at Tien National Park in southern
Vietnam's Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces is considered one of the world's
"biodiversity hotspots". The 80,000ha park supports a rich array of animal and
plant life, some species of which are endemic to southern Vietnam. It has some 400 plant
species including 170 medicinal herbs and 59 orchids. It also houses some 120 species of
birds including two endemic and eight globally�threatened ones, 22 reptile species, 14
amphibians, and at least 62 species of mammals.
Cat Tien's best known resident mammal is probably the Javan rhino. The park is one of two
places in the world where Javan rhino populations still survive. Although we didn't see
any rhinos (unfortunately), we managed to see many unique species of trees, such as
the one in the photo on the right and below.
We saw buttress roots
and they were indeed much larger than they seemed in our textbook. Just as the textbook
taught us, we saw the undergrowth to be very scanty and the canopy very luxuriant,
blocking out most of the sunlight. Flora and fauna we did see, but unfortunately we did
not manage to catch a glimpse of any wild Vitnamese creatures, unless you want to include
the large army ants and earthworms that dotted the damp forest floor.
at Tien National Park in southern
Vietnam's Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces is considered one of the world's
"biodiversity hotspots". The 80,000ha park supports a rich array of animal and
plant life, some species of which are endemic to southern Vietnam. It has some 400 plant
species including 170 medicinal herbs and 59 orchids. It also houses some 120 species of
birds including two endemic and eight globally�threatened ones, 22 reptile species, 14
amphibians, and at least 62 species of mammals. 
We saw buttress roots
and they were indeed much larger than they seemed in our textbook. Just as the textbook
taught us, we saw the undergrowth to be very scanty and the canopy very luxuriant,
blocking out most of the sunlight. Flora and fauna we did see, but unfortunately we did
not manage to catch a glimpse of any wild Vitnamese creatures, unless you want to include
the large army ants and earthworms that dotted the damp forest floor. 
