day 52 - Cuc Phuong National Park

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Today we spent the day exploring some of the Cuc Phuong National Park. We woke to a chilly, wet morning and were happy to get moving to keep the cold away. 

We began with a guided tour of the monkey conservation centre. They house up to 15 different species of monkeys there, including gibbons, most of which have been saved from poachers who would have sold their captives on the domestic or foreign markets where different parts of the monkeys would have been used for food or medicine. The centre moves the monkeys through a three-step program before they can be reintroduced into the wild - firstly they are housed in an enclosure with other monkeys of their own species; then they are released into a 3ha enclosure where they are monitored and provided with food to find. It's in this larger enclosure that they learn or relearn the skills they need to survive in their natural habitat. Young monkeys that have been born in the centre will experience the great outdoors for the first time in this area. The third stage sees the monkeys released back into the wild. 

(A female gibbon with a baby)

(A male gibbon)

(Grey langur monkeys)

Apart from rescuing and rehabilitating the monkeys, the centre also runs programs to attempt to educate the local people on why poaching needs to stop. Our guide, Quyen, seemed confident that the message was getting through. Quyen also asked us for some help with his English pronunciation and, in return, he helped us pronounce some new words we were trying to learn.

After our tour, we cycled 17km into the park centre from where we did a 5km walk to see a 1,000 year old tree. The tree was 5m in diameter and 45m tall. According to the information available at the Park, much of Vietnam used to be covered in dense forest, like that of the Park but forestry has resulted in huge changes to the natural environment. 

(Mac Lake)

(A map of the walking trail to the 1000 year old tree)

(At the tree)

(Imagery used to explain the impact of hunting)

(Looking up a very big tree)

We then cycled back to our accommodation, stopping at a cave in which prehistoric tombs, tools and cooking utensils were found in an archeological dig in 1966. They estimate that the items in the cave date back 7,500 years. 

(The walkway to the cave)

(The 'Cave of Prehistoric Man')

Arriving back at our accommodation, we were delighted to find that some kind staff member had left a heater for us in our room! We certainly didn't think we'd need a heater when we set off on this trip but it was an absolute treat to have one! 

Tomorrow we will head east to Ninh Binh where we'll spend a couple of days before making our way north to Hanoi.