A Year In Indochina: Adventures in Cat Tien national park

Jessica, Crystal and I began our weekend with an early start on Saturday morning, ready for a 7.30am pick-up for the Cat Tien national park in the central highlands. Jessica had booked a two-day tour for us with an eco-resort called Forest Floor Lodge, where we would be staying in 'luxury tents' at the edge of the jungle and doing activities during the daytime. Seven-thirty came and went and Jessica became irritable; calling up the company, it transpired that she had booked the stay for the wrong weekend! Luckily, they were still able to collect us for the tour at this short notice as it is low season at the moment and they weren't busy. A jeep arrived for us a few hours later and we were at the national park by the early afternoon. We checked in and were shown to our accommodation. The tents were simple but stylish and set besides a roaring river rapid.

We had lunch and at 3pm set off on a 30km bike ride to a nearby village with our guide for the weekend, Mr. Hai, a friendly guy who spent much of his time with his head in the treetops looking for wildlife, and became more excited than any of us if anything was spotted. The later start than had been scheduled afforded us a more pleasant temperature and I enjoyed the ride along the long, straight dirt path through farmland and open countryside. We arrived in a village occupied by two minority groups, forcibly relocated to here from the jungles by the Vietnamese government in 1992. We passed a Catholic church, so full that women squatted on the doorstep outside to listen to the very animated-sounding preacher within. As we passed through the village children waved and yelled 'Allo! Allo!'.

Mr. Hai took us to see the local cultural centre, to a traditional-style long house built as accommodation for tourists, and to a newly-built suspension bridge over the river. Finally, we were invited to the beautiful old-fashioned teak house of a local family for fresh fruit and hot tea. At this point Jessica became agitated about setting off again before the sun set but Mr. Hai assured us we would have time and encouraged us to rest a little longer. As we set off for the long journey home, Crystal became tired and fell behind, accompanied by Mr. Hai and the other guide who was with us. The setting sun cast beautiful pink glows over the fields, where wild boars lumbered around, but brought a touch of concern for us about getting back on time. Jessica and I, leading the way, decided to push ahead in case we needed to send a motorbike or truck to pick up the others once we returned to the hotel. Neither of us had seen Crystal for a long time and the road through woods and countryside was completely unlit; neither did we have any lights on the bikes.

Crossing the suspension bridge

A traditional-style longhouse housing up to thirty people

A curious display of trinkets in the teak house

The sun sets lower...

And lower...

And darkness begins to fall

Darkness fell on the last few kilometres back. Luckily the sky was clear and illuminated the road a little; besides this we could see nothing and I began to feel very concerned about our lost friend.The night was noisy with crickets and occasionally a bat would swoop overhead. In the darkness it seemed to take forever to reach the comforting lights of the hotel- when we finally did so we asked a member of staff to call our guide. We were very relieved to hear that, contrary to our expectations, they were not far behind us and indeed showed up not long after we did.

The next morning Crystal and I set off again with Mr. Hai for a mornings activity. In her second 'senior moment' of the weekend, Jessica had failed to bring any appropriate footwear for walking and so decided to sit this one out. We embarked on a 10km round walk to 'Crocodile Lake', a nice, easy route through the jungle to reach a beautiful lake inhabited by crocs. There was a house here for passing hikers and an elevated building from where we could observe the lake peacefully. We were given tea and a locally-made cake. Plus, we were able to spot the form of a crocodile in the water, albeit from a distance. On the way back we had a real surprise in the form of a long black snake lying in the leaves on the edge of the path. "King Cobra, King Cobra!" Mr. Hai shouted excitedly as the snake thrashed noisily away, giving me a good fright. The King Cobra is incredibly venomous and it is rare to spot them, we were told.

We rejoined Jessica at the lodge for a last lunch before our return to the city. It was a lovely weekend and I appreciated the chance to enjoy nature and to do some good exercise. It was a long four hours back to Ho Chi Minh City.