Cat Tien National Park, is a famous destination for eco-tourism in Vietnam.
Where is Cat Tien National Park?
Place at 150m-250m above sea level, the center of Cat Tien National Park is local in Tan Phu district, Dong Nai province, but this is the largest national park with an area of more than 70,000 hectares, spanning 3 provinces in the south of Vietnam (Cochinchinese).
Cat Tien National Park is a great place to explore and experience the humid rainforest. With diverse flora and fauna, especially birds, animals, and reptiles …. This is the place that supports a variety of:
- Primary and secondary lowland evergreen forest.
- Freshwater wetlands with open lakes and seasonally inundated grasslands
- Dipterocarp forests lose their leaves in the dry season.
How to go to Cat Tien National Park?
Cat Tien National Park is 160km from Ho Chi Minh City and it takes 4 hours to travel by private car.
Alternatively, the NP can be reached by bus, a cheaper but more time-consuming option. It will take you 6 hours to travel by bus from the eastern bus station (Benxe MienDong) in Ho Chi Minh City.
From Da Lat city, we can go to Cat Tien National Park by bus to Tan Phu town, then travel another 30km by motorbike grab or taxi to reach Cat Tien National Park.
Birds in Cat Tien National Park?
The hotspot for birding and birds photography tours in Vietnam, with a list of highlight birds: Bar-bellied Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Germain’s peacock pheasant, Siamese fireback, Banded Broadbill, Black and Red Broadbill, Orange-breasted Trogon, Green-legged Partridge, Orange-necked Partridge, Pale-headed Woodpecker, …
More with some nice birds we can meet on the trails: Scarlet minivet, Banded kingfisher, Square-taied Drongo-cuckoo, Thick-billed Green-pigeon, Common Flameback, Lesser yellow-naped, Laced Woodpeckers, Great-slaty woodpecker, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Van Hasselt’s Sunbirds, Ruby-checked Sunbird, Crimson Sunbird, Green peafowl,…
We can see on the trails understory of humidity forest: Indochinese cuckoo shrike, Large wood shrike, Violet Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Black-headed bulbul, Black-crested bulbul, Greater Coucal, Black Drongo, Greater racket-tailed Drongo, Bronze Drongo, Blue-winged leafbird, Chestnut-fronted leafbird, Common tailorbird, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Ashy Tailorbird, Pale-legged Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Grey-faced Tit-babbler, Pin-striped Tit-babbler…
Some water-birds in Crocodile lake: Woolly-necked Stork, Lesser Adjutant, Little Egret, Castle Egret, Herons, Purple Swamphen, White-breasted Waterhen, Slaty-legged Crake, Red-legged Crake,…
Raptor and Accipiter: Crested Goshawk, Shikra, Besra, Oriental honey buzzard, Black kite, Black-winged Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Osprey, Lesser fish-eagle.
Owls: Barn owl, Brow boobook, Asian barred Owlet, Collared Scop-owl, Spot-bellied Eagle Owl.
Bird-hide for bird photography in Cat Tien National Park is available for rent?
Birds and wildlife in Vietnam are not human-friendly, due to overhunting, which has been going on for decades.
Therefore, different in many neighboring countries, want to take pictures and have many beautiful photos of birds in Vietnam. You can only use bird hides.
Currently, in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnambirds are licensed to build 2 bird hides for important and hard-to-reach birds. They are attractive birds and specialties here: Bar-bellied Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Germain’s peacock pheasant, Siamese Fireback, Partridge, babblers, flycatchers, bulbuls…
You are always welcome to take pictures of birds in Cat Tien National Park. In addition to the birds you can observe while walking along the trails, you can get a lot of great photos from our bird hides.
Schedule and cost of renting bird-hide you can contact via email or phone number +84982928482 as well as Whatsapp.
How is the wildlife in Cat Tien National Park?
Cat Tien is one of the most important sites in Vietnam for the conservation of large mammals. Among the large mammal species that have been confirmed to occur at the national park are Gaur, Sambar deer, Asian Elephant, Red-muntjak, Lesser mousedeer …
In addition, due to the strict protection of natural forests, small carnivores (Civets, cats, squirrels, lorises, etc.) can also exist in Cat Tien.
Cat Tien National Park is also a nationally important site for primates conservation, including Black-shanked Douc langur, Annam Silver Langur, Northern Pig-tailed macaque, Long-tailed macaque, and Yellow-cheeked Gibbon.
