Van Trinh forest is located in Bo Duong hamlet, Van Trinh commune, ThachAn district, with an area of 9.03 hectares. The forest is well-known for giant, old trees called “Nghiến” (scientific name Excentrodendron tonkinese or Burretiodendron tonkinense) which can be as large as 5m in circumference in this forest. Being endemic only for the mountainous karst of China and North Vietnam, this tree is classified as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List.
An ancient “Nghien” tree
The “Nghien” forest is recognized as Vietnam Heritage Tree
Beside “Nghiến” trees, this unique forest also presents many giant trees from other species as well as many precious medicinal plants: Jiaogulan, Paris vietnamensis, wild longan, Clausena indica, wild flowers, pomelo etc. A year-round clear well enclosed by a rock fence nearby is the main clean water supply for more than 70 households of Bo Duong hamlet. In the forest, there is a shrine worshipping the God of Forest, locally called “dong slan” (scared forest).Annually, the locals come here to pray for peace and bumper crops.
This place, 40 years ago (in 1973), was used to imprison American pilots. The prison was on a flat area about 8 hectares wide, surrounded by limestone mountains on three sides, consisting of 10 cell houses of stone walls and concrete roofs, each was 60m long, 8m wide, and divided into many cells. Each cells has its own door and has two louvers, each louver has two iron bars; Each cell house has a corridor running between the two ends of the house. The cell houses were separated by more than 20m apart from each other, under dense and thick forest canopies.
Bo Duong primitive forest was recognized as Vietnam Heritage Forest in 2018.
