The Ben En National Park, one of the most relaxing parks in northernVietnam, is home to valuable and rare species of animals and birds, suchas red wolf, black gibbon, great hornbill, gayal, tibetan bear,red-face monkey, elephant, bear and, until recent years, tiger.

Thepark is located about 45km from the central province of Thanh Hoa'sheart on the southwest, the 16,000ha park, half of which is virginforest.

Farmer Lo Van Quang, 45, a member of the Tay ethnicpeople, said locals were happy to join the programme started five yearsago by the Japanese camera company Canon. To date, more than 140ha ofnew forests have been replanted.

Do Xuan Loc, deputy head ofThanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's ForestRanger Branch, said he hoped the project could be expanded to bring moregreen to Thanh Hoa and the park itself.

Quang said since joiningthe programme, residents had learned about the need to grow trees andhow to protect the environment to develop tourism, which is largelybased on the forests, lakes and caves that fill the park.

Untilthe replanting work began, his family earned a small living growingrice. But, following advice from tourism authorities, he borrowed moneyand built a new house on stilts, which is now also used for a homestay.

"Ialso learned to greet and help travellers tour the park. As a result,we now earn a total of about 4-5 million VND (180-230 USD) permonth," Quang said.

Primitive forest covers 8,544-ha of the park,which features a 3,000ha lake with 21 islets. Studies have revealed1,389 species of plants, 1,004 species of animals, 201 species of birds,54 species of reptiles, 31 species of amphibians, 68 species of fishand 499 species of insects.

The park was established in 1992 andgradually expanded. It is not only a protected breeding ground for manyrare creatures, but also an attractive destination for ecotourism. BenEn has a wide and diverse system of lakes, caves, mountains and forest.The two biggest lakes are Ben En Lake and Muc Lake.-VNA