Van Long Wetland Reserve

Some places are quiet without being empty. Vân Long is one of them.

The Vân Long Wetland Nature Reserve lies in the Gia Viễn area of Ninh Binh Province. According to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency, it is about 17 kilometers northeast of the center of Ninh Binh city. The same agency explains the name. "Vân" is the word for cloud, and "Long" is the word for dragon. Put together, the name carries the meaning of dragon and clouds meeting, of water gathering, and of a wish for good rain and gentle wind.

The first thing to know about Vân Long is where it stands among the world's conservation systems. The Ramsar record lists it as Ramsar site number 2,360, designated on February 10, 2017. It covers 2,736 hectares. It is the ninth Ramsar site in Vietnam. The IUCN Green List has recognized Vân Long since 2020. Ramsar and the IUCN are the two largest international bodies for protecting wetlands and protected areas. Vân Long appears in both systems not because anyone wanted tourism, but because something here truly matters ecologically.

What that something is, the IUCN Green List describes in two main parts. A freshwater wetland makes up about a quarter of the area. Limestone mountains make up about three quarters. From a boat on the wetland, both can be seen at once. Flat water lies below, and steep limestone peaks stand on either side like islands in the middle of inland water. The meeting of the two creates a landscape that is very rare in the Red River Delta.

Within that landscape lives the white-rumped langur. It is a primate found only in Vietnam, and it is a species threatened across the world. The IUCN records a survey in 2018 that counted between 176 and 184 of these animals inside the boundaries of the reserve. They lived in 21 groups. The same survey also found another 31 to 38 animals in the neighboring area. The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency records this as the largest white-rumped langur population in Vietnam. That Vân Long has lasted is the most important reason the species has lasted.

Visitors move through the reserve in small rowing boats. It is a model of community tourism, and the people who row the boats are local people. The IUCN records that the Vân Long Ecotourism Service Cooperative, which runs the boats, and the reserve's management board are in agreement.

On the water, many visitors describe the same thing in almost the same words: an unusual quiet. There is no engine running and no music playing from a loudspeaker. There is only the sound of the oars, the water, and now and then a bird. Limestone peaks stand still all around, and the sky is reflected down onto the surface of the wetland. With luck, small dark shapes appear on the cliff above, moving in groups. Those dark shapes are langurs.

Vân Long is an ecological heritage that has been recognized at the international level. But even without knowing any of those numbers, a person in the boat feels it. The oars stop. The water goes flat again. The sky is reflected completely into the wetland, and the limestone peaks stand still in the light of late afternoon. It is a quiet that thousands of years have not changed.