Vietnam 2025 Travel Report

This in-depth travel report covers the 17th episode of wildlife travel by Henriette and Ferdy.

This year’s adventure concerns a 3 week birding roundtrip through Vietnam where we also target some rare endemic primates as a side quest.

Our reason to pick Vietnam is that we’ve not done much birding in Asia so far. We visited Papua, Indonesia in 2023, but technically it is part of the Australian continent. We previously visited Malaysia and Sri Lanka but without an emphasis on serious birding.

Trip approach

We hired the aptly named VietnamBirds company to facilitate our trip.

Trip program

The itinerary is set up to cover a lot of ground in a single trip. This means we visit a lot of different locations where we spent 1–2 nights each and then move on. The general direction is from South to North.

With this out of the way, it’s time to go to the day-by-day of our adventure.

May 10

The day before our departure. We had a BBQ with our nephew Ramon who once again agreed to live in our home during our trip to take care of our cat Shiva.

For JungleDragon, Christine Young and Jivko Nakev were willing to take over administration and moderation whilst we were away.

May 11

The day of our departure.

We left our home at 10:30AM to drive to Schiphol long term parking. From there we took the shuttle bus to Schiphol airport where we faced a very slow check-in. We did make it quickly through security and customs and had plenty of time left for lunch and shopping.

At 4:15PM we departed on the Qatar airways flight where we had exit seats for extra leg space. The flight was only about 60% filled and took roughly 7 hours. We landed in Doha, Qatar at 11:15PM local time.

May 12

At Doha we waited for our 2nd flight, a 7.5 hour cruise to Saigon, which is nowadays called Ho Chi Minh City. We departed at 2:30AM local time and landed at 2:15PM local time. Finally we were in Vietnam!

We quickly made it through customs and soon found the hotel taxi we had booked. It only took 5 minutes to drive us through chaotic traffic to reach our hotel for the rest of the day, the IBIS airport hotel.

The room was large and luxurious. It’s worth mentioning that from a Western perspective, Vietnam is incredibly affordable. A $10 room upgrade puts you into a presidential suite.

We used the rest of the day to relax and recover because the trip’s program would only start the next day.

May 13

We found ourselves in the hotel lobby as early as 4:15AM where we met Andy Nguyen. Andy will be our guide in the first and third week of the trip, whilst Le Duy takes care of the 2nd week. We also met our driver, Mr. Yen.

We hopped into a large Ford Transit van and hit the road. After a while Andy bought us breakfast from a street vendor, a foot-long baguette. He warned that it may contain some very hot peppers, which we did discover.

We then had a long wait to get on to a ferry to cross the Lòng Tàu River. After crossing it, we had a coffee stop. Much to my delight, Vietnam is a coffee paradise. There’s small coffee vendors and shops everywhere. Interestingly, coffee is typically served on the rocks: espresso with ice.

A first casual birding session was held at the back of a shrimp farm, where we saw the Malaysian Pied-fantail, Yellow-bellied Prinia, and Collared Kingfisher.

We then continued with a longer session of roadside birding where using the car we stop along meadows and patches of mangrove forest. Birds seen and photographed are the Dark-necked Tailorbird, Scaly-breasted Munia, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Ashy Tailorbird, Laced Woodpecker, Hume’s White-eye, Asian Tit, Striated Grassbird, Yellow Bittern, Asian Golden Weaver, Plain Prinia, and Great Myna.

We had some refreshing sugar cane juice followed by lunch at a seafood restaurant. At the restaurant, we saw a horseshoe crab for the first time:

Unfortunately, this one is likely to end up in somebody’s soup. If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to read up on these fascinating living fossils.

We continued with some birding around a saltern:

A saltern is a facility to extract salt from sea water by trapping the water and letting the sun vaporize it. It’s also highly efficient in vaporizing humans. It’s a torturous environment to do birding at the hottest time of day and there’s little opportunity to sneak up on birds.

We saw the White-faced Plover and Malaysian Plover. As well as a few other shore birds for which we need additional time to identify them.

After some more driving we found ourselves at Chiến Khu Rừng Sác, a large protected mangrove forest that acts as a wildlife sanctuary but is also of (former) military significance.

At the reserve you can readily see the Long-tailed Macaque and the less common Northern Pig-tailed Macaque.

As for birds, we saw the Collared Kingfisher (again), and the Javan Pond-Heron. We put a lot of work into photographing a very erratic target bird, the Mangrove Whistler:

At the end of the park’s main path we saw replica soldiers and weaponry placed in the forest to educate visitors about the historical military relevancy of this site. During the Vietnamese war, North Vietnamese soldiers used this mangrove forest in the South as a hidden base.

As we exited the park, Henriette and I both had very sore feet with several blisters. It was a mistake to use rubber boots in this park as the trail is hard and hot and our boots offer little dampening.

Andy noticed my disappointment when a mudskipper fled into the water as I was approaching it, so he made special effort to stop at some ponds on the side of the road to find a more willing individual.

A small personal victory as we’ve never photographed any mudskipper before.

As if this day wasn’t long enough already, we now had a whopping 6 hour drive ahead of us still. The original itinerary had an overnight stay nearby but the site suffered from severe water damage a month ago. Thus we skipped it and proceeded to the next location directly.

A lengthy drive took us back to the ferry where we crossed the river again in opposite direction. We had a beef ramen soup along the way. And then a lot more driving.

At 9:30PM we finally arrived at our accommodation in Cat Tien National Park. The room was somewhat small but featured air-conditioning, a godsend in this area.

We showered, unpacked and hit the bed at 10:30PM. It was a brutally long and eventful day.

May 14

A 5:45AM breakfast kickstarted our Cat Tien campaign which is our only long stay in our itinerary, spanning 4 nights.

