Ninh Binh

Located 140 km South of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong is the first National Park of Vietnam established in 1962. The botanical richness of the forest is impressive as it supports a wide variety of flora species and patches of primeval forest, including ancient trees with thick clusters of roots, parasitic plants and ligneous creepers.

There are also over 120 species of birds and many varieties of beetles living in the park. In April and May swarms of butterflies arrive. At night, millions of cicadas create a deafening din and millions of fireflies flicker about. Some tree species have been introduced from Burma, India, and Borneo. Varieties include thousand-year dracontomelum and parashorea trees that can be visited in a one or two hour hike. Coral, vanilla, snow-white and butterfly orchids are also easily spotted. Large mammals inhabit the park including panthers and bears, but rarely appear. Often seen are monkeys, gibbons, flying squirrels and pheasants.

Located 140 km South of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong is the first National Park of Vietnam established in 1962. The botanical richness of the forest is impressive as it supports a wide variety of flora species and patches of primeval forest, including ancient trees with thick clusters of roots, parasitic plants and ligneous creepers.

There are also over 120 species of birds and many varieties of beetles living in the park. In April and May swarms of butterflies arrive. At night, millions of cicadas create a deafening din and millions of fireflies flicker about. Some tree species have been introduced from Burma, India, and Borneo. Varieties include thousand-year dracontomelum and parashorea trees that can be visited in a one or two hour hike. Coral, vanilla, snow-white and butterfly orchids are also easily spotted. Large mammals inhabit the park including panthers and bears, but rarely appear. Often seen are monkeys, gibbons, flying squirrels and pheasants.

Within the territory of Ninh Binh is otherworldly landscape of massive limestone karsts located away from Vietnam’s coast, Trang An, a “Ha Long Bay on land.” Like the famed UNESCO World Heritage site three hours east of Hanoi, the destination is best viewed by boat. But in Ninh Binh’s case, instead of an emerald sea at the base of its cliff faces, a network of tributaries from the Hoang Long River wraps around and drains through the towering stone formations. Trang An Grottoes, a network of waterways and caves. The surrounding terrain remains rugged, with shacks built under overhangs and wild mountain goats perched on the rocks. Once at Trang An’s jetty, a simple rowboat takes you on a two-hour loop along the waterways, gliding alongside the karsts and pagodas and past a series of rock faces into low-hanging caves.