Attractions of Halong Bay #3 Cat Ba Island
Cat Ba Island sits in the most amazing Vietnam destination, the thoroughly unique Halong Bay. Halong Bay is a 600 Square mile UNESCO World Heritage Site about 100 miles from Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. The bay has 1960 fascinating islands, the largest of which is Cat Ba Island. The island has a land area of over 100 square miles. The are many Hanoi based tour companies booking tours on a Halong Bay cruise boat. Many use Cat Ba Island as an overnight stop over point. The Island is administered by Hai Phong City.
About 50% of Cat Ba Island is given over to the Cat Ba National Park. It is here that you may be lucky enough to see one of the highly endangered Cat ba Langurs, of which only 70 remain. The island consists of a huge variety of natural ecosystems; some are land based whilst others are marine. This in turn leads to an incredibly high rate of biodiversity. Natural habitats here in the Cat Ba Archipelago include limestone karst rocks, tropical limestone forests, coral reefs, beaches, caves, mangrove and sea grass beds, lagoons and willow swamp forests.
Most of the islands in Halong Bay are in fact uninhabited but Cat Ba has a population of 13,000. There are a further 4,000 living in floating villages around its shores. The name of the island means simply “Women’s Island” Legend tells of three women of the Tran Dynasty who were killed. Their bodies washed ashore after floating through the bay. Each body arrived on a different beach and were discovered by local fishermen. The local people built a temple for each one of them. It is believed that people have lived on Cat Ba Island for as long as 6,000 years. In 1938 French archeologists discovered remains on one island. They belonged to the Cai Beo people from ancient Ha Long culture. These people who lived as long as 4,000 to 6,500 years ago are considered the first population to occupy the North-Eastern territorial waters of Vietnam.
No holiday in Vietnam would be complete without visiting Halong Bay; no Halong bay cruise would be complete without visiting Cat Ba Island.
!steemitworldmap 20.844449 lat 106.999893 long Sung Sot Cave D3SCR
Other Attractions in Halong Bay include:
#1 Soi Sim Island https://steemit.com/travel/@inseasia/attractions-of-halong-bay-1-soi-sim-island
#2 Sung Sot Cave https://steemit.com/travel/@inseasia/attractions-of-halong-bay-2-sung-sot-cave
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nice place, will love to visit
It is beautiful. The Cat Ba Langur is so pretty, the most threatened primate in the world.
We spend 2 weeks in Cat Ba. Usually tourist are coming there for several days because it's not what to do much. But we enjoyed it.. Nature, weater, food, silence streets and happy people. :)
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Very beautiful view. My heart touches this scene. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting.
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