From our accommodation it’s a short walk and then a 3 minute ferry crossing to get into the actual National Park. Reaching the other side we were immediately greeted with a stunning bird, the Black-and-red Broadbill:

We had sheer luck with our timing. This was the only month of the year where this bird is easy to see because it stays close to its nest which tend to be in the open.

We did some exploring on foot where we saw the Common Flameback, Great Iora, and Dark-necked Tailorbird (again).

We then used a transport vehicle. This park has wide asphalt roads that one can navigate by foot, bicycle, or a park vehicle. The vehicle brought us to one of Andy’s bird hides.

Before we get to the bird goodies, I feel obliged to write a section of appreciation for Andy’s bird conservation work. He maintains a network of bird hides throughout the country. The goal is to bring out shy and rare birds, hoping to educate the public about how precious these birds are.

The problem is that local culture runs counter to this. The way people “appreciate” rare and beautiful wildlife is to capture it and put it into a tiny cage. Andy cannot even put trust in locals he pays to maintain hides, as they will be loose-lipped and endanger the birds. People also commonly steal materials from his hides. Not even NP rangers can be trusted. Decades of conservation work by Andy and several NGOs has not changed attitudes. Andy’s work is lonely, an uphill battle that seems hopeless. Yet he marches on.

We exited the paved road and got deeper into the forest to reach the hide. Andy prepared it by strategically placing live worms.

Almost immediately, a White-rumped Shama appeared, followed by an Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, Puff-throated Babbler and Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. The upside of our lack of Asian birding history is that all these birds are new to us, even if locally common.

A true target bird would be the Blue-winged Pitta which appeared after a significant wait:

We then got to enjoy the subtle beauty of the Racket-tailed Treepie:

At a distance this bird can easily be mistaken for a drongo but a closeup in good light reveals blue eyes and a glossy blue-green tint.

The next appearance at this bird party was the Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush followed by a White-crested Laughingthrush:

Our past experience with hides is that we wait for hours to see a single rare bird which may not even show, hence we were thrilled with this series of beauties.

At the same time, we were getting a bit jumpy. We had been at the hide for 3 hours and the bird rush hour seemed over. We wanted to leave. Stretch our legs, escape the damp claustrophobic hide and rising temperature.

Andy did not allow us to leave though, nor does he care about our comfort. That is, the main act is still to start and you don’t leave a concert before the main act. The discomfort of an additional hour of staring into nothing dissipated as soon as we were eye to eye with the true star of the show:

This bird is vulnerable, near-endemic to Vietnam, and incredibly shy. Its beauty is only revealed when closely inspecting details, such as the iridescent sapphire spots:

Worth the wait! We stayed a little longer to photograph a Buff-breasted Babbler, a squirrel and two species of treeshrew and then exited the hide.

A staff update. Joining us in our sessions with Andy is Miss Nhu. She’s a birding guide in training. Our impression of her is great. A quick learner, calm, communicative and skilled. She’s going to make it.

Which cannot be said of Gen Z girl of which we never got the name. This young girl occasionally joins to get a taste of wildlife tourism and couldn’t be more inept at it even if she tried. Her attention span is shorter than a Tiktok video. Andy purposefully let her carry some gear sometimes to toughen her up but she seemed perpetually annoyed at anything requiring effort. As if some great conspiracy in the universe is out to get her. Some 10 minutes into a hike on an easy path, we saw her lay down on concrete road, phone glued to her face. She’s not going to make it.

We ended the session with a Black-hooded Oriole and then used the ferry to return to the accommodation. As I was undressing to cool down, I was in shock to discover I was bleeding. A leech was stuck to my chest and another one on my left knee. Surely the lengthy session in the hide allowed them to crawl into my clothes undetected. There’s no pain involved. They make tiny wounds that you do not feel at all, it’s part of their strategy.

We had lunch followed by an air-conditioned siesta. In the afternoon we returned to the park.

We saw a Bronzed Drongo, Dollarbird, Indochinese Roller, Greater Coucal, and Vinous-breasted Myna. We climbed a metal bird watching tower to see a herd of Sambar deer in the distance.

As light began to fade we ended the day on a high note:

A wild observation of a Black-shanked Douc! Doucs or douc langurs are a genus consisting of 3 species. The Red-shanked Douc is typically most sought after because of its vivid colors yet the Black-shanked Douc is harder to see and critically endangered. Admire its signature appearance of a blue face with yellow rings and a colorful package consisting of a blue scrotum with bright pink penis.

At around 5:30PM we had to hurry back as a major rain storm was forming. Over time we learned that this is a daily occurrence. The park has its own climate. It heats up all day long until late in the afternoon a shower cools it down again.

May 15

Day 2 at Cat Tien started with the familiar 5:45AM breakfast and ferry crossing. We proceeded with a birding session on foot.

We soon saw a super cute Asian Barred Owlet:

We picked up more birds along the way, including the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Streak-eared Bulbul, Blue-winged Leafbird, Striped-throated Bulbul, Scarlet Minivet, Indochinese Cuckooshrike and Green-billed Malkoha.

We then returned to the same hide as the day before. Oddly, despite conditions being pretty much identical, hardly any birds showed up. Which confirms that nothing is guaranteed and we were quite lucky before.

After some persistence, nature did throw us a bone.

The Scaly-breasted Partridge is a cryptic shy bird that is very hard to see without a hide.

After more fruitless waiting Andy suggested to try hide #2. A sensible strategy we said, despite not knowing there even is a second hide. The strategy worked to secure the target for the day, the stunning Bar-bellied Pitta:

We waited around to also see the female of this species, but it never showed.

We headed back to the cabin for lunch and a siesta. We returned to the park at 3:30PM, this time only with Miss Nhu as Andy had other obligations. She did a great job bringing out birds new to us such as the Oriental Magpie-Robin, Ashy Drongo, followed by the rarely photographed and atypical Black-and-buff Woodpecker:

We proceeded with another woodpecker, the Lesser Yellownape, and ended the session with a glorious highlight:

After dinner we returned to the park for a macro night tour. Night tours on foot are disallowed in this park but Andy has a clearance. The tour went OK. A little bit of everything but nothing out of the ordinary.

