Ben En National Park

A wide, still lake spreads out, broken by islands of forest, with rocky outcrops and tree branches reaching down to the water's edge. One look at a photograph is enough to tell this is not the lowlands.

This is Bến En National Park. People often call it Ha Long Bay in miniature, and the comparison comes close to what the eye sees from a motorboat in the middle of the lake.

The park lies in the southwest of Thanh Hóa Province, about 46 kilometers from Thanh Hóa city. It spreads across the Như Xuân and Như Thanh areas. It was founded on January 27, 1992, to protect its ecosystems, restore plant and animal species, support scientific research and develop tourism.

The heart of Bến En is Sông Mực Lake, whose surface covers more than 2,484 hectares. That is over 24 square kilometers, a size that takes some imagining. The lake holds 21 islands and peninsulas in its arms.

As the motorboat passes them, the scenery keeps changing. Sometimes the water opens out endlessly. Sometimes a wooded island rises right beside the boat. Sometimes rocky outcrops and drooping branches brush the water.

Thực Vật Island, the island of plants, is a good place to stop and look at the forest up close. It covers 54 hectares, and according to the park, a concrete path 5 kilometers long runs beneath the trees. Walking it, you can see how a tropical forest builds its space in layers. Tall trees spread their canopy at the top, medium trees grow below them, and ferns and shrubs stay close to the ground. Each layer is an ecosystem of its own, and each species sits where it does for a reason.

Bến En has considerable biological value. A survey in 2013, published by the park, recorded more than 1,417 species of higher plants. The animals are just as varied. The park counts 102 species of mammals and 277 of birds. It counts 66 reptiles, 47 amphibians and 97 fish. Insects number more than 700.

These figures are not for showing off. They show that each stretch of forest shelters hundreds of forms of life that the eye can barely catch on a short trip.

Bến En also matters to science. The park records four new plant species of Vietnam that were found here. Two are Xâm cánh Bến En and Đậu khấu Bến En. Another is Găng Bến En, and the fourth is a new species of ginger. So the park protects what is already known, and it is also a place where science keeps finding what no one knew before.

Besides the lake and Thực Vật Island, the park has several caves. They include Suối Tiên Cave and Ngọc Cave. There is also Tiên Cave, and another is Lò Cao Cave, the cave of the resistance years. It carries a particular story: it is tied to an army workshop and to the name of Professor Trần Đại Nghĩa. In the old forest beside the wide lake, traces remain of the days when the country was taking shape.

The park also has a community route to Vơn village, home to Thái and Mường ethnic communities. They live in the buffer zone around the park, where people and forest have lived side by side through many generations.

Bến En is not loud. It is not a place to rush through at full speed. It is for those who want to sit still on the water, watch the forested islands drift by, and feel that nature here is breathing evenly, slowly and steadily, as it has for thousands of years.