foreign tourists to return to the homeland./.

Vuong Thanh Tu