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Cat tien in March RFI (1 Viewer)

J

James Lowther

Well-known member
Hello all,
I’m visiting cat tien for 4 nights in late March with my wife (not a birder but a wildlife fan). We should be staying at hq. First day we’re doing the gibbon trek but will have plenty of opportunities for other birding hiking etc. I have some questions....

Transport

Any cheapish way to get to the park from hcmc that doesn’t involve motorbikes?

How about onwards travel to Dalat?

Birds

Is orange-necked partridge a realistic target or basically impossible?

I believe green peafowl can be seen early morning at crocodile lake but is there a way to see them elsewhere in the park that doesn’t require an overnight away from hq?

Crocodile lake seems a decent place for a birding/hiking day out. What’s the best strategy for such a day trip? Would be nice to at least try to see germain’s peacock pheasant and Siamese fireback

Logistics

Is it possible to arrange extra services (transport or guides) on the hoof as required with hq, or is it necessary to arrange in advance (hq staff seem to have a reputation for not being too helpful..)?

Finally, are the night drives worth doing? I’ve read stuff about going too fast?

Cheers

James
 
Hi James,
As far as I remember, motorbikes was the way to do the park, how else could you do it? We did it the opposite way to you and arrived from Dalat, the bus was perfectly fine.

We saw GP Pheasant on the main road at the park, two mornings running.

Get up very early and just walk the road, althought it's a while ago now.

You have to be lucky with any mammals in SE Asia, we saw Bs Douc Langur and just missed, by a few minutes, a herd of Gaur crossing the main road.

I can e-mail you our report and though it's now 15 years old, I think little will have changed?


A
 
Hi Andy
Thanks a lot.
I guess I was hoping normal taxis from the junction might be feasible. I don’t fancy the xe oms much and my wife fancies them even less....
James
 
James Lowther said:
Hi Andy
Thanks a lot.
I guess I was hoping normal taxis from the junction might be feasible. I don’t fancy the xe oms much and my wife fancies them even less....
James
Click to expand...

It really isn't so bad James!

I went on the back of a bike up a steep, running, stream bed for Philippine Eagle, that WAS an adventure!


A
 
Last edited:
Hi James,
from HCMC, there is a direct bus to the park from HCMC's eastern bus station (bến xe miền Đông), but I don't know the departure times (hotel staff HCMC may be able to help).
The other option is to take a bus to Dalat and get off at Tan Phu. There are frequent buses all day, Phuong Trang company departs from De Tham street in the city centre. From Tan Phu, you can take a taxi to the park (or xe om, it's 20 km on not overly busy roads).
Same thing onwards to Dalat. Park staff should be able to call you a taxi, and then in Tan Phu (or Madagui) you can take a bus to Dalat.

I'm not so sure about the Partridge. I think the best way is to get a good guide in the park for a day and aim specifically for the partridge.

Besides crocodile lake, the grasslands to the west of the HQ are also a place to see peafowls. You'd need to arrange transport or hire bikes to get there. I've seen peafowl at croc lake also in the afternoon.

For a croc lake day trip, you need to arrange a car to bring you to the trail head. If your's is the first car in the morning, you have good chances to see Firebacks on the road. Otherwise you may also see them and the Peackock-Pheasant from the trail to the lake (the latter I've also seen near the HQ and on the heavens' rapids trail). The trail is about 5km, so plenty of time to bird, have lunch at the lake, and afternoon back to the road to be picked up.
You can also hire bikes instead taking the car, and then bike the 10-15 km to the trail.

My experience with the park staff is not too bad. Of course it's a government run facility, so don't expect top notch service, but I never had problems. All can be arranged on the spot, e.g. a day before. If you want a good bird guide, it might be worth to call ahead though, the good ones may be booked out.

Have fun!
Florian
 
Last edited:
Thanks so much Florian,
Just a couple of extra questions;
Do you need a guide for the hike to crocodile lake from the trailhead?
And have you tried the night drives?
James
 
Not sure if 17 year old gen is useful!, but we wangled a night drive in Cat Tien with some friendly WWF people. While we didn't see anything mega, I do recall seeing a surprisingly high number of small mammals (civets, porcupines etc). This was just driving slowly along the main track without any park rangers etc, so probably bears little resemblance to whatever is run by the park these days.

