Approximately 12 km west of Tam Coc, beyond the last homestay and the final paved road, a limestone valley opens into what might be Ninh Bình province’s most improbable attraction: Thung Nham Bird Garden — a karst wetland where an estimated 40,000 birds representing over 40 species return each evening to roost in the cliff-face … Read more
From the Desk of Dr. James Whitford:Vân Long is the Ninh Bình that existed before the tourists arrived — a wetland nature reserve where the primary sounds are bird calls, oar strokes, and the occasional splash of a fishing cormorant diving. I recommend it to visitors who have already seen Tam Cốc and Tràng An … Read more
From the Desk of Dr. James Whitford:Cúc Phương is the reason I changed my research focus from European archaeology to Southeast Asian conservation ecology. On my first visit in 2010, a primatologist at the rescue centre placed a Delacour’s langur on my arm — a species with fewer than 250 individuals remaining on Earth — … Read more
From the Desk of Dr. James Whitford:Bái Đính is not what most visitors expect from a Vietnamese pagoda. It is not intimate, not ancient, and not subtle. It is the largest Buddhist complex in Southeast Asia — 700 hectares of monumental architecture, a 100-tonne bronze Buddha, and 500 stone Arhat statues lining corridors that stretch … Read more