DAK NONG UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
A GEOLOGIC WONDERLAND WITH A RICH CULTURE
SEPTEMBER 2020
Dak Nong Global Geopark is located in Dak Nong province, in the southwestern part of Vietnam’s Central Highlands at the meridional edge of the Truong Son mountain range (the Annamite Range). Extending over the five districts of Krong No, Cu Jut, Dak Mil, Dak Song, Dak G’Long and Gia Nghia town, the geopark is part of the majestic Mnong plateau with an average elevation of 600-700m above sea level; its highest point, Ta Dung, is 1,982m above sea level. On July 7, 2020, it was recognized by UNESCO as Vietnam’s third global geopark after a lengthy campaign led by Mr Ngoc Bao’s team and the Provincial People’s Committee.

Dak Nong Geopark is distinctive in terms of geological features and geoheritage value. Part of the Gondwana ancient supercontinent 200-165 million years ago, the geopark was submerged in a passive continental margin sea rich in ammonite and bivalve fossils. Around 145-66 million years ago, this continental margin became active due to plate collision, with red-bed sediments, eruptive andesite-dacite-rhyolite, and intrusive gabbro-diorite-granodiorite-granite rocks. In the last 16.5 million years, the territory was once more active with widespread, multi-phase volcanic activities that caused a basalt cover to form over more than 50% of the geopark – creating some of the world’s largest and best quality bauxite deposits and a number of minerals such as sapphires and other semi-precious stones. It also produced fertile soil that has fed generations of locals with industrial and fruit tree crops.

The geopark’s unique topography was shaped by young volcanic activity tens of thousands of years ago (Late Pleistocene-Holocene), resulting in spectacular craters, majestic waterfalls and one of Southeast Asia’s most extensive system of magnificent volcanic caves, which prehistoric people used as shelter around 6,000-10,000 years ago. Recent findings inside the caves included stone tools such as dish-shaped tools, short axes, blade-ground short axes, oval axes and blade-ground oval axes, flake tools, stone flakes, stone slabs, anvils, graters, pestles, hand-fitting sharp quartzite stones, and pieces of loess. Scientists also found pottery of various thicknesses, mostly fired at low temperature, with a crumbly texture made of fine sandy loam with varied patterns such as dot-dash, dotted line, dashed line, and twisted rope.

Dak Nong makes an ideal trip from either Cat Tien National Park or Lak Lak in the former Dac Lac legendary swamps. Discover the volcanic cave system in basalt rock in Dray Sap - Chu R’Luh, which the Japan Volcanic Cave Association recently recorded as the longest in Southeast Asian in terms of scale, length, and uniqueness. Explore the region’s luxuriant atmosphere through soft-adventure or adventure experience modules in Nam Nung Nature Reserve or Ta Dung National Park, ranging from half-day hiking or cycling in the direction of isolated waterfalls to two-day, one-night trips to mountain peaks. Enter intact forests famed for their biodiversity that harbor many rare species listed in Vietnam Red Book and the World’s Red Book: elephants, tigers, bison, primates (notably the Francois’ leaf monkey, or the Black-shanked douc), and elusive birds (such as the Great Hornbill and the Germain’s Peacock Pheasant). Sail along Ta Dung Lake, an enormous body of water dotted with green islands, and get to know the richness of human life in the area that is home to around 416,000 people of 40 ethnic groups, including two recognized by UNESCO as masters of gong culture (the Mnong, and the Cau Maa’ people)


© Illustration credit: Joseph Wraith


 

THE ELUSIVE, RARE
ANNAMITE STRIPED RABBITE

The Annamite Cordillera, which forms the natural frontier between Vietnam and Laos, is a biodiversity hotspot with numerous endemic wildlife and one of the highest concentrations of endemic mammal species in the Indochinese peninsula. Remarkably, several of these species were only recently discovered, including mysterious animals that embody timeless myths in the collective memory. One of the most intriguing is the elusive Annamite Striped Rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi), named after the biologist Rob Timmins, who first revealed its existence to the outside world in early 1995 when he stumbled upon strange-looking skins in a Lao bush meat market.

The Annamite Striped Rabbit is a nocturnal and primarily solitary rabbit that is unlike any other in mainland Southeast Asia. With small ears and legs, a short tail, and a buff tan base coat with black-brown dorsal tiger-like stripes racing across the hindquarters, ending in a rust-colored rump, it resembles the Sumatran-striped Rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri), a small forest-dwelling lagomorph only found on Indonesia’s largest island. Based on the little information that biologists have, the Annamite Striped Rabbit is found only in the rugged and remote rainforests of the Annamite mountains on the Laos-Vietnam border. Restricted to wet evergreen forests with little or no dry season, the rabbit has no clear elevational preference and its known range extends from the northern to central Annamite mountains including Pu Mat, Phong Nha-Ke Bang, and Bach Ma National Parks, Hue and Quang Nam Saola Nature Reserves, and Xe Sap National Protected Area.

One of the most understudied of the endemic mammals of the region, Nesolagus timminsi is currently categorized as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. According to a 2018 paper published by Cambridge University Press in Fauna & Flora International, anthropogenic pressures have resulted in intensive poaching through the use of wire snares, rapid rates of deforestation, and habitat loss that have defaunated much of the region, creating an extinction crisis for several conservation priority species and threatening others with global extinction. In addition, high demand for wildlife products and lax enforcement has reinforced widespread empty-forest syndrome across the entire Indochina region. Thus, the Annamite Striped Rabbit exhibits characteristics of a refugee species whose distribution is driven by anthropogenic pressures rather than habitat preferences, while several endemic mammal species, such as the saola, have distributions determined almost exclusively by hunting pressure.

