If you are a patient person who loves nature and are looking for an experience that includes a large, open space with blue skies, emerging waterways filled by green plants and where you can hear songs of thousands of birds, then one of the places in Viet Nam you should explore is Tram Chim National Park in Tam Nong Ward, Dong Thap Province in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam.
The World Wildlife Fund is funding Tram Chim National Park to develop ecosystems as well as preserve rare species of birds, including grus antigone, or red-headed crane. Tram Chim National Park is located 19 kilometers to the east of the Mekong River, at an elevation of about one meter. There are 231 types of birds at the park, of which 13 are rare.To reach the park one must travel 171 kilometers by bus from HCMC to Cao Lanh Town in Dong Thap Province and then change to another bus to travel from Cao Lanh to Thanh Binh District, which is about 22 kilometers.Thanh Binh is 18 kilometers from Tram Chim Town in Tam Nong District, and this part of the journey can be done with a hired motorbike driver, and Tram Chim National Park is 1.5 kilometers from the center of town.October to April is the most beautiful time in the park, when many birds come. Both short and long tours are available to see the 7,600-hectare park. The short tour priced at VND 600,000 (about US$ 34.3) is in a powered boat which can carry up to 16 people.However, the noise from the engine scares away many of the birds. To see all the birds and enjoy the scenery in silence, tourists could hire boats with oars for VND 300,000 a person. These tours take half a day.Reasonably priced accommodation is available for overnight stays at the park. A three-bedroom with air-condition is VND 150,000 (about US$ 8.6) for one night, while a four-bedroom with a fan is only VND 100,000 (about US$ 5.7). Tourists are allowed to sleep at rest-stops inside the park but the facilities are minimal and typically only researchers like this tour.The people in the Mekong Delta are considered to be the most honest, generous, and friendly in Vietnam. For a longer stay in the area small hotels are available in Tram Chim Town, about 1.5 kilometers far from the park.What I remember most about the tour is the typical image of the Mekong Delta area in Viet Nam; not a splendid beauty like sights in the northern and central provinces, but an area of peace and freedom. A boat glides on water filled with green cajuput, small white water-lilies, and pink lotuses as the gentle winds stir the cane-brake and birds wake from their sleep and fly up to the sky.Come and enjoy it your way.
