Nguyen Huu Thuan, secretary of the Party Committee of Hoa My Commune, said local authorities, forest rangers and related agencies recently carried out a survey of the ancient tea forest.
Thousands of rare ancient tea trees stand on Hon Chao mountain (Photo: Huy Nguyen).
After travelling more than 3km through rugged forest terrain, the survey team discovered the first ancient tea trees at an altitude of 625 metres above sea level.
At around 723 metres, thousands of ancient tea trees appeared densely across the mountainside.
Some tea trunks are believed to be hundreds of years old (Photo: Huy Nguyen).
According to the survey, the forest is located in sub zone 364, managed by the Tay Hoa Protection Forest Management Board, covering around 3.8 hectares with more than 6,000 ancient tea trees.
Many trees are believed to be several hundred years old, with large trunks and wide canopies adapted to the mountain’s unique climate and soil conditions.
Tea from the area is known for its rich flavour and high levels of natural bioactive compounds, which local residents have long used to make traditional drinks.
Local authorities plan to draw up a conservation strategy for the rare ancient tea forest (Photo: Huy Nguyen).
Forest rangers from the Tay Hoa area have now marked coordinates and introduced technical measures to protect the ancient tea forest while reporting to higher authorities for long term conservation planning.
Thuan said local authorities would continue developing plans to preserve the rare tea tree population while promoting nature based tourism linked to exploration of Hon Chao Mountain.