Wild Vietnam: Rare Primates & Mammals 2-Week Expedition

Day 0: Arrive in HCMC
Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City and transfer to our hotel (Sunday, 22nd March 2026), where we have arranged your accommodation. In the evening, we’ll enjoy a welcome dinner together, a chance to meet your guides and fellow mammal watchers, go over some tour plans, and build the excitement for the days ahead. This first welcome dinner is on us. If you need assistance with your airport transfer, just let us know, we’ll be happy to help arrange it.

Day 1-3: Cat Tien National Park
We’ll depart Ho Chi Minh City early (pre-dawn) to avoid traffic and make the roughly three-hour journey to Cát Tiên National Park, Vietnam’s premier national park and one of the most rewarding wildlife watching destinations in Indochina. Upon arrival, your guides will arrange park entry, and we’ll cross the river by ferry into the park. After checking into our accommodation, we’ll jump straight into exploring the incredible wildlife viewing opportunities this park offers. We’ll spend nearly four full days and three nights here, with extensive spotlighting sessions each evening. During our time in the park, we’ll focus on key target species not seen elsewhere on the tour, working systematically through the park’s diverse habitats. Highlights may include Southern Yellow-cheeked Gibbon, Black-shanked Douc Langur, Annamese Langur, Pygmy Slow Loris, Gaur, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat, East Asian Porcupine, Lesser Oriental Chevrotain, Southeast Asian Palm Civet, Particoloured Flying Squirrel, Burmese Hare, and potentially even Asian Elephant. Over a typical four-day stay, we often encounter 30~ species, making this an essential starting point for the tour. Our daily routine usually includes early morning fieldwork, a midday break and siesta, afternoon sessions targeting crepuscular species, followed by dinner and dedicated spotlighting into the night. If available, we’ll arrange small mammal trapping sessions in collaboration with park rangers. These experiences depend on ongoing research projects and ranger partnerships and may not always be possible. During the daytime, we’ll also visit several known bat roost sites and explore a range of habitats for additional wildlife encounters. One of our stops will include a bird hide frequented by forest squirrels and treeshrews, often drawn in by the free feed, offering excellent photographic opportunities and close-up views of these otherwise elusive species.

Day 4: Cat Tien > Ho Chi Minh City > Da Nang > Tam Ky
We’ll spend our final morning in Cat Tien making the most of any last wildlife opportunities before travelling back to Ho Chi Minh City for our flight north to Da Nang, in Central Vietnam. Upon arrival, we’ll be collected and transferred south to our accommodation near Tam Ky, ready for an early start the following day. En route, we’ll make a stop at a known roost site where we have a chance of seeing Black-bearded Tomb Bat and Lesser False Vampire Bat, a nice diurnal target to breakup and otherwise mainly travel-focused day. If conditions, timing, and energy levels permit, we’ll head out for a short spotlighting session after dinner. We have a reliable site for Pygmy Slow Loris which also sometimes yields Mainland Leopard Cat and Oriental House Rat.

Day 5: Nui Thanh
Today is dedicated to one of Vietnam’s most iconic and critically endangered primates, the Grey-shanked Douc Langur. We’ll depart before dawn for Nui Thanh, where we’ll spend the morning working alongside the local conservation team and the NGO GreenViet to observe and learn about this striking species in its natural habitat. We typically spend the full morning in the field before having lunch and then making our way back, arriving in Da Nang by early evening. This is one of the few scheduled “nights off” during the tour, giving you a chance to rest and perhaps see a little bit of one of Vietnam’s most famous cities.

Day 6: Son Tra Nature Reserve > Bach Ma National Park
We’ll begin the day at dawn with an exploration of Son Tra Nature Reserve, possibly Vietnam’s most iconic wildlife-watching destination outside of Cat Tien. This world-renowned hotspot is home to one of the planet’s most visually striking primates, the Red-shanked Douc Langur, often referred to as the Queen of the Primates. With the help of our team, we typically encounter as many as a dozen or so family troops in a single morning, offering exceptional opportunities for both viewing and photography. Other species we may encounter include Javan Mongoose, Rhesus Macaque, and Maritime Striped Squirrel. After lunch, we’ll transfer to Bach Ma National Park, where we’ll spend the next two nights in French-era villas located near the summit of the Annamite Mountains, a truly breathtaking setting and often a highlight location on this trip. On the way up, we’ll stop at one of our key locations to search for the incredibly rare Northern Yellow-cheeked Gibbon, as well as Black Giant Squirrel and other highland species.At dusk, we’ll visit reliable areas for Annamite Muntjac, followed by dinner prepared at the villa. After dark, we’ll head out for extensive spotlighting with targets including Small-toothed Ferret Badger, Ratanaworabhan’s Fruit Bat, Asian Palm Civet, Common Giant Flying Squirrel, Serow, Large-antlered Muntjac, East Asian Porcupine, Asian House Shrew, and more. We’ll also set small mammal traps overnight, to be checked early the next morning.

