Cuc Phuong National Park

Located a hundred kilometers southeast of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong National Park (Ninh Binh province) in the easternmost part of a limestone range emanating from the Son La Plateau in the northern Vietnam. Cuc Phuong is a globally important example  of a terrestrial karst ecosystem and the only remaining large area of lowland and limestone forest in northern Vietnam. Just two hours south of Hanoi, large shadows of the first karst towers interrupt the reflections from the rice fields, signaling Cuc Phuong’s proximity.

In the spring, millions of white and yellow migrating butterflies surround visitors as soon as they enter the park. In the afternoon, visitors can take a walk on a marked, two-hour trail to see Cuc Phuong’s giant trees in a rare stand of primary tropical forest. An incredible diversity of trees, lianas and ferns overgrows the karsts. An important archaeological site which was a home of early man, is also home to seventeen species of bats. Visitors can watch endangered Owston’s palm civits which are nocturnal search for insects in their spacious enclosure at FFI’s small civit conservation facility. Some civits have successfully bred in captivity. It is a special pleasure to watch the baby civits.

Cuc Phuong’s giant trees

Visitors who stay overnight can go birding in the morning chill at 6 A.M and might see barbellied Pitta birds and trogons just beyond the park gates. Silver pheasants and jungle fowl are pletiful. On the way home, travelers can turn left to visit Van Long, a small limestone outcrop surrounded by a wetland just before the junction with highway 1. Local villagers will row visitors in small boats so that they can come close to the rock. In addition, they can see Delacour’s langurs, a critically endangered primate endemic to the Cuc Phuong -  Pu Luong limestone range. Protected by local people, the langurs cavort in the late afternoon as tourists watch.

CucPhuong National Park - NinhBinh

Pu Mat National Park

Located in Nghệ An province, Pù Mát national park is the flagship park on the northern massif of Trường Sơn mountains along the Vietnamese-Laos border.
Visitor taking highway 7 from coastal Vinh to Pù Mát meander west through pure, rustic beauty towards the border. The park haedquaters are near Con Cuông, a small “wild west” town perched on the banks of the huge and slumbering Cả river which is itself nestled amongst precipitous karst peaks.
Pù Mát’s true wilderness with spectacular features such as the Kẽm waterfall is accessible only to well-organised expeditions. However, the reachable buffer zone shares the park’s beauty. Park staff can direct visitors travelling on foot or by motorbike to ethnic Thái or Đan Lai villages and can even help arrange for stays in the villagers’ stilt houses in the luscious, forested river valleys. Here, visitors can experience the park’s extraordimary diversity, although they won’t glimpse the more magnificent wild animals, such as Asian elephants, tigers, sao la Asian black bears or yellow cheeked gibbons.

Pu Mat National Park

Those who stop to rest or swim in the shimmering rivers may catch a glimpse of rare, giant black squirrels jumping through the forest canopy and might hear the crested argus, a beautiful pheasant with one of the world’s longest sets of tail feathers. The buffer zone is the perfect place to see local people living together with the forest. Elderly Thái women search for gold, using stick to balance themselves in the rivers. Young men and women build large wooden waterwheels to irrigate their small fields. Local villagers will guide visitors through labyrinths of  karst caves during nighttime bat surveys. Many caves are over ten kilometers long. Surveys have shown that these caves may contain the greatest diversity of bat species in Vietnam.

Pu Mat - Nghe An