Believe it or not, this was the only macro session of the entire trip. Nor did we get to use our moth light trap anywhere. The reason being that our accommodations were typically in a city, not directly in nature. Furthermore, the birding program in itself was too busy to allow for it. Disappointing, as I love macro photography but at the same time I also felt some relief as combining birding with macro is incredibly taxing.

May 16

After the usual 5:45AM breakfast we found ourselves in very misty conditions. We first did some birding around the cabin where we saw the Common Iora and Zebra Dove.

We then crossed the river and went into the park where the mist slowly cleared up. New birds seen include the Gray-breasted Prinia, Blue-eared Barbet, Oriental Pied-Hornbill, Thick-billed Green-Pigeon, Little Spiderhunter and Vernal Hanging-Parrot.

A coffee stop was had at an accommodation directly inside the NP. Andy explained how it was falling apart. General attendance at Cat Tien comes from casual local tourists, not necessarily hardcore birders or naturalists. Most visitors want maximum luxury and a relaxed time, not a bare bones ecolodge. Actual ecotourism and deep exploration is highly unpopular.

We paid a visit to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, which rehabilitates animals for a return to the wild.

This species of Gibbon is endangered but easy to see at the Rescue Center. We did also see this species in the wild but at a large distance.

We continued birding but found few birds not seen before, other than the Green-eared Barbet. Luckily, some reptiles provided a welcome distraction.

We also spotted an Oriental Garden Lizard and a Clouded Monitor.

The afternoon session was lackluster. We tried the hide again hoping to see the female of the Bar-bellied Pitta. This failed. Nor did we see any other new birds. We did not feel bad about this due to the success of the previous days.

After diner we did another night tour on foot, but this time using the birding lens, hoping to spot some larger nocturnal wildlife.

Andy took us to a habitat deemed a snake paradise, a rocky mangrove forest. It did look promising, but no snakes were found. We did find this snake next to the main trail:

This is probably Boiga guangxiensis, a cat snake. Here it is clever to roll up under a leaf, out of sight of owls.

We returned to the place where we had a coffee stop earlier in the day to check the walls for wildlife:

We found some geckos, a bat and some spiders. A memorable experience during the night tour was a puzzling rattling sound we heard on the edges of the trail. They turned out to be termites warning us to back off.

May 17

A last morning session was to be had in Cat Tien after the habitual 5:45AM breakfast as we had unfinished business.

The missing target is the Green Peafowl. Not to be confused with the highly common Indian Peafowl, the Green Peafowl only survives in small isolated populations in Cambodia and Vietnam.

To reach Green Peafowl territory we had to use the park vehicle and drive deeply into the park. We searched for well over an hour but there was no sight or sound of this elusive bird. We did see a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Red Junglefowl and Red-wattled Lapwing.

No Peafowl though. So the vehicle turned around and drove back. We had given up on this target and almost forgot about it when completely against the odds, Henriette spotted it at the very last possible moment:

Unexpectedly, it was at a pond near the ferry. Which is strange because this is the most urbanized part of the park, full of people, buildings and lots of noise. The bird did immediately make a run for it and I had to take the above rushed shot whilst our car was still in the process of breaking. We never saw the bird again.

Good fortune continued with another observation of the Green-eared Barbet, and a Bronze Mabuya (a skink). And finally, a White-rumped Munia.

This concludes our lengthy Cat Tien stay. We feel we got the maximum out of it with hard work, excellent guides and the occasional luck.

We returned to the accommodation to prepare for a 9AM exit. We met our new driver Mr. Tin with a new vehicle, a 4WD. Onwards to our next destination: Di Linh.

The drive is close to 3 hours, where along the way stopped at a coffee and tea center to buy coffee beans and tea to take home. Another stop was made for early lunch. Around noon we found ourselves at the cozy Di Linh Xanh Resort. The elevation here is about 1,000m ASL. Still warm and humid but a vast improvement over Cat Tien.

We proceeded on a 40 minute drive to reach one of Andy’s hides, this one being in a public forest but well hidden. During this afternoon session only a single bird showed, but what a bird it is:

It came out of nowhere and was just suddenly there. There was a noticeable delay in our actions as if our brains needed time to process this beauty. The variant seen on this photo has a yellow underbelly which is only seen in Southern populations, it’s normally green.

After seeing an Asian Red-cheeked Squirrel, we exited the hide and drove to a different site. A coffee plantation valley with pine trees on the edges.

It was relatively quiet in terms of birds but not quiet overall:

Sound on. A deafening concert of cicadas echoing across the valley.

The bird highlight was an observation of the target bird Burmese Shrike, followed by more common birds such as the Sooty-headed Bulbul (seen before), Black Bulbul (new), Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (seen before), Ashy Drongo (seen before), White-throated Kingfisher (new).

We then called it a day. After a 6:15PM diner we retreated to our lovely cabin which features a pond in the backyard:

May 18

At 6AM we departed by car and soon picked up a baguette from a street vendor as a quick breakfast whilst we continue to drive towards the bird hide we visited yesterday afternoon. The idea being that a morning session tends to yield more results. A splendid idea:

I wonder if we broke some kind of record. Not even 10 seconds after Andy placed the worms and sat with us, this wonderful Blue Pitta appeared.

Next, an exceptionally rare bird entered the scene:

This bird only occurs in a tiny part of Vietnam and an even tinier part of Cambodia. We saw two adults (presumably a couple) and multiple chicks.

Yesterday’s star of the show, the Indochinese Green-Magpie, made another appearance. Much to the delight of Henriette, appreciator of color.

