|
HTML clipboard
Location: Cat Tien National Park is located
in three provinces of Dong Nai, Lam Dong and Binh Phuoc.
Characteristics: Cat Tien National Park has a diversified topography with
hills along the banks, plains and sloping flows.
In 1978, the South Cat Tien and North Cat Tien parks were put under the State's
protection. In 1992, the Cat Loc Park was listed in the programmer for the
protection of natural wild animals and flora. In December 1998, these three
parks joined together to become the Cat Tien National Park, under the management
of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Coming along National Highway 20 from Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat, turning left
about 24km at Milestone No.174 being Tan Phu cross-road, visitors will reach Cat
Tien National Park. Covering an area of 74,319ha, the Cat Tien National Park has
preserved its original natural soil with a diverse ecological system and many
rare and valuable species of animals listed in the Red Book of Endangered
Animals. The landscape surrounding the Park is magnificent, and the local people
have maintained practicing customs and habits full of national cultural
identities. Let come into the forest on a trail covered with tree leaves. The
sunshine was on the canopies, layer after layer. The air was humid. The cicadas
resounded over the forest. Don't forget to see a 400-year-old conifer there.
Going a bit further you can see another tree, called bang lang (Lagerstroemia
corniculata), which is almost 300 years old. From its trunk of nearly 3m in
diameter, 6 ivory sub-trunks sprouted. There are many other strange trees in the
forest: a red-wood tree having a diameter of 3.7m, a Benjamin fig having a
fasciculate root that runs along the stream and can shade about 20 people, a
banyan tree having a hollow trunk which is large enough for 3 people, to name
but a few. So far, in Cat Tien Park, 1,610 kinds of flora have been classified
which belong to 75 species, 162 families and 724 branches, many of them listed
in the Red Book.
The Dong Nai River is a natural boundary that embraces three sides of Cat Tien
Park. On the left bank, villages and gardens are built close to the water, and
on the right bank are wild forests with primitive green canopies. Numerous
species of birds built their nests in the canopies. Inside the primitive forest,
there are various kinds of fauna typical for the low land of the eastern Truong
Son and the Central Highlands. According to surveys made by the Park's
Management Board, there are 77 kinds of animals belonging to 28 families and 10
species; 326 kinds of bird in 62 families and 18 species; 37 kinds of reptiles
in 18 families and 3 species; 133 kinds of fish in 28 families, and a wide range
of insects. Most worthy of note are the animals listed in the Red Book of
Endangered Animals such as Ban ten bull, Gaur bull, tiger, bear, wolf,
black-foot monkey, peacock, white-neck crane, pheasant (which are found only in
Southeast Asia), crocodile, pantheon, etc. In particular, there is a group of
7-8 one-tusk rhinoceros, which has attracted attention from both domestic and
foreign scientists. At 4 am, on May 17th, 1999, an automatic set of cameras
captured images of a grown-up rhinoceros, which has been classified as a member
of the Java rhinoceros family. In November 1998, in Phu My Village, Nam Cat Tien
Commune, an ancient village dating back 2,500-3,000 years was discovered. This
is a complex of relics, including temples and towers and many artifacts, which
proved the mixture of the Chan Lap civilization of the south and the Cham Pa
civilization of the north. Among the artifacts, there are several statues which
were for worshipping, such as the Linga-Yoni (sacred worshipping items
representing the human sexual organs). There is a Linga, 2.1m high, which is the
biggest of this kind in the world. Many other vestiges showed that Cat Tien was
the Holy Land of the ancient Phu Nam Kingdom built about 2,000 years ago.
|
... Your services were excellent and very much appreciated. We were very happy with the results and the guides etc. My family is well and we are back in the US. Thank you for all the timely help...