Snakes: Ruby-eyed Green Viper, Malayan Pit-viper, Malayan Banded Krait, King Cobra, Indochinese Spitting Cobra, Vine Snake, Kuri Snakes… When arriving at the lake, some waterbirds can be seen around these lakes, as well as Siamese Crocodiles.
More with reptiles: Calotes Bacchae, Cyrtodactylus cattienensis, Draco indochinensis, Eutropis macularia, Gekko gecko, Sphenomorphus maculatus, Takydromus sexlineatus, Varanus Salvator …
Trails in Cat Tien National Park?
Cat Tien National Park is one of the most famous eco-tourism places in Vietnam. There are many tourist routes here spread throughout this National Park, most local visitors will prefer to take the form of a pick-up or bike ride to the highlights and take pictures to check-in.
If you are a wild nature enthusiast in Cat Tien, you should choose another solution: using the trails under the canopy of primary forest in areas near the center of the National Park instead of riding on pick-up trucks that only go on the main road.
The trails are usually easy to go, the terrain here is flat and without slopes, and there are no large streams to wade through. However, you must have a local guide with you if you don’t want to get lost.
Rescue center in Cat Tien National Park?
There are 3 wildlife rescue centers in Cat Tien National Park: a bear rescue center, a primate rescue center located on a small island in the middle of the Dong Nai River (fairy island), and a rescue center for mixed-use households located in the center of the national park.
Visitors can easily visit the primate Rescue Center or Mixed rescue center by purchasing a tourist ticket at the visitor center, located in the center of the park.
How to discover wildlife at night in Cat Tien National Park?
You cannot go on your own to discover the diversity of animals in Cat Tien National Park. This is illegal, the law in Vietnam prohibits the act of entering protected areas after 6:00 pm without permission.
Mass tourism in Cat Tien National Park offers a very boring “nocturnal animal viewing” service in a way that allows visitors to sit in cars with rear seats to be able to see a few species of herbivores. This ride is not cheap for 40 minutes, and you will be disappointed in its results.
Vietnambirds is currently a wildlife tourism company that is allowed to carry out the type of tour that takes visitors to discover wildlife at night in Cat Tien National Park. We have local guides to get you into the forest after 6:00 pm with the protection of the rangers. On the trails and streams in the National Park, you will be guided to find and take photos of the wonderful snakes, reptiles, and insects… in this National Park.
Should you choose a hotel inside the national park or outside?
In the rainy season, the humidity in the Cat Tien area is very high, and the air is always stuffy, which will make you feel hot and uncomfortable. Therefore, you should choose to stay in hotels outside the National Park. Vietnambirds will advise you where the accommodation is near and has good conditions such as clean rooms, beautiful views and a restaurant serving delicious food.
During the dry season, which usually lasts from November to April, when you can choose to stay inside the NP, although the rooms are old, you have the advantage of not having to take a boat across the river to enter the NP every day (you will have to buy tickets to re-enter the park).
If you like to explore nature at night, you should choose to stay inside the NP because, after 9:00 pm, the river transport service will not work, you have to stay inside the NP.
Exploring the S’tieng ethnic group and ethnic traditions?
Today, the indigenous minorities have almost assimilated, they no longer dress and live to their traditions.
Many tourists visit Cat Tien with the eager hope to discover new things from the ethnic minority culture here (the Stieng people), but the results will not be as expected.
Community-based tourism associated with the interests of ethnic minorities has not been paid attention to in Cat Tien. You will not be able to witness traditional dances, community activities with festivals, and traditional musical instruments (gongs) of the Stieng people.
Tips to remember when birding in Cat Tien National Park?
Leeches are a common residence in Cat Tien National park, so you should prepare some restricted medicine (sprays, creams…). Our services will provide you the spray to restrict leeches, mosquitoes…
The Climate in Cat Tien in the dry season (December to April) is very hot, humid, and uncomfortable. So, you must prepare to conform clothes and wide-brimmed hats.
You are not allowed to enter the forest after 6:00 pm. So with spotlighting, we will contact the rangers to arrange your tour. That payment is included in your tour cost.Some people choose the bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Cat Tien NP, but that way is not easy for a foreigner, the public bus in Vietnam is noisy and dirty, the bus does not stop at the prescribed place but drops around along the way…
The cost in Cat Tien is quite expensive, especially the meal services inside the National Park.
If you are passionate about exploring wildlife, do not choose to sit in a car with seats placed in the back on “night watching” tours.
Checklist of Birds in Cat Tien : Downdload
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