We finished with an Asian Emerald Dove and Gray-throated Babbler:

Back in the car, Andy directed the driver to stop at a corner of the road because he heard an important bird:

It’s not the best photo but this near-endemic Red-vented Barbet is an important target bird and has a truly odd appearance. It has very washed colors. It’s like it wants to be colorful but camouflaged at the same time.

For the sake of completeness in book keeping, we also picked up the highly common Common Myna. And then we drove to a place to have lunch followed by a lengthy chill session at a coffee place.

We proceeded towards Đà Lạt, the capital of Lâm Đồng Province in southern Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Geographically, this area confused us initially, but this may clear things up:

Basically, the actual city of Đà Lạt, which is huge and very modern, is surrounded by a National Park.

We immediately enjoyed the moderate to cool climate in these highlands. For the afternoon session we drove to a particular montane forest. On the trail towards a new hide we saw a Black-collared Starling, Hill Prinia, the usual Sooty-headed Bulbul, Green-backed Tit, and Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird.

We arrived at the hide. Which wasn’t a full hide. It had a little natural theatre where the birds might appear but no construction to hide behind. Instead, we sat on bare ground in the open.

Two shy Barred Buttonquails appeared:

And a Gray Bushchat:

And that was it. It’s common in birding to have marginal results in the afternoon. You have to do your business in the morning whereas anything found in the afternoon is a bonus.

We tried very hard for the locally endemic Dalat Bush Warbler, but failed to see it. In fact, we tried it for days on end. To the point of getting sick and tired of its call on speaker. But we never saw it.

We continued to our stay for the night:

The cabin is in a beautiful environment, a small lake surrounded by pine trees. The construction of the cabin itself was excellent but we found its interior needlessly lacking. The rooms are giant but have zero features other than a rock hard bed 10 inches from the floor. Toilets and the shower are shared.

For diner we drove to a restaurant where the owner is famous for being a champion in a very weird sport:

Apparently the sport is to keep a bulbul as a pet and train it. Next it is to compete in games with other bulbuls. An example of a game is where the organizer puts out food. Birds that eat it lose for they are not disciplined.

We returned to the cabin to remotely follow some human sports online. The Dutch football season’s winner was to be decided in the very last game and it went the way of PSV Eindhoven. We also followed the F1 race, which Max Verstappen won.

In the meanwhile, Andy found an Oriental Scops-owl:

May 19

We were in the car at 6AM where after a 40 minute drive we had breakfast and continued with some more driving.

We arrived at a Sturgeon fish farm where Andy bought fresh worms and directed us to the forest behind the farm. After some 10 minutes of navigating narrow paths we arrived at a gorgeous bird theatre and hide. A river stream full of rocks and overhanging branches and vegetation. A scene with a lot of complexity and depth.

Welcome to a new episode of Bird Netflix. It did not take long for this bold bird to appear:

The Collared Laughingthrush is beautiful and vulnerable. We then saw a female and male Large Niltava followed by another rare Laughingthrush, the Black-hooded Laughingthrush:

It seems mandatory to always have a partridge appear:

We continued with a Snowy-browed Flycatcher and White-tailed Robin.

One of the coolest and most memorable observations of this session was the Pygmy Cupwing:

This bird is described by eBird as a brown tennis ball on chopsticks. It’s cute, fast and extremely challenging to photograph even from a hide.

At some distance we spotted the Slaty-backed Forktail:

Which is not to be confused with another black and white Forktail:

We returned to color with the beautiful Silver-eared Mesia:

We also picked up the Lesser Shortwing and Mountain Fulvetta. Needless to say, we had an absolute blast this morning.

We had lunch at the same restaurant we had diner at last night and returned to the pine forest cabin for some more birding.

Andy was obsessing over a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch. It’s tiny and erratic, very frustrating to get into view. This is not a great photo but it does show the Chestnut color:

We also saw a Vietnamese Greenfinch, Long-tailed Minivet, White-browed Shrike-Babbler, and Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker.

As we were doing this birding, a very loud karaoke party was going on in a building across the lake. Andy explained that this is the park’s staff. In Vietnam it’s common for your boss to decide at any given moment that karaoke is to be had. Right now. So get drunk and start singing.

We experienced Vietnam as loud in general. The entire country is rapidly developing so you’ll hear heavy machinery and trucks everywhere. There’s the infinite amount of scooters and people call and play music and video at maximum volume without headphones. It’s not a place to experience serene peace, exceptions aside.

We checked out of the forest cabin and drove to city of Đà Lạt for an overnight stay in a luxurious hotel. Here we had a guide handover where we first met Le Duy, our guide for the coming week.

Le Duy brought us to a great restaurant at night. A “make your own eggroll” restaurant where you use rice paper, add meats and/or vegetables to your liking, and then roll it.

May 20

We hit the road at 5:45AM and made several stops, to get breakfast, coffee and to buy water. After some more driving we found ourselves at a park named Hoa Sơn Điền Trang.

Before we started, Le Duy helped me with a small medical issue. I had been suffering from a crazy itch on one of my fingers, which led to a swelling which now had burst. It was bleeding and kept bleeding. According to Le Duy, I was likely bitten by a yellow fly, a type of fruit fly looking like this:

There was not a lot of bird activity at this park but we did see this Black-throated Sunbird which marks our 100th bird seen and photographed thus far:

We continued with a Little Pied Flycatcher and a Hill Prinia (seen before). We exited the park to do roadside birding in the area.

We saw the Grey-crowned Crocias and Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike.

Spread across several stops, we boosted the bird count with a Rufous-backed Sibia, Black-throated Tit, Blue-winged Minla, Kloss’s Leaf Warbler, Verditer Flycatcher, Ashy Bulbul, Gray-headed Canary-flycatcher, Clicking Shrike-Babbler, Black Eagle, as well as many birds seen earlier.

It was productive but difficult to make good photos.

We had ramen soup for lunch which I’ll use to highlight our food frustrations during this trip. The typical diet of our guides is to eat ramen soup twice a day and as a main meal more boiled stuff.