Day 7: Bach Ma National Park
We’ll be up very early to target one of our toughest primates of the trip, the Northern Yellow-cheeked Gibbon, a species which is most active and vocal at dawn. With luck, we’ll hear their calls and songs echoing through the mountains as we scan the forest at their usual spots. Later in the morning, we’ll explore a nearby mine system that regularly hosts several roosting microbat species, with highlights often including Pearson’s Horseshoe Bat, Black-bearded Tomb Bat, and Intermediate Horseshoe Bat. Throughout the day, we’ll also search for any forest squirrels still missing from our list, such as Asian Red-cheeked, Black Giant, Cambodian Striped, and Inornate Squirrels. We’ll also check key areas for Yellow-throated Marten and Annamite Muntjac. The afternoon offers a chance to rest and recharge, before heading out again after dark for a second night of spotlighting in search of nocturnal mammals.

Day 8: Bach Ma > Phong Nha-Ke Bang
This morning marks our final opportunity in Bach Ma. If we’re still missing a sighting of the Northern Yellow-cheeked Gibbon, we’ll be up early to check the known locations. If need be, we’ll split our two guides between the southern site and upper colonies, staying in touch by walkie-talkie, a method that’s worked well on past tours. After breakfast, we’ll descend from the highlands and begin our transfer north to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Today is primarily a travel and rest day, offering guests a welcome chance to relax and recharge before the final leg of our journey. Our one key wildlife target en route is Stump-tailed Macaque as well as a reliable site for Theobald’s Tomb Bat.

Days 9–10: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
Over the next two days, we’ll explore the dramatic caves, limestone peaks, and evergreen forests of world-famous Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Our main primate targets are Hatinh Langur and Stump-tailed Macaque. On our first morning, we’ll work with the Hatinh Langur Conservation Community (Cộng đồng bảo tồn Voọc Gáy Trắng) to observe this species ethically and support local conservation efforts. Other primates we may encounter include Red-shanked Douc Langur, Assam Macaque, and if we’re extremely lucky, the super elusive Southern White-cheeked Gibbon, one of the toughest mammals to find in Vietnam. Other notable targets here in Stoliczka’s Trident Bat and Leschenault’s Rousette, seen fairly reliable in a few caves. Both nights will include extensive spotlighting, targeting rare species such as Owston’s Civet, Masked Palm Civet, Greater Bandicoot Rat, East Asian Porcupine, Indochinese Serow, Brush-tailed Porcupine, Yellow-bellied Weasel, and a range of forest and cave-dwelling microbats.

Days 11–12: Cuc Phuong National Park
We’ll depart early this morning for the long drive to Cuc Phuong National Park, aiming to arrive by lunchtime or early afternoon. After checking into our accommodation inside the park, we’ll head out for some dusk mammal-watching followed by extensive spotlighting. We’ll spend the next two and a half days and two nights exploring this dense forest landscape. Our top target here is the newly described Northern Pygmy Slow Loris. Other possibilities include Yellow-bellied Weasel, Eastern Striped Squirrel, Indochinese Flying Squirrel, Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel, Inornate Squirrel, Sunda Pangolin, Brush-tailed Porcupine, Sikkim Rat, Mekong White-bellied Rat, and several microbats such as Andersen’s, Allen’s, and Ha Long Leaf-nosed Bats, as well as the Great Evening Bat. Mammal-watching in Cuc Phuong can be challenging, so our daytime plan will be relatively straightforward, checking bat roosts, setting small mammal traps, searching for signs like scats and tracks, and focusing heavily on night work when activity peaks.

Day 13: Cuc Phuong > Ninh Binh
After a final morning in Cuc Phuong, we’ll transfer to Ninh Binh, where our focus shifts to the striking limestone landscapes that are home to two key species: Assam Macaque and the critically endangered Delacour’s Langur, a major highlight for many on the tour. We’ll spend the afternoon searching for them, with further time planned the following morning if needed. Our final night will be spent at a beautiful eco-lodge set within the wetlands, which is also an excellent site for bat watching and a spot where we’ve previously recorded Asian House Shrew.

Day 14: Van Long Wetlands > Hanoi
Our final morning begins at dawn with a visit to Van Long Wetlands, the last stronghold of the critically endangered Delacour’s Langur, with fewer than 200 individuals remaining in the wild. This stunning primate is one of the tour’s major highlights, and we’ll search for family troops by private kayak, gliding through serene wetlands surrounded by towering limestone karst. Other mammals we may encounter here include Assam Macaque, Yellow-throated Marten, and Pallas’ Squirrel, species we may have seen the previous afternoon but always worth another look. After lunch, we’ll transfer to Hanoi, where we’ll make two brief stops at known urban roost sites for Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat and Japanese Pipistrelle, before the tour concludes with either drop off a local hotel or we can take participants straight to the airport.