Bike Trip to Cuc Phuong

---

Bike Ride from Hanoi

From Hanoi you head South on Highway 1 for a boring couple of hours, once past Phu Ly the mountains come into view in the west and the highway goes down to one lane each way. About 5km North of Ninh Binh you need to take a right hand turn signposted to Nho Quan. Follow this road for about 8km until you see a left hand turn signposted to Nho Quan and take this. Once in Nho Quan follow the main road through the town, before you leave the town there will be a huge blue sign on the left to Cuc Phoung, follow this! It is now about 20km to the park entrance.

Staying at the Park

We paid 220,000 dong for the park entrance and to stay one night in their cheapest accommodation. The accommodation was a further 20km inside the park and a lovely bike ride to reach. The accommodation is called Bong. We had a room with two beds and mosquito nets (which need to be checked for small holes). We only had electricity between 6pm and 10pm but this is fine, you can go to bed and listen to the jungle. Note that you need a passport to book accommodation.

Things to do

From the bong accommodation there are a couple of short walks you can do (4 - 6km) inside the jungle. Most of it is visiting old trees but the walks there are lovely. There is a lot of insect life (including mosquitoes and leeches) and plenty of bird life but you will be lucky if you see any mammals other than squirrels.

Back at the park entrance you can visit the primate centre, this costs 10,000 dong per person for a short guided visit around the primates they currently have staying with them. The centre is running a successful breeding program. Of the 20 or so primate species in Vietnam over 60%!o(MISSING)f them are endangered due to hunting for food and Chinese medicine.

Links

• Official Website
  

---

Photos

River Crossing
Crossing a river on highway 1 with the mountains coming into view.

Inside the Park
Beautiful views while driving along the park road

Flower
One of the many beautiful flowers inside the jungle

Moth and Stick Insect
I only noticed the stick insect on this once I looked at the photo at home. We saw lots more stick insects in the primate centre.

Park Road
The road inside the park

Gibbons
The gibbons were the highlight of the primate centre.

The road home
Driving through rice paddies and rocky outcrops

Map
A map of Ninh Binh and Cuc Phuong