At night, it looks like a floating city on a sea filled with light.
This is how Le Duc, a tourist, describes Con Co Island off the central province of Quang Tri which he recently visited.
“The
island has two high places. The highest point has a lighthouse and has
been named Hai Phong Hill, after Hai Phong city in the north, from the
time of the war against the United States,” Duc said.
“On the
island, there are places named after places in the north, like Hanoi
battlefield, ‘Nam Ha’, ‘Ha Tay’ and ‘Quang Ninh’ zones,” he added.
The
island, measuring 2,200sq.m, is located about 30km from the coast and
has great potential for tourism development. Primary forests cover about
74 percent of the island, which has a variety of sandy beaches, coral
reefs and igneous rocks formed from volcanic lava.
Le Quang Lanh,
the island district People’s Committee Chairman, said Con Co remained
clean and unspoiled by human activity and featured freshwater and
strange plants that were endemic to the island.
“The sea around
the island is home to numerous tropical water ecosystems, including
about 113 coral species that were found to be in excellent condition,”
Lanh added.
Along with the coral systems are rich flora and fauna and hundreds of kinds of seafood of high value.
“With
such a large potential and the proper investments, the island will
become a tourist destination, a marine tourism centre that attracts
local and foreign tourists and contributes significantly to the
socio-economic development of Quang Tri province,” he remarked.
Besides
diverse ecosystems, the island is now focusing on infrastructure
development that will serve its residents, including a dock, a fishing
port and logistics fisheries services.
“Roads are likewise being built to serve residents and tourists and give the island a spacious appearance,” said Duc.
Con
Co is home to 50 residents, and visiting fishermen usually take a rest
on the island after a long voyage. Lanh said all offices and
headquarters on the island were either newly constructed or repaired.
“We’ve
reclaimed more than one hectare of land, mostly planted to vegetables,
fruits, maize and cassava. We’re rearing 250 cows and goats and have
built a new residential area for households,” he added.
To date,
all households, offices and units on the island have electricity and
enough potable water. The youth who volunteered to build the island
nearly 10 years ago have now settled down on it to engage in cattle
raising, farming and fishing.
“Con Co is where our two children
were born, so my husband and I have agreed to settle down here for the
long term,” Nguyen Thi Lan, one of the first inhabitants of the island,
revealed.
Island district authorities are now implementing a
project to turn Con Co into a tourist destination by highlighting its
historical and traditional values, high-class resorts, coral reefs and
other marine resources.
Formed from rare basalt, with unique
natural landscapes and rare black coral reefs, Con Co is famous for
beautiful and diverse marine and forest ecosystems, especially a
three-storey forest ecosystem (a rare ecosystems of volcanic islands in
Vietnam), and its intact and diverse coral reefs.
“Moreover, it
is conveniently positioned near national and international sea transport
routes such as Hai Phong-Ho Chi Minh City-Singapore, Hai Phong-Manila,
Hai Phong-Da Nang and Hai Phong-Vladivostok (Russia). It also belongs to
a chain of famous historical landmarks, so developing Con Co for
tourism is within our reach,” said a tourist company representative.
Cao
Tri Dung, Director of Vitours Travel Company, said the island was an
appealing tourist destination. “We’re planning to bring more tourists to
this island in the future as we have successfully done in Ly Son Island
of Quang Ngai and Cham Island in Quang Nam,” he added.
Duc said
he had visited all remnants of the war against the US on the island,
such as tunnel systems crisscrossing the island for more than 20km, a
system of bunkers along the coast, and cannon sites.
“From the
lighthouse, we can see that the island is like a town surrounded by blue
sea and primitive forest. Once, I nearly lost my way in the forest, and
was really impressed to see and touch many old trees. Three or four
people must join hands to embrace a tree,” he added.
The Con Co
Marine Conservation Area, measuring 4,532 hectares, was established in
February 2010. The island has beautiful and intact coral reefs with warm
seas that are suitable for diving.-VNA