Phu Quoc National Park

Seen from high above, the north and northeast of Phu Quoc turn a deep green. It spreads wide, like a natural cover guarding the island from the inside. Phu Quoc is not only beaches and resorts. This forest is Phu Quoc National Park.

According to the park itself, it was founded by Decision 91 of the Prime Minister, dated June 8, 2001. It was created by upgrading the North Island Nature Reserve of Phu Quoc. In 2019, the park took in the management boards of the Phu Quoc marine protected area and of the Phu Quoc protection forest. The total area then given to the park to manage on Phu Quoc was 77,171.47 hectares. It covers special-use forest, protection forest and marine conservation. Special-use forest is the class of forest that Vietnam keeps mainly for conservation and scientific research.

That figure is large, and it matters. Roughly half of the area is marine conservation, more than 40,000 hectares of sea that is managed and protected. That explains why the water around some parts of the island is still clear and blue, and why the coral reefs are still in fairly good condition.

The park is part of the Kiên Giang Biosphere Reserve. A biosphere reserve is a UNESCO-recognized area where nature is protected and the people living there keep working the land. UNESCO recognized this one in 2006. A biosphere reserve is a UNESCO-recognized area where nature is protected and the people living there keep working the land. UNESCO describes the reserve as covering more than 1,188,000 hectares. Its ecosystems include tropical forest, seasonally flooded melaleuca forest, mangroves, coastal mudflats, coral reefs and seagrass beds. The important marine species UNESCO names include the dugong, called the sea cow in Vietnamese, and sea turtles. Both belong to the group of species that need strict protection.

As for the forests of the island, the park reports three main forest ecosystems and nine typical habitats. The three ecosystems are dense broadleaf tropical rainforest, waterlogged acid-sulfate forest and mangrove forest. Among the nine habitats, some stand out: primary forest of trees of the Dầu family, melaleuca forest, Truông Nhum forest and tranh grassland. This is a special variety of habitats for a tropical island. Terrain, elevation, soil and water change quickly here, so the landscape keeps shifting over short distances.

As for biodiversity, a survey in 2003 recorded 1,164 plant species and 270 animal species. From 2006 to 2014, another 233 plant species and 220 animal species were added to the list. The park reports 12 endemic plants that carry the name Phu Quoc. They include Cù đèn Phu Quoc and Diệp hạ châu Phu Quoc. A third is Tam thụ hùng Phu Quoc, and there are others besides. The only endemic animal the park names is a fish of the island's stream system, cá Chình suối.

Rạch Tràm is one of the park's wetlands that still keeps its Cóc đỏ ecological community, along with many species typical of mangrove forest. Inside, the forest is more than green trees. There is black water running between the roots, birdsong carried from far off, and the smell of damp earth, in an ecosystem that has fed itself for several hundred years.

On an island where much of the coast has been filled in by resorts and lights, Phu Quoc National Park is what remains of something older, quieter and deeper. Here the cá Chình suối still swim in dark gaps between the rocks. Dugongs still graze on seagrass under green water. And twelve plant species that carry the name Phu Quoc still bloom quietly each season, with no one needing to know.