3-Day Tour Exploring Tropical Forests and National Parks in Northern Vietnam from Hanoi

Day 1: Hanoi – Xuan Thuy (L, D)

8.00am: Transfer from your Hanoi hotel to Xuan Thuy in 3 hours by car. Check in at your hotel located in the National Park area. You will have time to look around the area or relax before eating lunch.

In the afternoon we will walk to the local village where you can experience the villagers relationship with the mangrove forest and learn the livelihood of the locals. We then follow trails to a shrimp farm and understand how important aquaculture is to business in the area.

Overnight stay at hotel of Xuan Thuy National Park.

Day 2: Xuan Thuy – Cuc Phuong (B, L, D)

Check out in the morning having had breakfast and be ready for an early start at 7am. We depart by canoe to a mangrove forest on a bird-watching tour along Vop River through to Con Lu and Con Ngan Islands. It is likely we will see nine species of birds designated as endangered which include the Western Curlew, Black-faced Spoonbill, Norman's Greenshank, and the Chinese Egret. On our return you will have a glimpse of the locals livelihood. We will thenenjoy a picnic lunch in the park.

At 2pm we drive to Cuc Phuong National Park and check in at our bungalows. We then have dinner in the National Park center before a National Park guide takes you into the pitch dark forest to search for its nocturnal inhabitants. Using a spotting lamp we search for civets, owls, flying squirrels, lorises, bats and cats.

Day 3: Cuc Phuong – Hanoi (B, L)

After the sounds of the jungle have lulled you to sleep, you will awake refreshed and go for a morning walk before breakfast to the botanical gardens, here you can listen to the gibbons and birds singing. After your breakfast, you will check-out and drive to the second center of the Park Cuc Phuong, here we will trek into the thick forest. Passing limestone slopes, you will have opportunity to see the Tro Chi tree which is the biggest tree in Vietnam and you may be lucky to see animals on the trail.

We then head back to the park's center for lunch on the way we stop off at Ancient cave and understand how the Vietnamese lived a thousand years ago. After lunch, we visit the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, Turtle Conversation Center and learn a little about the conversation works that are being done at this well protected National Park.

We then return to Hanoi and arrive around 6pm.