Nan Cat Tien National Park

Day One

We've learned a few things about the Vietnamese language since we left Saigon. For a start, Nan means south, so we know that we are in the south Cat Tien N.P.
Our guide, Hai, and the driver who has been with us since we arrived in Saigon, picked us up on time and we drove through miles and miles of industrial and urban development. Civilisation continued all the way into what we were told was Dong Nai Province. Until the civil war broke out, this area was mostly jungle with some farming communities and a fledgling rubber plantation industry. 800,000 mostly catholic refugees from Hanoi and the north were resettled here partly as a buffer zone against the communists. They built their churches, you see one about every 500metres along the highway and renamed their new districts according to where they had lived up north. There are many, many houses with Christian statues looking down from top floors, mostly of the Virgin Mary.

Hai filled us with more information on the 165km drive north and west than we could take in. We first drove along highway 1 then turned off onto highway 20 (to Dar Lat and Na Trang), in Dong Nai Province, then onto the road to the park which came to an abrupt end at the Dong Nai River, which we had already bridged twice. Our driver had the choice of going back to Saigon, leaving his car at the small riverside village and coming across with us, or staying with his car. The last we saw of him, he was parking the car. We hadn't appreciated that he was ours for the weekend. A short boat ride across then a 1 km walk to the Forest Floor Lodge www.forestfloorlodge.com.

Our home for two nights is truly an Eco lodge, they don't have any services out here. The reception area, bar, restaurant and relaxation area are in an old converted park authority building and there are nine secluded, traditional wooden huts and safari style tents. There is a generator for electricity but we've never heard it run and the lodge is hoping to install environmentally sound generation in the near future. There is electricity for a few hours each day during which we can have room lighting and air con if absolutely necessary, oh and the fridge stays cold. For the dark times there are a battery operated torch and small strip light.

After check-in we went upstairs for lunch, lots of choices which didn't include meat. After lunch one of the lodge staff took us (Hai included) down to the Rangers' office where we met the man in charge of the bear rescue centre, Nguyen Van Coung (Coung is also a vet and has two helpers). The Vietnamese government doesn't want to share the centres with foreign interests though they are happy to acknowledge assistance. I was a bit disheartened with the conditions the 23 bears live in but had to remind myself that they are much better off than they were. At least here they do have access to playgrounds on a roster system and Coung is very proud of the work they do here. They also look after other rescued animals, one, a beautiful leopard named Lucy. Lucy has a sponsor and that money takes care of her needs. The centre are hopeful of finding a male leopard to start a breeding program as leopards are an endangered species in Vietnam. Also endangered are Siam Crocodiles, 90 odd of which were rescued and sent to the park some years ago. DNA samples were sent to QLD Uni and only two crocs were found to be hybrids, the rest were rehabilitated to Crocodile Lake and some have now started breeding.

There are some 4,000 bears in bile farms in Vietnam. While farming has now been outlawed, all of those bears are allowed to be retained under license because the government doesn't have the facilities, manpower or money to free them all. Free The Bears is working toward getting those bears freed but it won't be easy. At least there is now a law against captive farm breeding or, poaching.

Back to base and the usual afternoon shower. Changing old sweat for fresh. Howard took a nap. The electricity went off. I read with ,my head torch until we decided to go for dinner. Once again the dishes served were too much. We are only learning very slowly not to order too much, but when an appetiser can feed both of us it isn't easy. Soon we are given the hurry on by Hai, we are doing a spotlight tour tonight, even though it is raining. We're outfitted with Lodge ponchos with peaks no less. Loaded onto a rickety truck and hurtle down towards the Park offices where we pick up another four passengers and change to a twin cab utility. We decide to stay outside in the tray seats with Hai and the guide. Through pouring rain, lots of which is pouring down my sleeves until I realise and pinch my poncho sleeves together. I'm wondering what the hell am I doing here, but there's a breeze and a few rewards. The poncho peaks help though my glasses are often either fogged or just wet. We spot many sambar deer, a couple of Gaur (big native cow type animals), in the distance, a mouse deer, about cat size, no tail, palm civet, some birds and moths. Great night according to Howard. I was glad to get back but had to agree with him. We were greeted back at the lodge, helped off with the ponchos and offered a ginger zinger tea. Wonderful touch that. Did I mention that everyone here is so friendly and helpful?

