At a ceremony held in the northern mountain province of Cao Bằng, UNESCO officially recognized Non Nước Cao Bằng as a global geopark, the second of its kind in Vietnam after Đồng Văn Karst Plateau and the 8th in Southeast Asia.
Non Nuoc Cao Bang was established in 2015. In November 2016, Cao Bang submitted a dossier to UNESCO to seek the global geopark recognition. A survey team of UNESCO came to the province in July 2017 to make assessment of the park’s values and conservation work.
Non Nước Cao Bằng geopark is 300 kilometers from Hanoi. The 3,300-square-kilometer park stretches through 9 districts and has 130 unique geological heritages of limestone towers, valleys, and complexes of lakes, rivers, and underground caves linking together. It is home to fossils, ocean sediment, volcanic rocks, minerals, and especially karst landscapes, which can give researchers an over-500-million-year window of insight into history of the Earth.
There are varied geologic features as the terrain is divided by limestone and soil mountains, creating magnificent waterfalls and flat valleys where ethnic minority people reside. Inside the park are numerous famous sites: Phia Oắc and Phia Đén eco-tourism areas, Thang Hen lake, Ngườm Ngao grotto, and notably Bản Giốc waterfalls, one of the four biggest and most majestic border waterfalls around the world. This geopark has 215 cultural and historical relics with three certified as special national sites.
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