Whiskered Yuhina — Photo: Susan Myers

Vietnam is a fascinating country in terms of its culture, its history, and its wildlife. On this journey through the most diverse country in Southeast Asia, we will visit a wonderful selection of Vietnam's best national parks and reserves, and we have a good chance of observing many of its fine endemics and a number of other restricted-range species. Time will also be made to see a bit of Saigon and Hanoi.

Please note that we have recently redesigned our entire Vietnam itinerary. While some of our participants are able to take only shorter tours, others prefer a more comprehensive coverage. With this in mind, we have added several new sites to the main tour itinerary, and added a complementary extension to Northern Vietnam.

"Enchanting," perhaps more than any other adjective, aptly describes the lush, verdant country of Vietnam. The extraordinary nature and beauty of its forests and wildlife are a feature of our tour, but Vietnam is much more than just a natural history attraction. A country with such a long and convoluted history demands that any visit here also pay proper heed to its fascinating culture and antiquities. Thus, we will include visits to such must-see sights as the Imperial Palace of Hue and Hanoi's French Colonial Quarter. The birds and other wildlife will be our primary focus, however, and we will work very hard to find some of the splendid specialties of this relatively little-birded Indochinese nation.

Indochina, particularly Vietnam, harbors some of Southeast Asia's most alluring and fascinating landscapes, adorned with a remarkable diversity of habitats. As we discovered on our 2010 tour, many superb areas persist, especially within Vietnam's expanding system of reserves and national parks. We will explore the very best of these reserves and seek out some of the least-known, extremely localized, and most fascinating birds and mammals in the whole of Asia. In fact, we have made several changes to our 2010 itinerary, adding some time in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An, and an opportunity to search for the rare and little-known Sooty Babbler and the recently described Black-capped Laughingthrush. 

A cursory glance at a map of the region will show that Vietnam is an unusual country, roughly shaped like an hourglass; it is long and thin. Balanced on the edge of the Southeast Asian continent, the country lies on a north-south axis and covers a huge latitudinal range. In the north, one's eye is drawn to the Red River Delta, while in the south the huge Mekong Delta dominates the map. Both of these very important topographic features figure prominently in the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. In Vietnam's far northwest lies the Hoang Lien Son Range, the southeasternmost extension of the Himalayas. The central, very slender part of the country is traced by the Truong Son Range, while further south the Da Lat Plateau divides south and central Vietnam. This topography and Vietnam's location on the edge of the mainland contributes to a complex climatic system, which goes toward explaining Vietnam's extraordinary biological diversity. Vietnam is in the top 25 countries of species richness; for example, two thirds of mainland Asia's babblers are found in Vietnam. Vietnam also has a high rate of endemism, with seven species of primates (and seven more restricted range species), and five species of babblers (seven more restricted range).    

We will cover most of the major biomes, but without rushing around. There will be sufficient time to search out such gems as the surprisingly common Bar-bellied Pitta; Germain's Peacock-Pheasant; the splendid Siamese Fireback; the elusive Red-collared Woodpecker; and a wonderful collection of babblers and laughingthrushes, many of them endemic to Vietnam or Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and southern Yunnan of China). Some of the other goodies we may encounter include several forest-dwelling partridges; the endangered Green Peafowl; possibly Baer's Pochard; a diverse selection of some of Asia's loveliest woodpeckers; several barbets, including the near-endemic Red-vented Barbet; with a bit of luck, Brown Hornbill, in addition to a couple of others; a good range of raptors, including the very local Pied Falconet and Jerdon's Baza; Blue-rumped and Bar-bellied pittas; some great thrushes (if we're lucky, it will be cold up north and cause an invasion year!); a host of flycatchers, chats, and robins; and the spectacular Sultan Tit—to mention but a few! We may also encounter some of Vietnam's wonderful mammals, among which are some of the most beautiful and distinguished primates anywhere in the world. Sadly, all of them are rare and not easy to see, but we should be able to find Douc langur and possibly a couple of others.

Excellent to good accommodations; famously great, tasty food; travel by minibus and plane; pace moderate with mostly roadside birding, a couple of boat trips, and some easy to moderate walking; midday breaks on most days; warm and moderately humid in the south, cool to cold weather in the north.