Cat Tien NP
Day 14: Thursday 28th March 2019 (continued)
No problems with the flight to Ho Chi Minh City, other than a host of squealing infants. Straight to lunch and a decent meal - I had ribs and chips, Alison had pizza and we finished off with the first decent (Italian) coffee since arriving in Vietnam (Vietnamese coffee is usually served sweetened and with condensed milk, and by the time the coffee has filtered it is usually cold).
After lunch we had a further 3 hour drive to get to Cat Tien. We stayed in the national park headquarters and this involves a short river crossing on a motorised canoe. Then had about 30 mins birding before dark, in which we found 4 species new for the trip, one of which was new for me (Gold-crested Myna).
No problems with the flight to Ho Chi Minh City, other than a host of squealing infants. Straight to lunch and a decent meal - I had ribs and chips, Alison had pizza and we finished off with the first decent (Italian) coffee since arriving in Vietnam (Vietnamese coffee is usually served sweetened and with condensed milk, and by the time the coffee has filtered it is usually cold).
After lunch we had a further 3 hour drive to get to Cat Tien. We stayed in the national park headquarters and this involves a short river crossing on a motorised canoe. Then had about 30 mins birding before dark, in which we found 4 species new for the trip, one of which was new for me (Gold-crested Myna).
Day 15: Friday 29th March 2019
Cat Tien is a mixture of primary and secondary lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen tropical forest with large areas of open grassland and bamboo. Unlike other national parks we have come across in our travels through Vietnam, this one does seem to be managed for the benefit of the wildlife it was established to protect - even if its logo, the Vietnamese Rhinoceros, has probably become extinct recently!
05:30 breakfast (a rather disappointing omelette). Then we drove 6km into the forest, on the Heaven Rapids trail, and walked part of the way back - we were collected and brought the rest of the way back by vehicle at 11.15. The morning started well with good views of two species of primate high in the canopy - Buff-cheeked Gibbon and Black-shanked Douc Langur. During the course of the day we added 28 bird species to our trip list, but only 3 of these were new to me - White-browed Piculet, Grey-faced Tit-babbler and Green-legged Partridge.
Cat Tien is a mixture of primary and secondary lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen tropical forest with large areas of open grassland and bamboo. Unlike other national parks we have come across in our travels through Vietnam, this one does seem to be managed for the benefit of the wildlife it was established to protect - even if its logo, the Vietnamese Rhinoceros, has probably become extinct recently!
05:30 breakfast (a rather disappointing omelette). Then we drove 6km into the forest, on the Heaven Rapids trail, and walked part of the way back - we were collected and brought the rest of the way back by vehicle at 11.15. The morning started well with good views of two species of primate high in the canopy - Buff-cheeked Gibbon and Black-shanked Douc Langur. During the course of the day we added 28 bird species to our trip list, but only 3 of these were new to me - White-browed Piculet, Grey-faced Tit-babbler and Green-legged Partridge.
After lunch and a siesta break we set off once again in the truck - an open-topped vehicle which provided good viewing - for the grasslands. Our main quarry was Green Peafowl - and we were successful in seeing 3 males - albeit somewhat distantly. |
By about 9am the noise of the cicadas was deafening and they were so abundant that their excretory juices fell like a light rain.
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After dark I heard a very loud sound outside our room. On investigation it proved to be the world's second largest gecko (up to 35cm long), which goes by the onomatopoeic name of Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko). The image shows it once it had been silenced by a mouthful of cicada.