To prevent the Annamite Striped Rabbit from becoming extinct, experts suggest linking science with on-the-ground action. For example, conservation stakeholders need to embed species conservation programs into a holistic, adaptive management framework, with intensified antipoaching patrols focused on removing snares in locations where the species was recorded as well as repeating systematic camera trapping and raising awareness among local populations about the importance of preserving ecosystems. Without action, the rabbit could become as rare as the saola.


© Illustration credit: Eric Losh












              

REMEMBERING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE BATTLE OF THE ROUTE COLONIALE 4

October 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Route Coloniale 4 (RC4), a major defeat for the French Expeditionary Force in Indochina along with Dien Bien Phu. Secret Indochina has been developing programs in the area of the former RC4 between Cao Bang and Ha Giang for some time, and to mark the anniversary we take a look back on this famous battle and the regions of northeastern Vietnam where it took place.

The first major offensive of the First Indochina War took place on July 25, 1948 on the RC3 during an attack on the Phu Tong Hoa post. More than 3,000 Viet Minh infantry troops launched a nighttime attack on the post, which was located near Bac Khan at the crossing of the Ba Be Road. At dawn, the Legionnaires were still resisting, and the attackers withdrew. After this attack, French generals decided to evacuate the RC3 and gathered their forces on the Cao Bang–Lang Son axis. The Vietnamese opted for a strategy based on harassing the French troops, and to do so they established the 174th Regiment (the RC4 regiment), commanded by the famous Colonel Dang Van Viet, who was also known as the Grey Tiger of RC4, the Vietnamese Napoleon, the King of RC4, and the Starless General. For their part, the French chose to reinforce and fortify the installations along the RC4 axis.

The road became the bloodiest in Indochina. Called the Boulevard de la Mort (the Death Avenue), the bloody road wound beneath rocky cliffs along steep passes with bush-covered heights – lending itself perfectly to ambushes. Convoys heading for Cao Bang loaded with food, ammunition, and civilians, were regularly attacked. A few garrison towns punctuated the route, including Dong Khe and That Khe. In June 1949, General Revers proposed a plan to abandon the border zone, but it was rejected by M. Pignon, French High Commissioner in Indochina, who viewed a retreat as a loss of face. In 1950, after more successful attacks by the Viet Minh, General Revers’ plan for evacuation was adopted, but it was too late. Giap and Colonel Viet adopted the principles of Sun Tzu’s Art of War: The enemy advances, we retreat. The enemy stops, we harass him. The enemy is tired, we attack him. Enemy retreats, we pursue.

The new chief of staff, General Carpentier, was unfamiliar with the country and terrain. He developed a plan to draw the Viet Minh toward Thaï Nguyen (Operation Seal), while one column evacuated Cao Bang city and a second relief column from Lang Son (consisting of the Charton and Lepage columns) joined it at the RC4 town Dong Khe in Operation Tiznit. The plan turned out to be disastrous. The two columns could not meet up and were quickly divided into sub-columns scattered in the bush.

The battle of RC4 was not a classic battle, but a series of deadly ambushes, attacks, counterattacks, and relentless pursuits. It played out from October 1-8 around the limestone of Dong Khe. The decimated, starving Lepage relief column made up of the 11th Tabor and the BEP regrouped on October 6 at Coc Xa after fighting at Na Keo. Coc Xa, a dark circus dominated by high cliffs with only one exit – a narrow passage called the Spring (la Source) – became the site of the bloodiest assault of the Indochinese War. At Coc Xa, the French realized that they were surrounded by Battalions 249 and 308 of the Viet Minh, and that the only way out was to force the Spring passage.

On October 7 just before dawn, the BEP unblocked the Spring at a huge cost: the death of all the company commanders and many legionnaires. Between October 7 and 8, Colonel Viet and the Viet Minh continued dismantling the two columns, which had devolved into small groups scattered and lost in the bush. Only a few units managed to pass through the Viet Minh apparatus and reach the village of That Khe, which was evacuated on October 10, followed by Lang Son on the 17th. The disaster of Cao Bang resulted in the annihilation of the Charton and Lepage columns. Some 5,000 members of the Expeditionary Force were killed or wounded, and of the 3,000 prisoners taken, only 1,000 returned.

Since the early 1990s, Secret Indochina has been active in the province of Cao Bang and its neighbor, Ha Giang. Activities have focused primarily on the people and certain massifs, including Phu Tha Ca, Can Ty, Thong Nong and Mo Xat. We have developed trekking and immersive programs there as well as remembrance programs for battle sites, including the famous Coc Xa circus, ancient fortresses, and French fortresses such as the Du Gia castle in Ha Giang


© Photo: the Grey Tiger of RC4


 
Secret Indochina
Secret Indochina is a Destination Management Company of Amica JSC, established in 2011 following the encounter of Tran Quang Hieu and Nicolas Vidal, two professionals passionate about authentic and impactful travel. Secret Indochina strives to lead travellers to outstanding sites, magical places, and little-known ethnic communities in Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia

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