Day 1: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

After your arrival in the southern capital and commercial center, you will be transferred to a hotel in this vibrant city. The tour starts with a welcome dinner at one of the many delicious restaurants near our hotel.

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*PLEASE NOTE: If you wish to visit areas of historical interest from the Vietnam War (e.g. Reunification Palace/War Remnants Museum), this could be arranged on request if you decide to arrive early.

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City to Cat Tien NP

We will leave the hustle and bustle of the southern capital behind as we pass through rice paddies and villages en-route to the best park in all of Vietnam, Cat Tien. Located about three hours north of Ho Chi Minh City, we will arrive in time for some afternoon birding, which may see us pick up Golden-crested Myna, Great Hornbill or even Black-and-red Broadbill in the grounds of our lodge deep within the park. The next four nights will be spent in the park.

Days 3 – 5: Cat Tien National Park

With three full days within Vietnam’s flagship park, we should leave with a substantial bird list, and pick up a wonderful crop of mammals too. We will split our time between sitting in the delightful blinds that have been erected at Cat Tien, walking the trails looking for flock specialty birds, balcony birding from the lodge, and jeep rides looking for pheasants and mammals along roads. This park protects the largest tracts of lowland forest remaining in Vietnam, and we will visit the most accessible and famous sector of the park, which contains seasonally flooded grassland and lowland dipterocarp forest, much of which is dominated by dense stands of bamboo. The park boasts more than 350 bird species, which include some incredible Indochinese specialties such as glowing Bar-bellied and bulky Blue-rumped pittas, stealthy Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant, elegant Siamese Fireback, bulky Red-vented Barbet, and somber Gray-faced Tit-Babbler. In addition to those are many widespread, though no less important species, such as the magnificent Green Peafowl and Great Slaty, Heart-spotted, Pale-headed, and Black-and-buff Woodpeckers, Red-headed and Orange-breasted Trogons, Dusky and Banded Broadbills, White-crested Laughingthrush, and Banded Kingfisher. Night forays might yield some notable birds as well as mammals, such as harrier-like Great Eared-Nightjars gliding over the forest canopy and Large-tailed Nightjars “chonking” from the forest floor. Blyth’s Frogmouth and Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl are among the rarer nightbirds in the park. Mammals possible during these dusk drives include Sambar, Red Muntjac, Leopard Cat, and Ferret-badger. Daytime outings along trails will give us a chance at the handsome Black-shanked Douc-langur, a beautiful primate that is confined to Indochina, and maybe a Golden-cheeked Gibbon if we are lucky.

Day 6: Cat Tien to Deo Suoi Lanh

After a final morning in Cat Tien, we will head farther north to a low-lying mountain pass near to the town of Di Linh. During our journey north, we will check any of the paddies lining the road for migrant shorebirds, Green Bee-eaters, and Plain-backed Sparrows, before we arrive at our first highland site, which will subsequently offer us our first of the highly-prized Dalat endemics. There is an epic bird blind at Deo Suoi Lanh which we will spend time at. It is regularly visited by Siberian and Orange-headed Thrushes and White-throated Rock-Thrush, but the true stars that we hope will make an appearance are Indochinese Green-Magpie, Silver-breasted Broadbill, and Black-headed Parrotbill. We will also do some roadside birding and may encounter Yellow-vented Green Pigeon, Long-tailed Broadbill, Blue Pitta, Maroon Oriole, and both Dalat and Clicking Shrike-Babblers. The night will be spent in the tiny town of Di Linh.

Day 7: Di Linh to Da Lat

After more birding in the mountains near Di Linh, we well head to Da Lat, where we spend three nights. This city is a long-established tourist attraction famed for its scenic setting and pleasantly moderate climate, where a French Hill Station was constructed in the early part of twentieth century. It makes a very comfortable base from which to explore the nearby forest areas of the Langbian Plateau, which holds a number of regional endemic species. We will begin our exploration of this fascinating area with a foray down to the Ta Nung Valley, made famous in the nineties for the rediscovery of the Vietnamese endemic Gray-crowned Crocias, which remains regularly seen there. Any passing “bird wave” will be scoured for this bird hiding within. Ta Nung will also provide a further chance at Orange-breasted Laughingthrush, as well as other local species like White-cheeked Laughingthrush, Black-headed and Rufous-backed Sibias, the local race (and possible future split) of Black-throated Sunbird, Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird, Streaked Spiderhunter, White-spectacled Warbler, and Red-billed Scimitar-Babbler. In the afternoon, we will head out to Ho Tuyen Lam, a scenic lake surrounded by pine woodland, which holds the possibility of Vietnamese Greenfinch, an endemic race of Red Crossbill, Slender-billed Oriole, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Burmese Shrike, and Black-collared Starling.

Days 8-9: Full days Da Lat

We will split our time between the bird blinds and forest trails, taking our time to score some cracking photographs of seldom-seen birds. Mixed flocks may reveal endemics such as Vietnamese Greenfinch, DaLat Bush-warbler, Vietnamese Cutia, and Black-crowned Fulvetta along with more widespread species like Large Cuckooshrike, Yellow-billed Nuthatch, Golden-throated Barbet, Pygmy Cupwing, and Clicking and White-browed Shrike-Babblers. The blinds draw in some of the best endemics and skulkers and we’ll spend time there hoping to catch up with a quartet of stunning laughingthrushes: Orange-breasted, Collared, White-cheeked, and Black-hooded. Other visitors may include the tiny but strident Gray-bellied Tesia, scythe-billed Short-tailed Scimitar-babbler, Large Niltava, Rufous-throated Partridge, and Lesser Shortwing. A nocturnal foray may reveal the very tricky Hodgson’s Frogmouth.

Day 10: Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City and Departure

We fly back to Ho Chi Minh from Da Lat, where the tour comes to a close.