Whilst there’s nothing wrong with ramen soup in itself, we grew frustrated with it being a main or only source of food. We were craving more hearty food, say some fried rice with chicken or anything not consisting of water. We’re open minded to the local cuisine but found our servings to be one-dimensional.

“You shouldn’t boil salad and boiling beef is a meat preparation crime that requires mandatory re-education.”
- Ferdy, ramen soup overdose survivor

Anyway, we returned to the hotel for an extended siesta due to rain. At 3PM we headed out again to revisit the open hide we attended with Andy the day before. We did not see any birds not seen before but used the opportunity to try and get better pictures.

We then attended a large lake where in the distance we saw a Little Grebe and Little Cormorant.

Our final stop for the day was Datanla, a waterfall theme park where near the parking lot we picked up a great bird to save the afternoon session, the awesome Streaked Spiderhunter:

At night we actually did have great diner at a chicken restaurant.

May 21

We were in the car at 5:30AM with luggage and all. After bread and coffee stops we attended the Datanla theme park once more.

A tip for birders. From the Datanla parking lot, go all the way to the right to find a staircase that leads to a (closed) staff-only room. From this staircase you overlook a forested valley and you may be at eye-level with several birds.

Our guide Le Duy, normally calm and softspoken, absolutely lost it when this bird appeared:

The Black-headed Parrotbill is vulnerable and near-endemic. This was only the 2nd time he saw it in an entire year. We followed-up with a close encounter with a Black-backed Sibia:

A bit obscured but too beautiful to not share is the Long-tailed Broadbill:

The Indochinese Barbet is quite the looker too:

It seems an unlikely place to see these birds but it does make sense. These are canopy birds. From the staircase, you’re at canopy level.

We proceeded with some roadside birding where at the next stop we scored another beautiful Barbet, the Necklaced Barbet:

Good fortune continued when we secured the most important target bird of the area, the rarely photographed Vietnamese Cutia:

We concluded with a Mountain Bulbul.

The highly successful morning provided fuel for a long drive to our next destination. Somewhere along the way we had a coffee stop with a breathtaking view of a volcanic lake:

We continued driving whilst making occasional stops for birds and added the Black-crested Bulbul, Green-eared Barbet (seen before), Asian Fairy-bluebird, Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, Crimson Sunbird, Vinous-breasted Myna (seen before).

As if this day wasn’t awesome enough already, Le Duy then brought us to a pizza restaurant, as a medicine to our emerging ramen soup allergy.

After diner we drove to our accommodation for the coming two nights: Trobuh Resort. The arrival was strange. This is a beautiful large and secluded area. But as we arrived there was nobody there. Staff had to be woken up to open the gate. Regardless, our room was excellent, most of all because it had air-conditioning.

May 22

We were in the car by 5:30AM and somewhat surprised it’s a 20km drive to Yok Don National Park. Maybe there’s no good hotels nearby, we’re unsure.

At the entrance, Le Duy apologized that processing the ticket took so long. He explained that security is tight because we’re near the Cambodia border.

We accepted this “tight security” which consisted of…nothing. Nobody even looked at us, we did not need to give our passports, and our body, bags and car were not searched.

Onwards into the National Park. An impression of the forest:

It is described as a mosaic of deciduous forest and semi-evergreen (mixed deciduous) forest. What stands out is that the forest is not dense. There’s space between trees and vegetation. This park is enormous and therefore best navigated by car on wide roads. We were somewhat annoyed with the many scooters using the park road as they interfere with birding. These people have a right to be here though because they were living here before the park was founded.

First bird seen was the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, followed by birds we’ve seen before: Asian Barred Owlet, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Common Flameback.

We added the Coppersmith Barbet and Golden-fronted Leafbird.

Photography was challenging due to large distances and lots of backlight in every direction.

We saw a Gray-capped Pygmy-woodpecker (again) followed by a cool raptor, the Black Baza, and then a Red-billed Starling and the rarely photographed Burmese Nuthatch.

We finally secured one of multiple woodpecker targets by seeing the Black-headed Woodpecker:

At 10:15AM we ended the session as bird activity was drying up and it was getting too hot. We were also overwhelmed by some type of swamp fly entering the car in large numbers. They only occur deeper into the park.

We drove back to town for lunch and a break and then drove back again to the National Park starting a new session at 1:30PM. It was unbearably hot.

We added another woodpecker to the collection by means of the Freckle-breasted Woodpecker before seeing the 3rd nuthatch species of our trip:

I hate photographing nuthatches. Most annoying and least cooperative birds ever.

We continued with a Common Woodshrike and then saw a Changeable Hawk-Eagle trying to cool down:

Star and highlight of the afternoon session was the Rufous Treepie:

Around 4:30PM a heavy rainstorm was developing so we called it a day. After diner we arrived at our comforting room exhausted, mostly from the intense heat in this area.

May 23

At 5:30AM we exited the hotel to make way for another session at the National Park. There was a delay at the entrance because Asian Elephants were spotted on the park roads and rangers wanted to make sure things are safe.

As we started the session we spotted Asian Openbills flying overhead. We saw the Coppersmith Barbet (again).

Le Duy was stunned when I asked “what hawk is that?” after seeing a stationary raptor. It turns out to be a White-rumped Falcon, rare to see in Vietnam.

This made me feel both proud and dumb at the same time.

Highlight of the session was another woodpecker, the Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, which has a small population in Vietnam:

We spotted some birds seen before and concluded with a Eurasian Hoopoe. At 10AM we exited the park.

What followed was a long day of driving to Kontum City. We made several stops along the way and arrived at 5:30PM.

The hotel was weird for having cars parked inside the actual lobby. We had an enormous room that had seen better days as almost nothing worked and you had to be careful to touch anything as it may fall apart. The beds were great though and we didn’t need much more.

