Shabbatical 2019: Cat Tien - with guest blogger Dassa

Dassa as a female gibbon

Today we have guest blogger, Dassa, who is going to write about our trip to Cat Tien, an animal rescue center in Southern Vietnam. He is going to write in French, but a translation will follow.

Bonjour, on est dans Cat Tien. Cat Tien est très interessant. Il y a beaucoup de chose a voir. La première journée on est allé à la lac des crocodiles.

En premier on est allé sur un jeep, après on a fait une marche à la lac. La deuxiéme journée, nous avons fait une petite marche dans la foret, et après on est allé au centre sauvetage des animaux. On a vus des Loris et des Gibbons.

Des faits interessants sur les Loris:

-ils sont nocturnes

-ils ont un mord toxique

-il sont en danger de disparition parce que les personnes les chassent pour les vendre comme animaux de compagnie.

-ils sont petits (et très mignons)

-ils ont un deuxiéme langue pour brosser les dents

-ils laichent leur bébés pour les protéger.

On a aussi vu des gibbons. Ils étaient très interressant. On les a entendu crier tres fort. On les a vu a sauter arbre à arbre. Il sont aussi chasser et en danger de disparition.


Gibbons- this picture is from the internet

And now in English. We went to Cat Tien, a national

No, we didn't shrink Rob.

park. The first day we did a hike to a crocodile park and saw crocodiles, (and a giant tree). The second day we did a small hike and then went to an animal rescue center. We learned about kinds of endangered primates, loris and gibbons.

Some facts about loris are:
-they are nocturnal,
-they are small and cute
-they are endangered because they are hunted for the pet industry
-they have a toxic bite
-they eat tree gum
-they have a second tongue they use to clean their teeth,
-they lick their babies with a toxic substance to keep predators away while they are away hunting.

We also saw gibbons, another kind of primate. We heard their cried and saw them swing from trees. They are also hunted and in danger of extinction.

Thank you guest blogger, Dassa for sharing the bare bones of our Cat Tien experience. I have to add a few more details about the animal center, because it was my ABSOLUTE favorite place we went in all of Vietnam. The Dao Tien Endangered Species Animal Center (www.go-east.org) rescues endangered primates and helps them return to the wild, when possible. We actually didn't see the loris because they're nocturnal and sleeping, but while the guide was talking to us about them, the gibbons, who were in a nearby cage, starting whooping it up, making these incredible cries. Usually the gibbons only make these noises in the morning, around 5am, but they also get worked up when one of the males gets too close to someone's female. I can't tell you how loud and intense these noises were! You can see a video of this above, although this isn't one that I took, as we were not close enough to interact with the animals, as this was not a zoo-like environment.

The boys were a little subdued during our visit. It might have been the heat, or it might have been their super-geek parents. Rob had a million "I'm-a-science-teacher" questions, and I was translating for a French couple who spoke no English. I've actually had lots of opportunities to practice my French while traveling as there are many French tourists in Vietnam. This translation experience was particularly interesting because the husband of the couple I was translating for kept interrupting to make the kind of sexist comments some old men still seem to think are funny ("Oh those females, always screaming about something!"), until I started giving him the stink eye and only explaining the animals to his wife.

Some of the gibbons were in a large cage as they weren't ready to be released, or can't be released due to poor health condition. Many of the rescued animals suffer from rickets because they were so poorly fed as pets. Yet, there were a few younger gibbons doing the most amazing acrobatic leaps and drops in a tree area that kept us all mesmerized. These animals will eventually be released.

I could have stayed all day at the center, despite the heat, and despite some of the sad facts facing primates in Vietnam: loss of habitat, an exploding population, as well as hunting for the pet industry. Despite all this (and the MANY bug bites Dassa experienced in the jungle), I was completely taken with the animals, their beautiful environment, and Marina, the amazing British scientist who started the foundation and took time off from her research to tour us around.

The next morning when I woke up and sat by the river outside our bungalow, I heard the birds, but also from 2km away, I could hear the gibbons freaking out about something, or just making their morning cries.