Fresh Greens 3

Cực Phương National Park

Established in 1962 as Vietnam's first national park, Cuc Phương is one of Southeast Asia's largest wildlife protection areas. It harbours an incredible 135 species of mammals, over 300 species of birds, and another 122 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Mammals there include leopards, Asian black bears, civets, and rare langurs (a type of monkey).

Incredibly, I almost had the whole place to myself for the whole day. It was midweek, cold and drizzly, and it's the quiet season here.

There's a 20km long narrow road through the Southeastern corner of the park, so I went in on my bike and rode right through.

It was cold and misty in the morn.

This butterfly landed just as I took the pic.

 Then suddenly flew off

These leaves were so huge

Someone must've reikied them.

I went to a cave which they call the "cave of prehistoric man." In fact, the fossil evidence in there is only from 7,500 years ago, which is only a brief moment in evolutionary  terms, but still, it's provided fascinating evidence of early human burial rituals.

Amazingly huge palms. They reminded me of the huge cycads you get in Australia.

It was a long climb to the cave entrance

Subterranean cricket

Bat neighbourhood. It turns out they've removed all the fossils from the cave.

Then I hiked down a muddy track further into the forest

Giant in the making

Giant made

Trunkated portal

Black coffee, until I added all the sweetened condensed milk. Yummm. There was a place to eat at the end of the road.

Then I did a longer loop hike.

Poachers are a real problem here. The wildlife trade is lucrative.

This is actually a concrete rubbish bin at another track entrance

Entrance to Palace Cave. It was so trippy in there on my own. A path inside went up and up and up.

At one point the floor just dropped away, but I could squeeze around

I climbed up here, and the cave opened out into a new cavern, and it was suddenly super hot and humid in there, as opposed to the bottom parts, which were cold, just like outside.

It's sorta weird being alone in a place like that, having to remember which way you went inside the cave, so you make sure you find your way out again. There were so many potential directions to take.

I considered leaving bikkie crumbs to ensure I found my way back, in a Hansel and Gretelian kinda way, but I heard that bats really have a sweet fang, so it was no use.

But I made it out of course, and met Eli as I left the cave. She'd gone in, but felt weird about going too far inside alone. I was deeper in the cave, so neither of us knew the other was there. When I appeared behind her climbing back down the hill it scared the batcrap out of her.

Eli is such a legend. She's such a cretin though (she's from Crete), and was super amazing to chat with. She's a geologist, and has just come back from a research project in South Africa. We walked the second part of the track together right back to the parking area. It was so great to speak English for a change, and we had a really nice connection.

This tree is at least 1000 years old. Eli told me that some cypress trees in Crete are 4,000 years old. I had no idea trees could live that long.

Imagine that. Those Cretean trees were there when the Mycenaeans ruled the roost, when the Greek Empire rose and fell, and when the Romans superseded them. They lived there right through the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment, and through the ravages of the Industrial Revolution and the unGreat Wars.

And now global heating is killing them.

Well done humans. Such enlightened evolution.

I didn't see much wildlife in there, but I did see a civet running across the road.

As it got dark I finally made it home, cold and tired, but was so invigorated by spending the day in such a stunning natural environment. Nature does that to ya, doesn't it.

And when I finally got home, look what was awaiting me!

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