Wild Gibbon Trek

We got up at 4am this morning, to go on a trek to spot the yellow cheeked gibbon. We were actually awake at 4am (jet lag) so not that big of a deal to rise so early. We were to meet the guide at 4:30am at the park headquarters, and we were promptly there at 4:30am….the guide showed up a little after 5am. And our tour mates (Leah and Sam) shortly after that.

We hiked into the jungle and the translator(Bae) for the guide (Vi) told us that we might not see Gibbons. We walked in circles as the sun rose. Vi would occasionally stop, listen and then trailblaze. We did this for about 30-45 minutes. I thought we might not actually see the gibbons.

But then, we heard the gibbons sing. The song was quite unique, it sounded a bit like a riff at a club. In fact, we felt like the bass was about to drop a few times. The bass never dropped but the call was entrancing.

For a lack of better explanation, we then went on a trail run trailblazing as we went following Vi looking for the Gibbons. We caught sight of a lone male gibbon after a few minutes. He ran away and we followed for a short period until we lost him.

After that, we wandered around the woods until we spotted a family. At first, we saw the youngling frolicking in the trees. Then we spotted the adult male. After watching and chasing after Vi, finally we spotted the female. We followed them for a good long while and got various views of them. I did get a few pics, which I will post later when we return to our hotel.

After the gibbon trek, we had a breakfast with our new friends Sam and Leah. They are newlyweds on a 4 month trip around SE Asia. Ashley and I are both jealous and enjoyed meeting them.

From the gibbon trek, we went to the Gibbon rescue center, Dao Tien. The center is run by Endangered Asian Species Trust (EAST). They rehabilitate primates at the facility to re-release them. We got to see both Gibbons and the Loris being rehabilitated. We learned quite a bit about both types of primates, and the various dangers they face in the wild.

Overall the day was great so far. The tour was heart racing. A reminder of how much we like to see wildlife in the wild. The tour of the rehabilitation center was educational, and reminded us how precarious our cousins in the wild truly are.

We are sitting in the cafe in the park. The food in the park is not so good, (the iced Vietnamese coffee is fantastic), but we need sustenance before doing an afternoon bike trek. We had a good time exploring the park yesterday afternoon on bike, we play to repeat it. We saw a great hornbill and Germain’s peacock pheasant yesterday, both in Ash’s Birds of Vietnam PowerPoint. We are going to ride to a swampy area with the hope of seeing some shore birds.