Monkey Business in Cat Tien.

The Cat Tien National Park lies around one hundred miles to the north of Saigon on the road from Dalat. The road from there to the park was an excellent, scenic one (a frequent description, I know) and the journey free of trouble, though the greater volume of traffic closer to Saigon meant that caution had to be exercised.

There's not much to say about the park itself without falling into inane descriptions of what I did: it's far better seen rather than described! It's lush, green and, in pleasant weather, an excellent place to unwind for a few days. The government-run hotel inside the park is a little expensive, but I consoled myself with the (perhaps incorrect) thought that the proceeds were going towards the upkeep of the park.

There's apparently plenty of wildlife around, but I didn't see much of it due to only spending two nights there. A night safari yielded a couple of deer and a porcupine (a massive diesel engine and full beam lights don't help, I suppose), while treks into the park enabled sightings of langurs, yellow-cheeked gibbons, squirrels and pheasants. The crocodiles of Crocodile Lake are allegedly only generally seen at night, so the trek over there wasn't what I had hoped for, though being active after weeks on Kim Jong-Il was very welcome!

The highlight was, of course, seeing the gibbons. The park runs a guided gibbon trek in the morning, which involves a 05:30 start in order to catch the apes. Gaiters are provided to prevent leeches and the park also sells repellent to be smeared on one's shoes (I didn't see a leech while there but others had...). 

The guide told us that the gibbons wake early, eat for a few hours and then sleep for the remainder of the day. Going into the jungle as the sun rose, the gibbons began singing, which led us to them. This involves going very far from the path through vegetation but it is completely worth it: we were greeted by the sight of a couple swinging from the branches between bouts of leaf-eating. The female was by far the more conspicuous, being gold, while the male was a little harder due to his black colour.

The park is also home to a monkey rehabilitation centre. Around Vietnam one can see animals kept in captivity and this is often illegal, for a licence is required to keep animals other than the usual pets or livestock. The centre saves primates from captivity and rehabilitates them ahead of their release back into the wild. Many of the apes in Cat Tien have been saved, though they are endemic as well. Non-native apes are sent to their respective habitats when they have been sufficiently treated. The depressing thing, according to the guide, is that poachers continue to come to Cat Tien in order to catch fresh victims, even setting snares on the island where the centre is located. The guide also told us that illicit possession of animals often goes unpunished, since money wipes clean the memory of the authorities.

A 120ft tree.