Bac Kan: Heavenly Ba Be Lake

PANO – Located in Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, about 230km from Hanoi, Ba Be Lake (Three-section lake) is one of the few spectacular natural fresh-water lakes in the world.

The lake is inside the Ba Be National Park, which covers an area of 10,048ha and has the total water surface and lakeside area for preservation of 952.75ha. The other related area in the Ba Be National Park is 9,095.25ha. The park has been recognized as a national tourism site.

Rowing boats on Ba Be Lake. Photo: babenationalpark.com.vn

More than 200 million years ago, the movement of tectonic plates that created South East Asia brought a body of water with the surface area of 5 million square meters to a height of 150m above sea level in the middle of karst mountains. The water body formed Ba Be Lake with three sections named Pe Lam, Pe Lu, and Pe Leng. The average depth of the lake is more than 20m and the deepest point is 35m.

The whole area of the Ba Be National Park is appealing to visitors as it includes a karst plateau, Dau Dang waterfall, a karst chasm to the Nang River, the lake itself, forests, and a number of caves. Apart from the spectacular beauty, the area also includes archeological, cultural and religious sites and places told in legends, such as Fairy Pond, An Ma Mound, etc.

The environment, climate, geology, and geomorphology of the area form the biodiversity for Ba Be Lake with a closed ever-green tropical forest ecosystem. Around the lake, there are about 1,268 species of vascular plants and 470 species of vertebrates including 81 species of mammals, 234 birds, 30 reptiles, 18 amphibians and 107 species of fish. There are also about 367 types of butterflies and invertebrate species.

In 1995, Ba Be Lake was recognized by the World Lake Conference held in the United States as one of the 20 most special freshwater lakes in the world that need protecting. In 2004, the Ba Be National Park is recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park.

On September 27^th 2012, Decision No.1419/QD-TTg signed by the Prime Minister named Ba Be Lake a special national heritage site.

It takes nature-lovers at least 3 days to explore the Ba Be Lake tourist site. It would be out of this world for them as they have chance to rest and have fun in the most popular type of accommodation here: home-stay, where tourists can enjoy special local dishes made from food caught and raised from the lake. They may also be engaged in other leisure activities such as rowing a boat on the lake, going trekking in forests and having adventurous time in caves of the lake area.