Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam 1

Our holiday for this summer was in Ho Chi Minh City and a national park called Cat Tien in Vietnam.

Cat Tien is about 150km northeast of HCMC, around a 3 hour drive from the centre of HCMC. (the drive itself was very much an adventure, although a driver drove us there.)

The entrance is like this:

Anyone who'd like to get in the park has to take this little boat to the other side.


As you can see, it is a tropical lowland forest and the weather is very hot and humid.

We spent in the national park 2 nights with our excellent guide, Mr Trong, and thanks to him, even though the mid September is not the best time of year for birding (in the middle of the monsoon season!), we managed to see/hear nearly 100 species of birds in a whole day and 2 half day sessions.

bird calls heard in Cat Tien

Dark-necked Tailorbird（ノドグロサイホウチョウ)
a tiny bird but very loud:)

Black-hooded Oriole（ズグロコウライウグイス）

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater（チャガシラハチクイ)

Blue-winged Leafbird（アオバネコノハドリ）
male

 female

The birds in rainforests are are colourful and make all sorts of tunes and melodies but it's not ideal for photo-taking! Many of them forage high in the trees and move quickly in thick foliage! argh!