In recent years, a number of tour operators have begun to conduct tours to the Chua (King) Mountain National park in the south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan. They take visitors to the park’s beaches, bays and lakes, rather than into the forest.
“We’ve only taken scientists into the forest, to conduct research”, said Nguyen Si Hung, an employee at the park. “Tourists come only to the edge of the forest, perhaps not wanting to go further because of the scorching heat of the Chua Mountain”.
In July, Truong Hoang Phuong, a Master of Arts in geography is the director of Marketing of Vietmark Co., invited 12 journalists to explore the mountain. The two-day, one-night trip began in the downtown area of Phan Rang – Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. We traveled along Provincial Road 702 for about 17km before arriving in Da Hang village of the Ra Glai ethnic-minority people, where we hired two local men to carry our pots, pans, rice, pork, chicken, salt, sugar, coffee, fish sauce and alcoholic beverages. The two men, Cao Van Cu and Ta Van Tiep, said they had helped foreign scientists and showed them the way up to the mountain three times before.
At 7.45 am, Phuong shouted “Let’s go”.
We climbed the first hill, to an altitude of 125m. Although we walked in the shade, everybody was soaked with sweat from the summer heat. We drank the bottled water we carried with us, but after climbing five hills it was all gone. After that, everybody filled their bottles whenever we came to a spring.
At 10.45 am we reached an altitude of 250m.
After climbing for about 5km the trail came to an end. The pathfinder then cut at the branches with a machete to clear the way.
When we reached 700m above sea level I felt cooler and a lot more comfortable. The landscape looked like an unclean, shaved head with grassy hills intermingling with thickly-vegetated hills.
According to literature from the park’s management board, the park has 68 animal species, of which 18 are rare and listed in Vietnam’s and the world’s Red Books of Endangered Species. There are also 155 bird species, five of which appear in the red Books. There are also freshwater, saltwater and brackish-water fish.
But up to this point I had not yet seen any animal footprints or droppings. All I had seen was birds, beehives and snakes.
Just before 5 pm there was a downpour. The forest and mountains looked more magnificent and mysterious in the rain. Our group, tucked under ponchos, walked like an army unit. The park is in one of the driest places in Vietnam and the park literature said the rainy season usually began in September or October and was over by December. The annual rainfall was 500 – 800 mm a year.
It rained heavily for about 30 minutes before slowing to a drizzle. Then lots of birds sang like a chorus. Some, though, sounded forlorn, as if they had been separated from their group.
We walked in the rain and strong winds for more than an hour before we could find a place by a clear spring to take shelter for the night. “The coordinates here are 0297284 – 1297750 and the altitude is 785 m, 8.79 km from the departure point”, Phuong announced. “Please memorise this place so that you won’t have difficulty finding it to take shelter if you visit the park again”.
It was still drizzling. The two local men looked for dry sticks to use as firewood. Some people got their hammocks ready while others helped the four young women in our group with the cooking. The dining table was a 2m x 2m piece of rock, which was a bit rough and way too small for the 19 people in our group, so it looked disorderly, some people standing and others sitting down.
After the meal the group sat around the fire sipping alcoholic beverages, drying clothes and preparing to fight against the cold of the forest. Most of us were tired after a day of climbing the mountain in the scorching heat and rain, so everyone soon took to their hammock.
We rose at 5.30 am. Almost everyone had had trouble sleeping because of the noise the rain made falling on the plastic sheets we had put over the hammocks.
Sipping from a cup of coffee, Hung said: “There are lots of leeches between here and the top of Co Tuy Mountain. Everyone should use insect repellent on their legs and any uncovered areas, like the hands, ears and neck”.
At 8 am we continued our journey. After covering more of the forest and climbing two pretty all, thickly vegetated hills, the group turned toward the north-east, where the forest stood by the sea, which looked vast and poetic.
Crossing a grassy slope, we saw animal droppings here and there. A cameraman called Tung said knowledgeably: “The droppings look fresh. I think a group of deer were here last night”.
Suddenly, someone screamed. A leech had clung to the pants of a female journalist. Then three other people were attacked by leeches, but they couldn’t cling to their skin because they were well clad.
At 10.05 am the leader said we had reached the mountain summit. Everyone cheered when we saw a mossy concrete post about a metre tall. The GPS read N1143,979 – E10907713, and an altitude of 1,039 m.
Hung said, “Scientists call this Co Tuy Mountain. The ethnic minority people here call it Chua (King) Mountain. In my opinion they call it by that name because they consider the mountain to be the king of the area”.
At 10.40 am we headed northeast toward Vinh Hy Bay. We thought the journey down the mountain would be easier, but we were wrong.
At 1 pm we stopped by a spring to cook some noodles for lunch. On the way down I saw that the scenery was much the same as on the way up, except that I could see that the sea was very near each time we were on the top of a hill.
As night fell our group discovered a beaten path. We each had to use a torch to walk in the dark.
When we were about 3 km from our destination a young woman called Thao, gasping for breath, said “I’m very tired, my knees are worn out”. I had to help her with her bag and lead her by the hand.
At 7.30 pm we came to a village of ethnic minority village at the edge of the forest, where a 24-seat bus was waiting for us. After drinking a bottle of water, Thao collapsed and rested her face on a table. She was almost unconscious. A TV editor whispered, “I’m very cold”.
According to the Chua Mountain National Park’s management board, the park is 29,865 hectares. Three-quarters of its boundary faces to the sea. The land gradually rises from east to west, creating three types of forests: a dry forest from the sea to 300 m, a semi-dry Asian tropical forest from 300 m to 700 m and green temperate forest at more than 700 m.
The Chua Mounatin National Park is a microcosm of southern Vietnam , with different biological systems typical of different geographic areas and climates and landscapes of different evolutionary types. There are forests, seas, heat drought and tropical and temperate zones.
By Nguyen Dang Khoa
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