The Best of Vietnam Mar 13—31, 2010
Posted by Susan Myers
Susan Myers
Susan Myers absolutely loves birding and traveling in Asia. As she says, "The combination of incredible and diverse wildlife, ancient and fascinating cultures, and the...Related Trips
Our comprehensive tour of Vietnam is designed to cover a variety of habitats, thus allowing us to observe a range of the fascinating and unique Indochinese avifauna and other wildlife. The forests of Vietnam have been severely depleted since the end of the war, and, in fact, are still being heavily exploited, so the birding here can be a challenge at times. That said, I have noticed so much improvement in the last few years it is quite heartening. This year, although it was exceptionally dry, we had mostly excellent weather and many outstanding birding highlights. Our trip to Vietnam, as always, included not only the remarkable birdlife, but fabulous food, a varied and exotic culture, and terrific people and general atmosphere.
We started off at Cat Tien National Park, a few hours drive from Saigon. This large area (80,000 ha) of southern lowland rainforest provided much fascinating birding during our stay. We drove the Dac Lua road a number of times, which gave us many birding opportunities, including brilliant views of Siamese Firebacks at very close quarters! On our walk along the Crocodile Lake trail we saw some more great birds, with especially memorable encounters with a few stunning Bar-bellied Pittas, an amazing group of Scaly-breasted Partridges, and a couple of more challenging Germain's Peacock-Pheasants. The birding around the headquarters was also good, with a pair of Blue-bearded Bee-eaters and many parakeets, nightjars, and starlings. A little further along the road we found the near-endemic Gray-faced Tit-Babbler to be quite common, but not easy to see. Exploration of other areas of the park allowed us to enjoy views of the endangered Green Peafowl, Woolly-necked Storks, and Red Junglefowl.
En route to Da Lat we birded at the excellent Di Linh Pass with superb results: Long-tailed Broadbill, Maroon Oriole, and the endemic White-cheeked Laughingthrush. Our next destination was the delightful highland town of Da Lat where we enjoyed sumptuous accommodation and great birding. We experienced a number of memorable moments here. A walk up Mount Lang Bian was off to a good start with a pair of Vietnamese Cutia encountered along the path, followed later by super views of a number of other Da Lat Plateau specialties. Multiple visits to the delightful Ta Nung Valley never failed to turn up something new, but best of all were the endemic Gray-crowned Crocias, as well as exceptional looks at the cute and highly sought after Black-crowned Parrotbill, Indochinese Green Magpies, and the delightful mixed flocks.
From Da Lat we flew up to Ha Noi and then drove to Tam Dao. This former French hill station lies north of the capital at an altitude of 930 meters. By this time the weather to our north from China had caught up with us, and we shivered through the chilly conditions, but still managed some good birding with nice looks at a few goodies such as the shy Gray Laughingthrush, Chestnut Bulbuls, and Fork-tailed Sunbirds amongst others.
Our next destination was Cuc Phuong, Vietnam's oldest national park. Located in the Red River Delta, the park protects a 22,200 ha area of limestone peaks and evergreen tropical rainforest. Our explorations of the park included a walk through a semi-cleared valley, the 1,000 Year Old Tree trail through many limestone crags, and exploration of the numerous trails around the headquarters. Simply birding along the park road proved to be most rewarding, however. We racked up a good number of excellent sightings. Of special note were superb and prolonged views of Pied Falconet, Green-eared Barbet, some lovely Silver-breasted Broadbills, good views of White-winged Magpie, Limestone Wren-Babbler, the rather odd-looking Ratchet-tailed Treepie, Fork-tailed Sunbird, a couple of rather recalcitrant Large Scimitar-Babblers, Sultan Tits, and a superb White-tailed Flycatcher.
As mentioned above, apart from the terrific birding, I think it is safe to say that other highlights of our trip included the wonderful and varied scenery, the never-ending enterprise that we observed as we sped around the countryside, the sheer variety and deliciousness of Vietnamese food, and, above all, the Vietnamese themselves, who are endlessly accommodating and friendly, and made our visit such a pleasure. Thank you all for your delightful company. I hope to see you again soon!