Birding at Dalat on a budget (1 Viewer)

dalat · Feb 6, 2017

Currency is Vietnamese dong. Dollars are also often accepted. Plenty of ATMs in towns for getting VND.

Ho Chi Minh City is not especially great for birding, you may get some birds in the zoo or road-side trees, but nothing you won't get in Cat Tien or elsewhere.

With a free day in HCMC, I'd do a day trip to Can Gio to look for waders and other water birds, including (possibly) Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Normann's Greenshank. Unfortunately I've never been there, so can't give detailed advice. The HCMC based birding companies can certainly arrange a day trip (http://www.vietnambirding.com/ or http://www.vietnamwildtour.com).

glennmanc · Feb 7, 2017

You can change UK banknotes in any bank in HCM.

The Zoo at the bottom of Le Duan street has birds high in the trees and Painted Storks that are free-flying. Taxis are very cheap in HCM and you can get larger ones that take 6 people easily for the same price (ask your hotel to call for one, since only small cars seem to roam the streets). You need to be there at 7AM when it opens.

For Can Gio, there is now only one ferry at Nha Be; the rest are replaced by bridges. You can find common mangrove birds that you may not see elsewhere, like Gerygone, Collared KF, Ashy T-bird, plus White-faced Plover and other waders, but it's an all-day trip (2h there, 2h back) and you need a GOOD guide to have any chance of rare birds (vietnambirding or wildtours: 100+ US$ per person for the day-trip, all inclusive)

A closer spot that is rapidly disappearing to urban development is Thu Thiem, where you can also see these common wetland birds, plus warblers, prinias, weavers and black-headed munia, and is OK later in the morning. You take a taxi under the river tunnel to Thu Thiem and stop just after the toll-gates almost immediately after the tunnel (may be harder getting a taxi back?). The green areas on the attached map are the remaining wetlands, which you can access as best you can (varies all the time, but can be viewed from the road) on both sides of the road. Although the main road is very busy, it does have very wide pavements, so the traffic is not as distracting as it might be. However, no chance at all of seeing rare waders.

cendrawasih · Feb 11, 2017

Hello Alphan. When will you go to Da Lat? Me and my friends are here for the next 5 days. Hope we can meet and find bird together.

Tomorrow I will go to to Ta Nung Valley and see if its possible to access or not.

alphan · Feb 22, 2017

Thanks very much Florian and Glennmanc, will see how best with the last day after our arrival in Vietnam.

Cendrawasih, we are only arriving Vietnam on 28th February, heading to Cat Tien, then Di Linh, before arriving in Dalat on 4th March. Do update us on Ta Nung Valley. We had planned a days there including Lang Bian. If no access, then we'll just go to the market place for a stroll to meet nice peoples.

Vincent

cendrawasih · Mar 2, 2017

Hello Alphan

Ta Nung Valley is still accessable as I wrote in otjer post. However, things isnt as straightforward as it used to be. I said (in body language) that I would pay if he let me in. He called somebody (land owner?) and gave it to me. The land owner told me that I need to pay 100.000 dongs per person to get in, so I gave the money and the caretaker let me in anyway.

At the end I thought it wss worth for the money. We saw White-necked Laughingthrush, Grey-bellied Tesia, Parrotbill, Indochinese Green Magpie, Forktail, Grey-crowned Tesia and many more. Most of the birds were seen at the dry sandy riverbed on the nothern side (hop to the stones on the stream and you will find it. Wait for the flocks here).

I hope you enjoy your trip at Da Lat!

alphan · Mar 5, 2017

Thanks so much Cendrawasih for the latest news on Ta Nung Valley. I asked local Park guides, freelance guides , local taxi drivers and all thêir reply are negative. I shall try my luck on Tuesday.

alphan · Apr 19, 2017

Yes, Ta Nung is still accessible but new owner wants happy money of VND100,000 per head. The resort have resumed building but at a slow pace. They are getting a few columns ready for building.

Wasted a lot of time lookingfor the trails as per Hendrick's map but to no avail. Even engage the owner's nephew to show us the trails but nothing. Only found the trail leading uphill along the stream from the dam. Finally found the trail near the stream going along the down stream. Still didn't find the upper trail with a gate. By then, it's already past the golden hour. Manage to get the owner's permission to return the next day without charge.

Second day we saw Black Hooded Laughingthrush, Vietnamese Greenfinch, Indochinese Green Magpie, Annam Barbet on the ground, Parrotfinch, etc.

Only a small patch will be affected by the resort building. See attached picture in following post as I cannot extract picture from my phone.

alphan · Apr 19, 2017

Two pictures. One for the site where they are going to site a building. The trail got covered by this recently leveled ground. Go to the edge at the middle of picture, climb down the edge of about 8 feet, look around and you should see part of the trail. The other picture show the location of the site at the sharp bend of the road to the dam.

alphan · Apr 19, 2017

The pine trees they are preparing as building column and the semi completed entrance to the site.

alphan · Apr 21, 2017

One note on Tuyen Lam Lake. The old site is a fair distance from car park.The newer site known as Soui Tia locally, one can get off road on a good condition dirt road a further 300m. Then it's another 100m or so to reach broadleaved forest. Mostly level or gentle sloped trails. The 300m from main road on the dirt road yielded Crossbill, Red Vented Barbet, Vietnamese Cutia, maroon oriole, chestnut vented nuthatch nesting, etc.

