Nature & National Parks in Ninh Binh

---

After a brilliant few days in Cat Ba, we decided to carry on south to the small town of Ninh Binh, a journey which was supposed to take just 4 hours. Of course it took longer; we were on a hot, cramped bus loaded with big boxes so there was no room, and it kept stopping every few minutes to get locals on; at one point it did a detour to pick up some extra tyres were loaded onto the roof, and we finally got to Ninh Binh over 6 hours later

Ninh Binh is not a pretty town, but most people come here to explore its scenic surroundings rather than stay in the town, which is what we intended to do as well, so after we found a hotel for the night we sorted out our plans for the next day as we wanted to visit Cuc Phuong National Park, about an hour away. We thought about hiring a moto-bike and riding there but it would mean a 150km+ round trip which seemed a bit much so we organised a car and driver instead. We were still travelling with Hannah & Leigh and the four of us split the cost so it worked out quite reasonable. We went for a quick dinner in the evening and called it a night fairly early, mainly because we were all tired but also because there was nothing around anyway.

Up early the next day, the car/jeep picked us up at 8.30am and we were on the way to the park, via the main highway which was more like a dusty pot-holed side street! We saw a pineapple farm on the way which was obviously growing thousands of pineapples, and reached the park by 10am. Cuc Phuong NP was developed in 1962 and is home to hundreds of species of animals, reptiles and plants which live in the tropical grounds of the park. Once we arrived we paid the entrance fee (40,000 VND, a bit more than £1 each) to the park and also for a mandatory guide (30,000 VND each, less than £1) to accompany us to the Turtle Conservation Centre and the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre within the park. First we went to the turtle centre which housed lots of different types of turtles from Vietnam and China, some of which were rescued by smugglers and saved from restaurant kitchens, so they were cool to see although we didn’t see many. Then it was onto the Primate Rescue centre which we really liked – there were loads of rare types of primates including Gibbons and Langurs here, all being rehabilitated for release into the wild. We were told most of them try to return to the centre after they have been released as they are just so used to being there they don’t know how to fend for themselves which is a shame, and only about 40 had been successfully released over the last 15 years. They were great to see though and we hadn’t really seen animals like them before – a bit like monkeys but with black and white furry faces or with really long tails, plus a few babies who were so cute. We walked around there for a while until our time was up, then we returned back to the jeep which drove us 20km into the heart of the park so we could start our trek.



It was so humid we chose to just do a short hike which would take us on a 7km loop through the forest. Along the way we saw some great scenery – it was all so green and very jungle like – and we were really lucky to get a rare sighting of some wild Langurs swinging between the trees above us which was awesome to see as it’s not often they can be spotted. The boys ventured into a bat cave at one point whilst we stayed just outside it, then we carried on hiking until we reached the 1000 year old tree which was huge! We were all sweating loads and the second half of the trail was quite hard at times as it went up and down a lot on some rough terrain and it was so hot so we were glad when we reached the end a couple of hours later, but it was a good hike.



Our driver was waiting for us at the end and after a quick stop at another cave we were on the way back to Ninh Binh in desperate need of a shower before our sleeper bus. Luckily the hotel who we had arranged the car through were really nice and said we could use their showers, which we did, and after a meagre dinner of chicken and chips (we literally had one chicken leg and 4 chips each) from a fake KFC type place we were ready to head further south to Hue, which is about halfway down the country.

The park was worth stopping in Ninh Binh for and we would have also liked to have visited Tam Coc or the Trang An grottos but we had only allocated one day so we didn’t have the time. People continue to be friendly and we can’t believe we have almost been here for 2 weeks. We are thinking of possibly extendung our visa's to stay a while longer and avoid rushing other places as we are loving Vietnam!!!




S&V's Travel Info & Tips:

General Info: Approx 33,000 VND to £1 / 21,000 VND to $1.

Transportation: We arrived into Ninh Binh via a dodgy local bus from CatBa. In Ninh Binh itself, we hired a driver for the day for $38 which although seems pricey was good value when split between a group. Everywhere else can be accessed on foot.

Food: Your food choices here are limited from bad to inedible. We managed to have a few decent baguettes for breakfast but evening choices were pitiful.

Accomodation: We stayed at Ngoc Anh Guesthouse which was clean, reasonable priced ($10) and had a big balcony.

Other observations:

x) Considering the amount of guesthouses dotted around the town, there are suprisingly few food options.

xx) The 7-9k trek within the national park is well worth doing, as are the caves on route.

xxx) As soon as we stepped off the bus in Ninh Binh, the temperature was about 12 degrees hotter than any place we had been in Vietnam so far and we were dripping with swet within minutes.

---