Bach Ma National Park

Hue falls behind, with its tombs, its shrines and the Perfume River. The road runs southeast, and after about 40 kilometers the world changes completely.

This is no longer the old imperial capital. This is a world of old forest.

Bạch Mã National Park is a vast nature reserve in central Vietnam, covering 37,487 hectares.

The park was founded in 1991 and expanded in 2008. Bạch Mã Peak rises 1,450 meters, and it is often called the roof of Hue.

The first thing to understand is why life here is so unusually diverse.

Bạch Mã sits on an important biogeographical boundary. Here the plants and animals of northern and southern Vietnam meet. The park is also an ecological corridor that links the Trường Sơn range with the central coast.

The result is more than 2,100 species of plants and about 1,500 species of animals. It is among the most diverse places in central Vietnam.

And some of these species are truly remarkable.

In 1992, Vietnamese and international scientists were working in the forests of the Trường Sơn range. For the first time, they found a large mammal that was entirely new to science.

They called it the saola. Its scientific name is Pseudoryx nghetinhensis.

Scientists gave it a nickname, the Asian unicorn. There is a reason for that.

Since its discovery, almost no scientist has seen a living saola in the wild with their own eyes. There are only camera trap photos, tracks and specimens.

A saola stands about 80 to 90 centimeters tall. Its long, straight horns measure about 50 centimeters. It looks like a mix of antelope and deer.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the saola as critically endangered. Perhaps only a few dozen to a few hundred remain in the whole world. They live in the forests of the Trường Sơn range, between Laos and Vietnam.

Bạch Mã is one of the places where the saola still hides in the forest.

The forests of Bạch Mã also lie within the old home range of Edwards's pheasant, a bird found only in central Vietnam. It too is critically endangered, and for many years now no one has seen it in the wild.

More than 360 species of birds have also been recorded here. They make Bạch Mã a birdwatching spot that many nature lovers seek out.

Higher up the mountain, there is something else to see.

A French engineer named Girard discovered Bạch Mã Peak in 1932. He saw that the place was cool all year round and well suited to rest and retreat.

The French began to build. By 1942, there were about 139 villas on the mountain.

They stretched from a height of 1,200 meters all the way up to the summit, at 1,450 meters. The mountaintop became a French resort among the clouds of central Vietnam.

Then war came. The resort was abandoned, and the villas slowly fell into ruin. For a long time, the forests of Bạch Mã were also ravaged by bombs and herbicides.

Today, what remains are moss-covered walls wrapped in climbing plants, their vaulted roofs fallen in. They hold the memory of a glittering colonial era.

And that very decay gives Bạch Mã a haunting beauty all its own.

Two places on the mountain stand out.

The first is Đỗ Quyên Falls. The water drops about 300 meters, making it one of the tallest waterfalls in Vietnam. The falls are named after the rhododendrons, called đỗ quyên, that grow all around them. In spring, in March and April, these forests bloom in red and pink.

This is also the source of the Tả Trạch River, the main branch of the Perfume River, which flows down to Hue. A drop of water from here will follow the current downstream, past Thiên Mụ Pagoda. It passes under the Trường Tiền Bridge and runs out to the sea at the Thuận An river mouth.

The Perfume River begins its journey in places like this.

The second is Vọng Hải Đài, a lookout on Bạch Mã Peak. On a clear day, the view takes in the sea at Lăng Cô and the sea at Cảnh Dương. It reaches as far as the Hải Vân Pass and the wide open sea.

A blue sea horizon seen from 1,400 meters up is something few places in Vietnam can offer.

Bạch Mã is one of the rainiest places in Vietnam. The average rainfall is usually 3,400 to 4,000 millimeters a year, and in some years it reaches 9,000 millimeters. Winds blowing in from the sea are blocked by the mountains, and they drop their rain on the eastern slopes.

That is why the waterfalls and lakes here hold water all year round. It is also why the forest ecosystem here is so extraordinarily rich.

Over the year, the summit averages only about 19 degrees Celsius. Even when the foot of the mountain swelters in midsummer, the top stays cool, like an autumn that never ends.

On the summit, white clouds sweep past the moss-covered walls of the old villas. The sound of falling water rises from the valley below.

Far below, the sea at Lăng Cô sparkles. And somewhere in the dark old forest all around, a saola walks quietly. It is the unicorn that almost no one has ever seen.

That is Bạch Mã. A land of mist on the roof of Hue, where the old forest keeps its history, along with secrets no one has yet touched.