Travel 150 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh towards Saigon , and you would get to the Cat Tien National Park . Vietnam is not known for its tropical rainforests, though the Cat Tien is the one of the very few tropical rain forests in Vietnam now. The Cat Tien National Park was witness to some of the heaviest damages caused during the Vietnam War.
A lot of herbicides were sprayed over the area of this park during the War, inflicting heavy damage to the ecosystem. In fact, till date a lot of the bamboo and shrubs have not managed to grow back after the spray of herbicides.
You will find some really rare species of fauna here in the Cat Tien National Park. Some of them include Fabacecae, Lythracecae amongst others. Bamboo Woodland make up 40% of the area of Cat Tien with another 10% contributed by wetland, farmlands and grassland.
As for species of animals found in Cat Tien, the list is impressive and long at that. In the Cat Tien National Park, you would find Sun Bears, Asian Elephants, Gaur, with some flocks of Asian Water Buffalo. Some researchers have also reported the sight of Asiatic Black Bear and Leopards, but these are not confirmed reports as yet.
In the Cat Tien National Park, you would also find White-winged ducks, Siamese Firebacks and the Black Eagles.
The presence of a lot of rhinos in this park, makes this critical to the Vietnamese. In fact, the Javan Rhinos have already been classified as one of the endangered species inhabiting this park. A lot of logging and poaching done by the locals here have threatened to spoil the ecosystem of this place.
Remember, Cat Tien National Park is a place where animals live in peace! Do not try to hunt them down or poach on them. Already, Cat Tien National Park has damaged quite a bit of its ecosystems due to the extensive logging and poaching in this place. Please also be sure to carry your trash with you. Dumping the trash in the forest may also lead to causing environmental pollution here.
