Cable car greenlighted for Vietnam’s nature reserve
Khanh Hoa authorities have approved a US$15 million project to build a cable car system to the Hon Ba Nature Reserve, a popular tourist attraction on a mountain some 57 km (35 miles) from Nha Trang.
An eco-cultural tourism area will also be established to attract more tourists to the Hon Ba Mount, according to the project.
According to the investor, Hon Ba – Yersin Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company, Hon Ba is expected to attract up to 1.5 million tourists every year once the project completes.
Currently, the nature reserve attracts about 800,000 tourists annually.
The new tourism area will be established on an area of 190 hectares (470 acres) on top of the Hon Ba Mount, on an altitude ranging from 1,400-1,578 meters.
The 6.2-km cable system of France’s Poma Company will connect the Da Han Stream and the mountain peak.
Currently, Hon Ba is reachable by cars and motorbikes.
Soaring 1,578 meters above the coastal plains of Khanh Hoa Province, Hon Ba is 18 degrees Celsius even in the middle of summer.
It was the place that Alexandre Yersin, the Swiss-born French bacteriologist and doctor, decided to climb 90 years ago and stay to do his pharmaceutical research.
The devoted doctor is known worldwide for co-discovering the bacillus, a genus of bacteria causing a zoonotic disease that can kill most infected humans within days.
Yersin created a path to the top of the mountain in 1915 after discovering that Hon Ba had similar climate and soil to Da Lat, which were conducive to growing cinchona, from whose bark quinine is made.