Vacation in Vietnam--Cuc Phuong National Park (11-3)

Sunday morning we were ready to head out on our three-day tour/trek in Cuc Phuong National Park. We were really looking forward to this part of our vacation—being out in nature and walking and staying in a village. We packed our things for the journey in our daypacks and left the rest at the guesthouse. After breakfast we took a short walk down the street and enjoyed meeting people who were starting their day. When we returned, our driver had arrived and off we went. Nam, the guesthouse owner’s son, was our tour guide. It took a little over an hour to arrive at the park.

Our first activity was an 8 km circuit trail through the forest to see the Ancient Tree, also known as the 1000-year-old tree. Nam explained that they don’t know its exact age; so they call it either of those names. 

The forest was lush and had a number of strangler figs. I kept thinking about the rain forest in Costa Rica, which is where I first encountered strangler figs.

The trail went uphill and then down; so walking the loop took us three hours. 

In the afternoon, we took the shorter walk to the Cave of Prehistoric Man. This was on higher ground, and we had to walk up a lot of stone steps to get there. 

There are several small shrines set up in the cave.

Next we went to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. Nam could not go with us, as a local guide who knows about the animals is required by the park. The center is a home for langurs, gibbons, macaques,  and several other kinds of monkeys. All except the gibbons had extremely long tails. 

We saw several varieties in the cages. They are  apparently quite successful in breeding the animal, as we saw several babies. The second stage is a large open area—open captivity—where the animals are free/uncaged. Inside the fence is a ditch several feet wide so they cannot reach the fence, which is electrified, and get out. The guide said that animals can sometimes be seen near the path in the morning. Monkeys are rarely seen outside the center. Nam said he has been to the park about a thousand times and has only seen a monkey three times. After animals are used to being on their own, they are released into a national park far from this one. We wondered if it is the babies that are set up for the release program, but we didn’t think to ask about this until our guide had left.

We stayed in a bungalow at the hotel outside the headquarters. We had been told that we would stay in a cabin on the lake, but they were full. Nam cooked dinner for us. He learned to cook from his mother, and he learned very well. The hotel worked out well, as we had not taken books with us, thinking we wouldn’t have electricity in the night. The room had a TV; so I watched the educational station while Jackie slept. This is where I saw the program about the water puppets. Although it wasn’t in English, I could understand from the pictures. The hotel was also a lovely place to wake up in the morning and walk around the beautiful gardens.