May 24

We departed at 5:30AM and made stops for breakfast, coffee and a lunch package we would use later in the day in the field. The drive was around 2.5 hours during which we climbed in elevation to about 2,000m ASL.

We exited the car at the corner of a road where we met a local guide. We proceeded into the forest in order to reach a hide. The path was pretty difficult. Slippery, rocky, narrow, sometimes steep.

And then we were at the hide. We were puzzled. We had been warned about this supposed climb of 500m in elevation and were mentally prepared for the worst. It was barely a 100m climb and only took 30 minutes. Ah well.

We saw a Snowy-browed Flycatcher (seen before) before securing juicer birds such as the exhilarating and shy Red-tailed Laughingthrush:

And the Black-crowned Barwing:

It became ever more clear to us that the most precious and beautiful birds in Vietnam are shy and best seen from a hide.

We continued with a Rufous-winged Fulvetta and White-throated Fantail.

Activity at the hide was drying up so we tried the surrounding forest on foot. This was not very successful as the forest is very dense, so ultimately we returned to the hide for a second session.

An impressive new visitor appeared:

The Brown-crowned Scimitar-Babbler or Penguin as Henriette calls it is only found in montane rainforests. Whilst processing our lunch package, we spotted the White-throated Fantail and Gray-cheeked Warbler.

Heavy rain started so we stayed at the hide for shelter. We saw Le Duy shivering from cold. It’s still above 20C here but heavy wind on wet clothes does feel chilly. We exited the hide around 2PM and drove back to Kontum City for lunch.

We continued our drive towards a motel, our stay for the night, which we reached at 4PM. We had diner at the motel at 6:30PM, played with the cute black cat there, and settled for the night.

May 25

We enjoyed the hotel’s breakfast at 5:30AM and took a one hour drive towards an area for roadside birding.

We opened the session with a Green-tailed Sunbird and Yellow-cheeked Tit.

We continued with a few birds seen earlier before we spent a lot of time on the Red-tailed Minla:

Le Duy mentioned how it had been 5 years since he’s last seen this bird. Next we enjoyed a very captivating scene:

Two Collared Owlets were sitting face to face bickering and headbutting each other. Tinder date gone wrong?

We drove back to Kontum City for lunch and then did some more driving to arrive at our new hotel, Khách sạn T&T Măng Đen, at 1:30PM. We took an hour of rest after which the afternoon session was planned.

We were seriously considering to cancel it because of ongoing rain but also because we were in a low energy mode and the new hotel’s luxuries were enticing. We reluctantly joined the afternoon session which as per usual is a good idea.

First new bird seen was the Flavescent Bulbul:

It then started to rain again and we took shelter at a coffee place from where we had a remote view of these Pin-tailed Green-Pigeons:

We added two more birds not seen before, the White-bellied Erpornis and Swinhoe’s White-eye.

We ended the session at 5PM, had diner in town, and then settled at the beautifully decorated hotel.

May 26

We departed at 5:30AM and picked up a baguette breakfast. We were then driven to a forest where Le Duy made preparations for a hide.

The main target for this hide is the Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush. It would be wonderful to add one more of this group of amazing birds. Unfortunately, it never showed. No sight or sound of it.

We exited the hide for roadside birding in the area. We saw a few familiar birds but also new ones such as the Gray-chinned Minivet, Rufous-faced Warbler and Golden Babbler.

Highlight of the session is the rarely photographed Yellow-billed Nuthatch which is not to be confused with the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch seen earlier.

At 10AM we returned to the hide for a 2nd attempt at the Laughingthrush but it again did not show.

We had a coffee stop followed by lunch. At 2:30PM we started the afternoon session which was challenging due to misty conditions.

Through persistence we managed to squeeze out two new birds, the beautiful Sultan Tit and Black-chinned Yuhina.

At night we were not very hungry so had a simple bread meal and said goodbye to our driver.

May 27

At 5:30AM we departed with a new driver, or rather the one we had in the first week already.

We made a 3rd and final attempt at the hide but the Laughingthrush again did not show not even after trying a 2nd hide deeper in the forest. We did see a Mountain Fulvetta (seen before).

We descended to do some roadside birding but had a problem trying to get back up:

Despite the path not being wet and not that steep, still this Ford Transit van doesn’t stand a chance because it does not have 4WD. It was pretty clear that we needed to be towed but this didn’t stop the driver from retrying dozens of times, wrecking the rear tires.

As we were waiting in the full sun I got itchy legs and discovered several leeches stuck to my legs. Such a discovery soon escalates into phantom itches where you constantly think there’s yet one more.

Ultimately, a guy on a motor cycle discovered our bad luck and 30 minutes later came back with a mini tractor to pull us back up.

We returned to our hotel later then planned and had a quick lunch and coffee before proceeding on a massive 6 hour drive towards the city of Da Nang.

Close to the city we picked up the only new bird of this day, the Plaintive Cuckoo:

We arrived at the hotel in the city where we soon after met Andy and Miss Nhu. They would be taking over again for the last week of the trip.

It was a long and stressful day and we simply wanted quick diner so that we can rest at the hotel. Andy had other plans. We proceeded on a 40 minute drive in chaotic inner city traffic. Bypassing hundreds of restaurants that would have been perfectly fine. And where do we end up: another ramen soup place. I was considering founding a religion where consuming ramen soup is blasphemy. Or maybe a tattoo on my forehead. Anything to land the point. But it never landed.

The coffee stop brought some relief.

May 28

We exited the hotel at 5AM. After only a short drive we were on the edge of a road named Monkey Pass looking into a forest and came eye-to-eye with a very special primate:

The Red-shanked Douc is the most vivid of Douc species and critically endangered. This roadside observation was an appetizer. We continued on a short drive towards a park that has more individuals.

Whilst enjoying this very special species, we also observed some birds new to us: Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon, Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Next we paid a visit to Chùa Linh Ứng, a hilltop Buddhist temple featuring a 67m tall Buddhist statue, the tallest in Vietnam.