I also recall that the trail to Crocodile Lake was one of the leechiest places I've ever encountered, so go prepared...
 
I think you are supposed to take a guide to the crocodile lake now, but last time I was (about 2 yrs ago) I could go without. Up to discussion I guess. An alternative is of course to do a walk and some spotlighting yourself... The grasslands with large mammals are too far, but smaller mammels can be found near the HQ as well...
I've tried the night drive once, not spectacular but ok, it's just 1-2 h, so why not if you're not too tired.
Leeches should not be too bad in March, when it's rather dry.
 
For some mysterious reason, leeches (like malaria) have not been a major problem in Nam Cat Tien in recent years, not at all like they were 10-20 years ago. I go there in January or February every year and don't notice them any more (though standing still on leaf litter for a long time is still unwise). Having said that, it has been a very wet "dry season" in VietNam this year - I'll be there next week (February 6th) so I'll let you know if I'm wrong. I have no idea why things have changed so much.

I usually cycle to the grasslands mentioned by Florian in the late afternoon (after 4PM) and nearly always see Peafowl.
As Florian says, a fast moving jeep is usually the best way to see Siamese Fireback because they like to feed along the main trail but walk slowly into the forest when they hear people coming on foot (or even by bike) - they don't seem to mind the jeeps.

Some of the guides appear to have set up a photographic hide and they put out food for pittas and pheasants, so people can get stunning photos ( a bit like in a zoo, without bars). This practice seems to be very popular with Vietnamese bird guides at the moment, not only at Nam Cat Tien.
 
I think the leechiness is really weather dependent. If soil is dry, not many leeches even in Cat Tien. But even in very dry periods, some moist spots in the forst can be very leechy. Same of course in rainy season, or after some rains in the dry season. Same in the mountains, e.g. Dalat or Tam Dao, also if its cold leeches are slower. But at any time, there is always one or two that are getting me. :C
 
dalat said:
I think the leechiness is really weather dependent. If soil is dry, not many leeches even in Cat Tien. But even in very dry periods, some moist spots in the forst can be very leechy. Same of course in rainy season, or after some rains in the dry season. Same in the mountains, e.g. Dalat or Tam Dao, also if its cold leeches are slower. But at any time, there is always one or two that are getting me. :C
Click to expand...

You're just too damned tasty Florien!

Of course yes, depends how wet it is, was quite dry when we were ate CT


A
 
Just back from NCT and can confirm that there are no leeches. Even "off-piste" and ankle-deep in leaf litter, I could sit down without attracting a single leech. Of course, if there is a rain storm and the ground gets wet, they will re-appear. As people have said in this thread, there used to be always leeches on all the main footpaths through the forest, even when it hadn't rained for a long time. I won't prolong the debate by suggesting reasons for this.
 
dalat said:
I can do this ;)

- Dry seasons have become drier?
- Large mammels have become less?
Click to expand...

Very likely, the past couple of extreme dry years (2015-2016) have taken it's toll on birds throughout Southeast Asia, so in turn no doubt on everything else too.

However, go in the wet season (Have not really encountered many between January to March), and I can confirm, even in the most recent of years, Cat Tien (and the bordering east Cambodian forests) can still be one of the best (worst?) places to encounter leeches in Southeast Asia!
 
Last March, we paid the local private guide US$20 per person to use his private spot with hide to get the GP Pheasant and Blue Rumped Pitta.

Most birding activities are confined to the 500m each way of the road from HQ. Got our Peafowl just before dusk about 2 km from HQ toward the grassland.

Truck hire can be arranged at the HQ, otherwise can hire bicycle at the HQ. No motorbike on hire anymore, nor allowed to take across by ferry if you are staying just outside the park. No problem with Park staffs though they can do the least expected things. They make good any poor arrangement ASAP.

Guesthouse operators just across the river can be very helpful if staying outside the Park. Cheaper to stay outside and just cross the ferry daily from 6:15 am to 7pm. They can even arrange private car from HCMC to NCT.

No problem with leech for us.

On another note, was shocked to see what had happened to Ta Nung Valley at Dalat. Hoa Son Dien Trang resort had sprung up. Will be heading to Dalat (only) next week for 10 days.

Vincent
 
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