CON DAO

Thursday - 15/10/2020 07:03

Con Dao is one of the eight administrative units in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, includes 16 islands and islets, has a total area of 76.71 square kilometers located in the South-eastern sea of Vietnam

Con Dao is one of the eight administrative units in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, includes 16 islands and islets, has a total area of 76.71 square kilometers located in the South-eastern sea of Vietnam, at the coordinates from 106o31 ' to 106o43' East longitude; from 8o34' to 8o49 'North latitude, 83 kilometers far away from Hau river estuary, 165 kilometers off Can Tho city (Northwards North-westwards), about 185 kilometers from Vung Tau city (Northward North-eastwards) and around 230 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh city (in the North-South direction) as the crow flies. Seen from above, the Con Son archipelago (Con Dao) is described as a bear turning its back towards the mainland, reaching out to the East Sea. The topography of Con Dao accounts for 88.4 percentage of the mountains and hills, only two relatively flat areas are Con Dao town and Co Ong airport area.

Photo:Con Dao Center From Above

Con Dao has an Oceanic climate, the annual average temperature is 26 degrees C, with two distinct seasons, the annual average rainfall is 2,250 mm, the rainy season starts from May to November, the dry season begins from December to April the following year.

Photo: Nhat Beach

Ramsar site

On 18th June 2013, the Ramsar Convention Secretariat recognized Con Dao National Park as the Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar), the 2203rd Ramsar sites of the world, the sixth one in Vietnam and is the first marine one in Vietnam with a total area of nearly 20,000 ha, including 6,000 ha of forests and forest land, 14,000 ha of territorial waters; there is also 20,500 ha of the buffer zone. With the natural characteristics of the evergreen hot and humid monsoon Asian equatorial forest, the mangroves, etc are suitable for ecotourism development.

Photo: Mangrove forest in Bay Canh Island

Ecosystem
Con Dao forest has ecosystems: forest ecosystems on low hills and mountains, forest ecosystems on sand dunes and coastal sand dunes, mangrove forest ecosystems.
Flora in Con Dao has 1,077 species belonging to 640 genera and 160 families of vascular higher plants, including 420 species of timber, shrubs of 273 species, creeper group of 137 species, group of herbaceous plants with 174 species, 53 species of plants Plants reproducing from spores (some species of ferns, cycas, maidenhair creeper), 20 species of epiphyte (orchid species); 44 species of plants were found the first time here by scientists, 11 species named for Con Son place.
So far, fauna in Con Dao forest has been recorded 160 species, among them, there are 29 animal species, 85 species of birds, 38 species of reptiles, and 08 species of amphibians. In particular, there are 04 endemic species of Con Dao: Con Dao black giant Squirrel (Ratufa bicolor condorensis), Con Dao long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis condorensis), Con Dao bow-fingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus condorensis), Con Dao Kukri Snake (Oligodon condaoensis).

Photo: Oceanites oceanicus

Con Dao Sea has 03 main ecosystems of tropical waters: mangrove ecosystem, seagrass ecosystem, and coral reef ecosystem. 1,725 marine species have been recorded with 46 species of mangrove plants, 133 species of seaweed, 11 species of seagrass, 226 species of phytoplankton, 143 species of plankton, 360 species of corals, 130 species of many silkworms, 116 species of crustaceans, 187 molluscs, 115 species of echinoderms, 205 species of coral reef fish, 9 species of sea reptiles, 37 species of sea birds and 7 species of marine mammals, including 72 endangered, precious and rare species consist of: plants (04) species; molluscs (16 species); echinoderms (06 species); corals (12 species);

fish (24 species); reptiles (02 species); sea birds (01 species); mammals (07 species), large marine mammals such as Dugong (Dugong dugon), spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris). There are 72 globally rare and endangered species endangered such as Marine Turtles, Dugong, Dolphins, scaly clam (Tridacna squamosa), etc. The association of coral reefs, seagrass covers, and mangrove forest have created a favorable environment for reproduction, multiplication, and conservation of marine species. The biodiversity of Con Dao waters has both national and global significance for marine nature conservation in Vietnam.

Sea turtles Reserve
Sea turtles are globally rare and endangered species listed on Vietnam's Red Book and Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is currently paid attention by many countries all over the world and even Vietnam.

Photo: Baby turtles

The Green Turtle population - Chelonia mydas moves to beaches in Con Dao to make the biggest number of nests every year in Vietnam, there are about 400 individual mother turtles nesting annually. Statistics within 25 years (1994 to 2018), there were 9,012 turns of mother turtles nesting and laying eggs; making 25,345 nests with 2,288,127 eggs; hatching and releasing back to sea 1,761,832 baby turtles. Con Dao National Park set a national record of "National Park with releasing the highest number of baby turtles into sea in Vietnam" and was awarded on January 31st, 2009.