An absolutely stunning place in terms of structures as well as ornaments such as Bonsai trees.

Birding felt a bit silly in this place although we did see the Ornate Sunbird (new), Streak-eared Bulbul (seen before), Common Tailorbird (new), Swinhoe’s White-eye (seen before).

We had a 9:30AM coffee stop followed by some rest at the hotel and then a very welcome pizza lunch. Onwards on a lengthy drive to our next destination. We made a coffee stop at a strange restaurant:

The restaurant was full of defunct US bombs from the Vietnam war. Some structures even used the largest ones as pillars. There is little doubt in Vietnam as to who has won this war. The country is riddled with communist flags and posters, probably also to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the re-unification of the North and South.

To casual visitors like us its the only visual sign of the country being communist. Because the economy seems fully capitalist and you don’t see authorities anywhere. A China “light” model I suppose.

Outside the restaurant were two macaques locked up in a tiny cage. You could just feel their stress. Who benefits from this pointless suffering? Andy reaffirmed that the culture is stubborn.

We continued driving until we arrived at our Lucky Stay hotel at 7PM. A lovely chill place with great airconditioned rooms.

May 29

A 5:30AM start where Andy, a man of food extremes, gave us pizza breakfast. We proceeded on a drive to a stunning National Park, Phong Nha Ke Bang.

Forested limestone cliffs as far as the eye can see. And for once, no loud traffic. A very serene experience.

We saw a Crested Serpent-Eagle in the distance, followed by a Sultan Tit (seen before), and Scarlet Minivet (seen before), and then a Mountain Imperial-Pigeon:

Andy heard a specific sound from a dark hole in the forest and we spent a lot of time trying to bring out this Spot-necked Warbler:

A major win because this bird is very hard to see and rarely settles. We ended with a Rufous-bellied Eagle that is relatively rare to see in Vietnam:

Around 10AM, Andy had a wonderful surprise. A visit to the nearby Thiên Đường Cave, also called Paradise Cave.

Andy bought two tickets and stayed behind. We could approach the cave entrance by an electrical cart or on foot. We went by foot. It’s just one mile but the hard path is as slippery as ice from all the algae and moss. Next there was a 500m climb on stairs before we were at the cave entrance. It’s a stunning cave. Very tall, wide and long.

We loved it. At the exit we had a refreshing drink and ice cream and then exited the site, this time using the electric vehicle. At the parking lot we found Andy and we drove back to the hotel.

Andy faced an unwelcome surprise. His trainee, the Gen Z girl, had made an Irish exit. She had been with us again since the guide switch. She skipped this morning session though and used that time to pack up and flee the area without as much as a message.

We had lovely hotel lunch served at the river-side.

At 3PM we returned to the National Park where we saw a beautiful Blue-throated Bee-eater:

And a Paddyfield Pipit. We came across several loud lapwings flying quite closely to us. They do this to lure you away from their nests.

We ended with a few birds seen before but failed to see a rare target bird, the Limestone Leaf Warbler. Our time to search for it was cut short due to heavy rain.

We had diner at the hotel where we settled.

May 30

A 5AM start. Just before that, we noticed 5 cockroaches in our bathroom. All of them on their backs but alive. Is this a play dead tactic as soon as the light hits? I didn’t have time to investigate, we had to go.

We made way to another section of the National Park to work on the highest value target of this area, which isn’t a bird. We met up with a local ranger whom navigated us through a field of corn, positioning us very well for this:

The Hatinh langur is locally endemic and endangered. They are nicknamed Limestone Langurs. This does not necessarily indicate their original natural behavior, their preference for limestone cliffs as a habitat is likely due to habitat destruction and hunting. They use it as a retreat.

We spent a lot of time patiently waiting for them to get a little lower, as part of their morning feeding ritual.

By chance, this observation completes the Henriette goal:

Henriette always makes a booklet of our trip. Containing the itinerary, hotel details, expected species, transfer times, etc. Incredibly handy. She always includes a cover photo, a collage of things she somehow liked when researching the trip. We had now seen all species on the collage, and of course quite a few more.

Around 9:30AM we made a coffee stop and returned to the hotel, getting ready for a long drive to Ninh Binh. We had a lunch stop along the way and arrived at our new hotel, the Trang An Four Seasons Retreat, around 4:30PM.

We used the remaining light of the day to do some birding around the meadows in the area.

The only bird not seen earlier was the Cinnamon Bittern.

The day ended with a surprise visit to Tuyet Tinh Coc, a beautiful area featuring ancient temples, limestone cliffs, caves and lakes. This area is the former capital of Đại Cồ Việt, the early dynasties of Vietnam.

We entered the entrance tunnel. The inner walls richly tell the tale of the early dynasties and its many battles fought. A tale we should read upon as we’re not familiar with it.

At the end of the tunnel is an astonishing new world. A secluded lake surrounded with limestone cliffs with a path curving around the lake. Gorgeous. And the surprise visit had a bird surprise too:

We had never even heard of this Annam Limestone Babbler. This limestone specialist is rarely photographed although it did not appear to be shy. It’s just very local and you have to be lucky.

As it got dark, we were planning to eat in town but almost everything was closed, so we returned to the hotel for diner there.

May 31

A 5:45AM start where we found somebody new in the car. Andy’s wife. She’d join in these last 2 days so that they can travel back home together. Andy suddenly seemed a lot calmer and less dominant. He hated me for pointing that out which is exactly why it’s funny.

We started driving to reach a farm that has quite the backyard:

We were here for another species of langur:

The Delacour’s langur is critically endangered and endemic to northern Vietnam. We saw a group of several members although at a significant distance.

We did some birding on the side and saw the Chinese Pond-heron, Asian Openbill (seen before) and Yellow Bittern.

We then waited around the corner of a particlar fruit tree, hoping the langurs would come down to feed there. It worked:

We happily exited the farm valley whilst photographing some of the many butterflies there.

