Road through the forest on Cat Ba island, Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city.
Cat Ba Island is the largest island of the Cat Ba archipelago, about 140 km from Hanoi, with many beautiful scenes with mountains, primeval forests and blue sea and white sand.
Among them, Cat Ba National Park is a world biosphere reserve of more than 17,300 hectares (nearly 11,000 is mountainous forest) with a diverse flora and fauna system, a discovery point not to be missed.
The national park gate is 11 km from Phu Long ferry, which is also the starting point for cross-island trekking tours. Garden entrance ticket costs 80,000 VND per person.
A group of young guests from Hanoi organized a game show in the forest in Cat Ba.
The 2 km long road from the gate to Ngu Lam peak is easy to follow and is chosen by many domestic tourists traveling in groups.
Besides, visitors can trek 6 km or 10 km depending on their needs and health, the travel time to the final destination is Viet Hai village about 4 hours.
If traveling 10 km, visitors will pass through 6 rocky slopes of suitable height for trekking, some sections are slightly steep but short, passing through many types of primary forests.
Tourists should bring lightweight items, mainly water, insect repellant spray, protective gloves and a little food, said Mr. Nguyen Duc, a tour guide who is familiar with the route.
Anti-slip shoes and gloves are two necessary items because the road passes through places full of moss and sharp rocks, Mr. Duc added.
After every heavy rain or storm, visitors will encounter many broken trees blocking the road.
The air in the forest is fresh but the humidity is high, continuous movement quickly dehydrates, the skin feels sticky, quite uncomfortable for first-timers.
Tour guides always advise tourists not to move too quickly and to rest whenever they want to have enough strength to complete the journey.
In return, trekking tourists will have impressive experiences. The ancient flat-stemmed banyan tree branches like a gate welcoming visitors into the forest.
Cat Ba National Forest has up to 1,585 species of plants, including many types of precious wood trees.
The banyan tree grows in symbiosis with another tree, forming a shape like two lovers embracing each other on the top of Ang Phay.
Frog Pond is a famous destination on the journey, about 6 km from the National Park gate, located halfway up the mountain, 3.2 hectares wide, 80 m high above sea level.
In the dry season, the pond narrows, many places dry out, and the bottom of the pond has a thick layer of mud formed by dry branches and leaves that fall and decompose. There are quite a lot of mosquitoes and grasshoppers here.
The mangrove tree exposed its thick roots when the frog pond dried up. According to people, in recent years, the time it takes for the pond to run dry often lasts longer.
Geckos proliferate after heavy rain in Cat Ba forest.
Cat Ba forest has 53 species of mammals, 160 species of birds, 46 species of reptiles and 21 species of amphibians. The most famous is the Golden-headed Langur, an endemic species on the archipelago.
The last slope before entering Viet Hai is the most difficult and challenging part of the road because the path is unclear, easy to fall or can be hit by sharp rocks causing injury.
Coming here, visitors’ physical strength also decreases, so they must move carefully and use forest trees and vines as support.
Viet Hai village located in the middle of the mountains and forests is the destination of the journey.
This is a small fishing village with about 400 people living, but has enough services such as accommodation, meals, and foot massage with fish to relax after trekking.
After resting and eating, visitors can cycle around the village to admire the scenery, stay overnight or travel to the center of Cat Ba town by boat or canoe to continue another experience.
The trekking tour through the forest to Viet Hai is considered “very interesting” by tourists and can “heal” mentally, but requires good physical strength to participate.
