Cat Tien National Park
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
16
29
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Tan Phu,
Vietnam
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Chicken Village is an ethnic minority village which has kept it's name by virtue of the giant chicken statue in it which was erected to commemorate the death of a lady from the village who puportedly went into the mountains around the village to search for a chicken with 9 spurs to make a sort of dowry payment to a family who didn't really want her because she was poor (the "impossible chicken"). That's the gist of the story as we understood it anyway...The big chicken's previous significance has now been firmly overtaken by its place as a tourist attraction as tour groups stop by take their photo in front of it and move on (we did the same, there isn't much else to do). The villagers are keen to get you to look at their handicrafts too of course.
The Dambri Falls were far more impressive than the "big chook", set in the jungle the water and mist are really spectacular. Worth the trip here.
In the evening we arrived at Cat Tien after a journey down (and up) some winding mountain roads overtaking trucks and buses etc. It was a pretty hair raising journey. Once we turned off the "highway" the road was even worse with huge potholes. The countryside on the way was beautiful however and the last stage of the journey was a beautiful, if brief, crossing of the river to get to the park.
In the park we had arranged a nigh time safari. The park has deer, crocodiles, possums, monkeys, rabbits, numerous birds and what is believed to be the last 10 or so Javan Rhinos (of course we didn't see any Rhino). We saw some deer, rabbits and wild boar on the safari and the following morning we saw a monkey and lots of birds when we were out for a walk. One other animal which the park also has in abundance is leeches as we found out after only an hour by personal experience.
The following morning we left to Ho Chi Minh City but it really would have been nice to stay another night at the park as the jungle setting and quiet were really beautiful..
Crossing the river to Cat Tien
