Vietnam: Geography & Climate
The Mekong culminates in Vietnam
The Mekong culminates in Vietnam
Vietnam’s 3,260-km South China Sea coastline defines the Mekong Sub-region’s northeast perimeter. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest and Cambodia to the southwest. Vietnam covers 329,560 sq km, with mountains and hills in the north and east dominating three-quarters of the landscape.
The fertile Mekong Delta in the south accounts for over 10% of the country’s area and close to 20% of its coastline. The delta is where the final 200 km of Mekong River breaks up into the Cuu Long, or Nine Dragons.
The country is divided into five distinct geographic regions. The mountains of Viet Boc stretch from the Red River to the Gulf of Tonkin in the northeast, and the northwest mountains run from the Chinese border to Lao PDR. The Annamite Mountain Range forms Vietnam’s backbone in the central region, beaches trim the east and the Mekong Delta characterises the south.
Climate Vietnam’s climate ranges from temperate in the north to tropical in the south. The four seasons are evident in the far north where winter temperatures can dramatically drop during the night, though most of the region is split between a cool winter (November to April) and a hot summer (May to October). The southern climate is similar to that of other Southeast Asian countries: cool and dry from November to January, hot and dry from February to May and hot and rainy from June to October with an occasional typhoon.
A never-ending task, and the backbone of the country
A never-ending task, and the backbone of the country
Nature Vietnam is dedicated to preserving its vast natural resources, boasting well over 80 national parks and protected areas throughout the country. The most famous is Halong Bay in the north with thousands of oddly-shaped limestone island outcrops filled with caves. Just south of Hanoi is Cuc Phuong National Park, home to over 97 mammal species, including the endangered langur, and 300 species of birds.
Vietnam’s largest national park, Yokdon, covers 1,155 sq km of relatively flat land, and was founded in 1991 to protect a rare patch of lowland dipterocarp forest with 464 species of flora and scores of mammal, reptile, bird, and fish species including 17 listed as endangered.
Among Vietnam’s critically endangered mammals are the Cat Ba Island golden-headed langur, Javan rhinoceros, Sumatran rhinoceros and the white-rumped black lemur. Endangered Asian elephants, tigers, otter civets and parti-coloured flying squirrels have also been spotted.
Vietnam possesses a diversity of wetland habitats including large estuarine and delta systems with extensive mangrove swamps and tidal mudflats. This habitat and others in Vietnam are home to approximately 870 bird species, which make up 10% of the world’s species. The Dalat Plateau is one of the five endemic bird areas (EBAs) in Vietnam identified by BirdLife International.
This mixture of coniferous, mountain evergreen and secondary forest is the exclusive habitat of collared laughing thrushes, grey-crowned crocias and Vietnamese green finches. Visitors to Cat Tien National Park can spot wide-spread birds such as red-breasted parakeets, vernal hanging parrots, spotted and red-collared doves, drongo cuckoos and Oriental pied hornbills.
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