HaLong Bay (literally: "Descending Dragon Bay"; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, located in QuangNinh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to HaLong City, CamPha town, and part of VanDon district. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. HaLong bay is a center of a larger zone which includes BaituLong bay to the northeast, and Catba islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters. HaLong Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. HaLong Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.