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.
"Theisland has two high places. The highest point has a lighthouse and hasbeen named Hai Phong Hill, after Hai Phong city in the north, from thetime of the war against the United States," Duc said.
"On theisland, there are places named after places in the north, like Hanoibattlefield, ‘Nam Ha', ‘Ha Tay' and ‘Quang Ninh' zones," he added.
Theisland, measuring 2,200sq.m, is located about 30km from the coast andhas great potential for tourism development. Primary forests cover about74 percent of the island, which has a variety of sandy beaches, coralreefs and igneous rocks formed from volcanic lava.
Le Quang Lanh,the island district People's Committee Chairman, said Con Co remainedclean and unspoiled by human activity and featured freshwater andstrange plants that were endemic to the island.
"The sea aroundthe island is home to numerous tropical water ecosystems, includingabout 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.
"Withsuch a large potential and the proper investments, the island willbecome a tourist destination, a marine tourism centre that attractslocal and foreign tourists and contributes significantly to thesocio-economic development of Quang Tri province," he remarked.
Besidesdiverse ecosystems, the island is now focusing on infrastructuredevelopment that will serve its residents, including a dock, a fishingport and logistics fisheries services.
"Roads are likewise being built to serve residents and tourists and give the island a spacious appearance," said Duc.
ConCo is home to 50 residents, and visiting fishermen usually take a reston the island after a long voyage. Lanh said all offices andheadquarters on the island were either newly constructed or repaired.
"We'vereclaimed more than one hectare of land, mostly planted to vegetables,fruits, maize and cassava. We're rearing 250 cows and goats and havebuilt a new residential area for households," he added.
To date,all households, offices and units on the island have electricity andenough potable water. The youth who volunteered to build the islandnearly 10 years ago have now settled down on it to engage in cattleraising, farming and fishing.
"Con Co is where our two childrenwere born, so my husband and I have agreed to settle down here for thelong term," Nguyen Thi Lan, one of the first inhabitants of the island,revealed.
Island district authorities are now implementing aproject to turn Con Co into a tourist destination by highlighting itshistorical and traditional values, high-class resorts, coral reefs andother marine resources.
Formed from rare basalt, with uniquenatural landscapes and rare black coral reefs, Con Co is famous forbeautiful and diverse marine and forest ecosystems, especially athree-storey forest ecosystem (a rare ecosystems of volcanic islands inVietnam), and its intact and diverse coral reefs.
"Moreover, itis conveniently positioned near national and international sea transportroutes such as Hai Phong-Ho Chi Minh City-Singapore, Hai Phong-Manila,Hai Phong-Da Nang and Hai Phong-Vladivostok (Russia). It also belongs toa chain of famous historical landmarks, so developing Con Co fortourism is within our reach," said a tourist company representative.
CaoTri Dung, Director of Vitours Travel Company, said the island was anappealing tourist destination. "We're planning to bring more tourists tothis island in the future as we have successfully done in Ly Son Islandof Quang Ngai and Cham Island in Quang Nam," he added.
Duc saidhe had visited all remnants of the war against the US on the island,such as tunnel systems crisscrossing the island for more than 20km, asystem of bunkers along the coast, and cannon sites.
"From thelighthouse, we can see that the island is like a town surrounded by bluesea and primitive forest. Once, I nearly lost my way in the forest, andwas really impressed to see and touch many old trees. Three or fourpeople must join hands to embrace a tree," he added.
The Con CoMarine Conservation Area, measuring 4,532 hectares, was established inFebruary 2010. The island has beautiful and intact coral reefs with warmseas that are suitable for diving.-VNA