We'd cracked up earlier when we saw that our room had a jug plus a small UHT Dutch Lady milk container – coffee! Alas the jug is past its use by date and it was too late anyway.

Early breakfast on Sunday. I think they make their own bread or buy it locally and it may be rice flour. As toast it's ok. We then have to put on “leech socks”, soft canvas like fabric knee high booties with elastic at the knee. They don't fit too well into our boots, make walking a bit uncomfortable but boy are we glad to have them. We're picked up by last night's ute and driven on the bumpy road, 10km out to the start of the track to Crocodile Lake. The walk is 10km return. Our guide (sounds like Cham) is informative and points out various birds on the way. The primates are elusive today and we only catch glimpses high in the trees, but we don't care. The path is often slippery, wet and muddy and dotted with pitted volcanic stones. We see lots of different snails, some insects and countless beautifully patterned butterflies, and a few curious little lizards. This forest is regrowth, having been almost entirely obliterated by the Americans. After the war, Ho Chi Minh declared that the environment was important and set aside many national parks. There are now about 36. One of the sites we stopped for was the biggest buttressed tree we have ever seen. The roots would have stood over two metres in places.

We reached the lake and at the rangers' station did a leech inspection, took off our shoes and socks and had a nice sit down on the tree top observation deck. The rangers here work a rotating shift of one month on, six days off and, their living conditions are pretty sparse. Only last week the rangers caught would be poachers trying to trap baby crocs for export. Those people were arrested and fined.

We had about an hour's break just looking out over the grassed wetlands. There were a number of birds to see and yet more butterflies. On the way back we had a better glimpse of a Langour(primate)high up in a tree.

Having done a bit of exercise, after lunch we did a lot of relaxing and this is where I sit to write, ready to post once we are back in civilisation. And, as they keep a vacuum flask of hot water in the bar, we both enjoyed a large coffee.

We don't appear to have a room gecko, instead two spiders do the mozzie hunting, while they have relatively small bodies, with their long legs, they are almost a hand span in size.

Sunday

Another early morning and we were off to visit another rehabilitation centre, a short boat trip across the river to "Monkey Island" where various primates are brought after rescue, for rehabilitation and release into the wild. The Dao Tien Endangered Asian Species Trust (EAST), under the umbrella of Monkey World which is a UK charity. At Dao Tien, the rangers look after golden cheeked gibbons, two types of langours and pygmy loris. www.go-east.org - will give a good background. So, another cause for us to follow in the future. We had a great morning there and learned quite a bit thanks to our guide for the park, Stephanie, a talkative (good for us) UK expat who first worked here a few years ago as a volunteer and was later offered a contract.

Back to the lodge, a quick shower, pack our backpacks, have lunch, which was promised to be just the right size for us, which it was and most delicious, as usual.

We bid a sad farewell and returned to our driver (who had returned to Saigon for the weekend), and the hair raising drive back to our hotel.

We'd planned to have dinner with Robert and My at their house. Robert collected us and we took a round about scenic taxi ride just a couple of kilometres away. we walked down the lane which was full of life, were introduced to a few people and then reached the house. First was a trip upstairs to see baby Catherine, now one month old and beautiful. My and Robert have their house in one of the lanes that house Saigon. A narrow house on four levels, My built next door to her parents and the parent's house is three times the size, which as far as I could see is larger than the average. Another wonderful meal had been cooked for us by Miss Kim, the mother's cook. When it was time to leave Robert tok us back up the lane and we quickly found a taxi with a driver who knew where our hotel was and would take us to our door. Although we aren't night owls, driving through night time Saigon was a bit of a rush. As if it hadn't been lively enough in the day, every one seemed to be out at night, and this was Monday! No comparison to dull Sydney which dies at sunset.

Tuesday

This morning we headed for the markets after breakfast and came back with an extra suitcase (and that isn't all). We have been collecting so much extra stuff that our one case can't take it any more. The plan is to leave the new case in Bangalore with Howard's friends while we continue our India tour, which we are planning to reduce somewhat. Not that we're homesick, but this travelling is hard, hot work.

More later, this afternoon we board the train to Hanoi. Two nights and a day.

See yas


Forgotten Stuff

In Rach Gia, the hotel rules included men and women sharing the same room must produce a marriage certificate!