Huu Lien Nature Reserve

In Hữu Liên, the air changes the moment a visitor steps into the forest. The sounds change too, and so does the green all around.

This commune lies in Hữu Lũng, in the southwest of Lạng Sơn province. Its limestone forest is one of the areas in the northeast of Vietnam that have best kept their natural value. The Department of Nature Conservation and Biodiversity records about 8,900 hectares of natural forest here. There are two areas of primary forest. The forest holds 776 plant species and 409 species of wild animals. Of these, about 30 plant species and 61 animal species are listed as rare in the Red Book.

The difference lies in the rock itself. A forest on limestone is a very particular kind of ecosystem. Limestone does not hold water the way ordinary soil does. Yet it creates conditions of its own, in the chemistry of the soil, in the drainage and in the small local climate. Plants that adapt to limestone often cannot grow anywhere else, and the reverse is also true. That is why limestone forests tend to have a great variety of life, and a large share of species found nowhere else.

In the Hữu Liên forest, researchers have recorded traces of the musk deer. It is one of the rarest animals tied to the limestone mountains of the north. This small creature lives quietly deep in the forest, and it is not easy to meet or to see. The value of the reserve does not lie in being sure of finding one. It lies in knowing that a stretch of forest still gives the musk deer a chance to survive.

Next to the nature reserve, the Hữu Liên and Đồng Lâm community tourism site is where local people welcome visitors themselves. Community tourism here began in 2017, when travelers started to learn about the Đồng Lâm grassland. In 2020, the community tourism village of Hữu Liên was officially recognized. By 2024, 19 businesses offering tourism services in the area had been granted the right to use the Đồng Lâm and Hữu Liên tourism certification mark.

The best-known spot in Hữu Liên is Đồng Lâm. The Lạng Sơn Geopark describes it as a scenic place about 3 kilometers north of the commune offices. It has a grassland of hundreds of hectares, a stream and limestone mountains all around. In the rainy season, from about July to October, water can rise and cover the grassland. The field then looks like a lake among the mountains, mirroring the sky and the limestone ranges around it. Nowhere else in Lạng Sơn looks quite like it.

The Tày and the Dao live in Hữu Liên and keep many of their own traditions. The Tày are one of the peoples of northern Vietnam. Stilt houses with roofs of yin and yang tiles, local food, Then singing, pá xoan songs and traditional performances are all things the homestays can offer. Then is a ritual practice in the spiritual life of the Tày. This is community tourism in the full sense. The local people welcome the guests, cook the meals, perform and benefit directly.

Hữu Liên is beautiful because it is still whole. Many forests are shrinking. Here the rocky mountains, the trees and the people of Hữu Liên still share one landscape, much as they have for hundreds of years.