A peaceful stretch of Nuoc Mooc Creek in Quang Binh Province

A hidden charm awaits visitors to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central region.

Flowing from a backdrop of limestone peaks to the Chay River, Nuoc Mooc Creek is born in a shaded pool formed by large blocks of patterned marble.

The water spills down from the pool to create a waterfall whose gentle mist casts a cooling spell across the valley. Birdsong fills the air.

There’s an inviting track down to the creek that was paid for by Germany and the local residents as part of a project named “Nature Conservation and the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang Region.”

The main objective of the project, which has a budget of 17.6 million euros (US$25 million), is to help the local people improve their standard of living without harming the natural landscape by giving them cheap loans and training them to run tourist services. The project is scheduled to last until 2015.

When the 30 hectares around Nuoc Mooc was being established as a tourist site, the administrators calculated there would be a thousand visitors a day on average. Little did they realize how popular it would become.

Already this year an average of 1,800 tourists per day have come to enjoy the scenery and wildlife and learn about the local flora, fauna and history from the park’s tour guides.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is listed as one of the world’s top 200 centers of biodiversity and boasts two bird sanctuaries and more than 2,600 species of wildlife, including 116 plant species and 129 animal species at danger of extinction in Vietnam and indeed the world.

Reported by Kim