There was the dreaded ramen soup for breakfast before proceeding on a massive drive. Around 3PM we reached the ferry:

The ferry took us to our last destination, Cát Bà Island. We arrived at our hotel at 5PM where from our room we had this magnificent view:

The town has a lovely vibe. Laid back, beach-like, free of stress. We made good use of the remaining light by going on a relaxed boat cruise.

We were cruising through the famous floating village whilst admiring the sunset over the steep limestone cliffs.

At night we had pizza for diner. Because apparently there’s only 2 things humans ever eat: ramen soup or pizza. I will never complain about pizza though.

June 1

We were in a boat at 5AM. We seemed to be the only ones awake in town, which makes sense as this is a place for relaxing. Relaxed people would miss this though:

The Cat Ba langur is one of the rarest primates in the world, and it completes our set of 3 rare langur species.

We returned to the port for a bread breakfast and coffee and then proceeded to the island’s National Park that can be traversed on foot. We were unaware of this park’s existence before.

It was unbearably hot but we saw the Stripe-throated Bulbul, Ornate Sunbird, Common Tailorbird, Crimson Sunbird, Dark-necked Tailorbird, all birds seen before. The Puff-throated Bulbul was new to us though:

Something really cool happened. We were looking in a direction for a bird when something came from the sky and landed on a tree in front of us:

A flying lizard. They parasail from tree to tree.

Up next came an unannounced and frankly unwelcome cave visit. At this point we were massively overheating from the soul-crushing heat and humidity on the island and just wanted to cool down.

But first a cave visit was to be had because on the way to the National Park I blurted out “There’s a cave on the island???” when seeing the sign.

The cave was quite small and short, so it wasn’t a lengthy visit. Worse is that it had very low passages. We had to crawl to make progress and at one point I stood up too soon and scratched the top of my head even through my cap.

Luckily Andy had arranged a special lunch for us: ramen soup with squid. Despite a million better options on the island.

The afternoon was fully free with no tour planned, so we used it to relax and explore the town. Without Andy’s oversight, we made various highly illegal food choices.

June 2

At 5AM we were in the boat again for the final tour of our trip. A tour without much of a purpose. The idea was to visit the langurs again, hoping to see them closer. The only reason we agreed to not sleep in for once is because this would in fact break a series of never getting up later than 5AM during the entire trip. I wonder if there is a name for this disease of consistency? We’re not autistic. We think.

Anyway, it’s absolutely no punishment to cruise this bay in the early morning. We did see the langurs again, although not much closer.

As this was our last camera moment, we’re settling the bird score at 180 different species seen and photographed. A few more may be added as they still need to be identified. Minus the langur days, that’s a rate of roughly 10 new species per day, every day. We’re more than satisfied with it and it certainly involved a lot of effort and travel. Beyond quantity, we’re above all happy with the many beautiful, shy and rare ones seen.

We had a 7:30AM breakfast followed by some more relaxing. We then prepared for a 10AM exit of the hotel. The cleaning lady gave us the warmest goodbye ever experienced. “Bye bye!!!” she repeated whilst laughing, hugging us and pinching our cheeks.

We started the drive and reached the ferry to cross back into the mainland. After about 2 hours of driving, we had lunch at a chicken restaurant.

Afterwards, we said our final goodbyes to Andy and Miss Nhu. From here, the driver would bring us to Hanoi.

We fully acknowledge Andy and Miss Nhu to be top notch birding guides that are very competent to bring out the best that Vietnam has to offer. Their competence is driven by a deep love for birds and primates and they take on a very challenging quest to protect them, in a world pitted against it. We’ll soon forget about the ramen soup, but we will never forget the wildlife.

Our driver took us on a 2 hour drive to reach Oriental Hotel in downtown Hanoi. And there we said goodbye to him.

The hotel featured a hilarious staff member that would watch our every move and offer help. Eager to the point of comedy. We used this hotel for just a few hours, as a base to wait for our flight later that night.

We explored downtown Hanoi which is lots of fun. Every inch of this city seems to have a thousand things going on all at once, you just don’t know where to look. We had a cold drink, did some souvenir shopping, but didn’t stay outside for too long due to the unbearable heat.

We got onto the 10:30PM airport taxi we had booked to reach the international airport. We were well in time so we did some more shopping.

Unfortunately, our Emirates flight to Dubai was delayed. First by an hour. The lack of information was frustrating and we really wanted our bodies on the plane because we had been up for over 20 hours.

The delay then turned into 3 hours. Which means we would miss our connection at Dubai. As we then finally boarded, it took an additional 2 hours for the plane to actually depart.

June 3

We landed in Dubai where our missed connection was handled adequately. We could easily pick up new tickets and they already rerouted our luggage to the new flight.

We departed at 2:45PM local time and landed in Amsterdam around 8PM local time. Fetching luggage took a long time. We found the shuttle bus outside the airport and found ourselves at long term parking at 9:30PM.

At 10:45PM we were finally home again, where we reunited with our lovely cat Shiva.

Special thanks

Thank you Henriette, love of my life, for tolerating me and my obsessions. For the beautiful new memories that we created together. For all the logistical work you do to smoothen this trip.

Thank you Andy, Miss Nhu, Le Duy, Mr. Yen, Mr. Tin and local guides. Without you, we’re just a bunch of clueless fools that wouldn’t find much. Every single one of you was essential.

Thank you Ramon for taking care of the house and Shiva.

Thank you Christine Young and Jivko Nakev for taking care of JungleDragon administration whilst I was away. You’re amazing friends.

Thank you dear reader if you made it this far.

Thank you ramen soup inventor for making us lose weight.

The photos

This report contains just a fraction of photos taken during the trip. See the full photo set here.

“People don’t take trips, trips take people.” — John Steinbeck

Vietnam 2025 Travel Report was originally published in Ferdy Christant on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.