Datanla waterfall can be fruitfull, just around the car park. We had lunch there and got Mrs Gould's Sunbird, White cheeked laughingthrush, annam barbet, grey bushchat, blue laughingthrush, vietnamese shrike, tit etc, all in super close range. Vietnamese Cutia heard nearby but on the other side of the fence. ( ticket paying side).

alphan · May 8, 2017

Another note. Those wishing to hire a MPV, we got a Hyundai Starex in relatively new condition, including a very friendly and responsible driver owner, who charges us USD60/day for further birding site and USD40/day for closer sites including Ta Nung Valley, Tuyen Lam Lake, Langbian etc, and USD20 to drop us off at the airport early in the morning. We leave hotel as early as 5:00 am (for Bidoup N P) and the usual day at 5:30 am returning at almost 7:00 pm.

You can find him on FB as Van Bo Nguyen. He seems to know all the right people including the new owner of Ta Nung Valley, the park officers for Bidoup, allowing us to enter before sunrises and place to do birding.

We stayed at Thien Kim Guesthouse at a very good price. USD10 - 15 depending on the size of room. Owner even get up at 4:30 to prepare hot coffee so that we can leave warm, have a thermos filled with hot water and cups for us to bring along, change money for us, contacting the various places for updates etc.

We may not have gotten most of the endemics in Dalat, but our experience there are almost out of this world. We shall return for an even more leisurely birding.

And last of all, my utmost thanks to all who have chipped in here and there. All you lovely people, lovely birders.

dalat · May 9, 2017

alphan said:
All you lovely people, lovely birders.

Thanks :king: Glad you had a good time, and thanks for your up-dates!

edwincts · Mar 5, 2018

Hi I read this old thread and wondering how i can plan a trip for birding to Dalat on my own. Is it easy to book a local bird guide when I am in Dalat? I am thinking of staying a few days there and booking an affordable guide with transport. Would appreciate some info. I am not very good at looking for birds on my own.

alphan · Mar 5, 2018

There is a Park officer at Bidoup Nui Ba NP who do freelance bird guiding but I do find his knowledge of birds rather limiting. A better guide can be hired from Cat Town NP who also freelance bird guiding but you have to bring him up from Cat Town and take care of all his expenses. Other guides would have to be brought up from Saigon.

lewis20126 · Mar 5, 2018

alphan said:
Y the ground, Parrotfinch,

Hi, useful information - whereabouts were the parrotfinches? I'm off to Vietnam soon and had not realised these were at all likely.

thanks
alan

dalat · Mar 6, 2018

£They occur in the central highlands and the south, but I don't think they are likely. I saw a single bird in Ta Nung valley in several years living in Dalat. I think Parrotfinches are nomadic and move around based on bamboo blooming or so, so difficult to target them during a trip.

Andy Adcock · Mar 6, 2018

dalat said:
£They occur in the central highlands and the south, but I don't think they are likely. I saw a single bird in Ta Nung valley in several years living in Dalat. I think Parrotfinches are nomadic and move around based on bamboo blooming or so, so difficult to target them during a trip.

Precisely so,
I think I'm also right in saying that once Bamboo flowers, it then dies?

A

edwincts · Mar 12, 2018

alphan said:
There is a Park officer at Bidoup Nui Ba NP who do freelance bird guiding but I do find his knowledge of birds rather limiting. A better guide can be hired from Cat Town NP who also freelance bird guiding but you have to bring him up from Cat Town and take care of all his expenses. Other guides would have to be brought up from Saigon.

Thanks!

alphan · Mar 13, 2018

lewis20126 said:
Hi, useful information - whereabouts were the parrotfinches? I'm off to Vietnam soon and had not realised these were at all likely.

thanks
alan

Refer to my earlier picture of the leveled patch where the trail now commence. This area is now the camping ground with a concrete stage on the slope up side. The parrotfinch was seen near where the current stage locate, where there use to have lots of grass and shrubs over hanging from the upper level.

My trip there last week yield quite a healthy bird activities. The Grey Crowned Crocias were seen around the trees at the same ground having flown up from the lower valley.

Most tourist activities are confined to the damed area of the lake where they introduced Rock Pigeon and Ducks. Entrance fees are 30k dong per head with 5k dong for scooter parking, I think it will remain a prime birding spot in Dalat. We entered at 6:00 am and pay on our way out. As usual, on a hot day, most bird activities quiet down by 9:00 am.

alphan · Mar 13, 2018

Being hotter and wet this trip compared to last year, less birds were seen this trip. Birding at Tuyen Lam lake on the Da Tien trails yields poor count and a lot of time spend getting onto the trails, having building construction at the beginning of trails leading to many blockages.

However, barely 200m across the lake, at Suoi Tia, they have improved the road to accommodate any car. Birding along the 500m road from the main new road to the Suoi Tia recreation area yield a good numbers as just 10-20 m both sides along the road are broad leaved forest.

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