Salt-marsh forest in Hoa Lan Island
Update: Aug 06, 2009
In recent years, eco-tourism has attracted a great number of tourists who want to discover wild nature. And salt-marsh forest in Hoa Lan Island is one of the eco-tourism destinations having mountain, forest, spring, sea and island.

This forest is located in Hoa Lan Spring Eco-tourism Site in Nha Phu Lagoon, Ninh Phu Commune, Ninh Hoa  District, Khanh Hoa Province, about 18km north of Nha Trang City. It spends only about 30 minutes for you to get beautiful Hoa Lan Island by express boat from Da Chong Tourist Wharf. Space is very green and pure. It seems to signal an enjoyable trip for tourists.

Tourists can rent kayak from the tourist site to discover this salt-marsh forest. From dreamlike Hoa Lan Spring in source, tourists will row the kayak to get mangrove and aegiceras forest in lower section and see fish flocks swimming in limpid spring. The hot weather of southern land seems to disappear. Only cool sensation exists. Salty flavour of the sea floats in the air. All those things will bring you unforgettable impressions.

When Long Phu Tourism Joint Stock Company took over Hoa Lan Spring Eco-tourism Site in 1997, salt-marsh forest in the island had been destroyed seriously. In order to protect environment and maintain ecological diversity, the company promoted activities to preserve and develop this salt-marsh forest. And after over 10 years, the forest is now covered green.

In addition, tourists who like adventure can participate in mountain-climbing tour. After climbing about 40 minutes to overcome dangerous sheer rocks, tourists will reach height of 60m.  They must have a great view of Nha Phu Lagoon from here. Going down the foot of the mountain, tourists can visit Phong Lan (Orchid Flowers) Cave where contains a beautiful collection of orchids gathered from across the northern and central regions as well as plants from the central coast. In fact there are more than 3,000 specimens of 39 orchid species within the cave. Furthermore, 13,500m² maze formed by 45,000 willows is also a place not to be missed.

There are an increasing number of tourists to the island, nearly 2,000 people a day. In the future, Long Phu Tourism JSC will invest to build a resort and an entertainment area according to trend of environment protection in the island to meet increasing demands of international and domestic tourists.
Thuy Hang - TITC