Northern Vietnam Ba B€ National Park

Located in the B c Kån province, Ba B€ National Park was established in 1992 to preserve some of Vietnam’s most thrilling natural beauty and diverse wildlife. Covering over 200 sq. km of water, limestone crags, and lowland evergreen forest, the park is home to 40 species of reptiles and amphibians, 45 types of mammals (27 of which are bats), 87 varieties of fish, 350 genera of butterfly, and 200 types of bird. Communities composed of Tày, Dao, H’m®ng, Nüng, and Kinh people share the natural wealth of the area. The park’s major attraction is Ba B€ (“Three Basin”) Lake, which is composed of three smaller, interconnected bodies of water.

Ba B€’s highlights will be determined by your approach. It is possible to do a professionally operated tour that scans the natural and cultural wonders within the park. Others might choose to have a xe ®m drop them at the boat landing or someplace remote and rely on intuition and the kindness of strangers to get them through. Track down the endangered Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey or kick back and drink iced beers by the boat landing, but don’t miss the pristine Ba B€ Lake.

Transportation. Heading into Ba B€ is relatively simple—just be sure to arrive with cash (the hotel inside the park will grudgingly change small sums of money). The park has a 15,000 entrance fee and a mandatory 1000 insurance fee, both payable at the park entrance just past Ch Rã, a small town 15km from park headquarters.

Getting anywhere from Ba B€ using public transport takes faith, effort, and time. You can get to B c Kån via occasional buses from the park entrance (2hr.; 6:30am; 30,000), but the schedule is irregular, so inquire at the park headquarters. Frequent minibuses will also get you to B c Kån (2hr.; 18,000), where you can transfer to Thái Nguyˆn or Hà Nÿi. Buses also depart from Ch Rã heading to Thái Nguyˆn (4hr.; 5, 6, 9am, 1pm; 35,000-40,000) and Hà Nÿi (7hr.; 5am; 50,000) from the three-way intersection. You’ll have to take a xe ®m from Ba B€ to get to Ch Rã; the ride should take 30min. and cost 20,000, but hard bargaining is necessary. Have the hotel call up to an hour ahead of time for the motorcycle.

No buses leave from Ch Rã to Cao B}ng, so it’s best to take a xe ®m to Nà Phãc (1hr.; 60,000) and then hop one of the buses heading north on Rte. 3 toward Cao B}ng. If you’re on a tight budget, you can take a minibus from Ch Rã bound for one of the southern destinations and have it drop you on the highway; from there, you can try to pick up a northbound bus to Cao B}ng.

Practical Information. Khang Ninh Hospital (☎894 077), just 4km from park headquarters (toward Ch Rã), handles medical emergencies. Internet may be available by 2007. As a student or a scientist, it is possible to obtain a permit for the Biodiversity Research Station in Ba B€ National Park. Visitors will receive a homestay, office and equipment. For more information, contact N®ng Th\ Diˆn, Vice Director of Ba B€ National Park (☎894 027; thedien@hn.vnn.vn).

Accommodations And Food. When tackling Ba B€ by public transportation, it’s best to stay at the Ba B€ National Park Guesthouse (☎894 026), located just past park headquarters, 2km from the lake. You may be fooled into thinking there are multiple options by the different reception areas in the cluster of buildings by the headquarters. All of these are, in fact, Ba B€ Guesthouse, which is run by the government. They offer three types of double rooms. While all include TV, air-conditioning, and a private bath, they vary in levels of upkeep and privacy. Type 1 rooms 4 cost a ridiculous 280,000, for which you get a room in one of six small cottages. Type 2 rooms 3 are across the street in one of the hotel buildings, cutting the price down to 250,000. And the Type 3 rooms 3 have bathrooms featuring chipped paint and cracked tiles for a (comparative) bargain rate of 200,000. Prices listed are high-season rates. On weekdays the place is a ghost town, but call ahead and reserve for weekends since the park fills up with Vietnamese tourists.

For those who have private transportation, it is possible to stay in Ch£ Rã and commute into the park, but the accommodations in Ch£ Rã are no better than those in the park. Instead, try a  homestay 1 along the lake, where the experience can be much more fun and interesting. The park headquarters arrange these overnight stays, but it’s possible to drive in and discover a guesthouse on your own. One solid option is Duy Th£ Guest House 1. Pass park headquarters, and after 1km you’ll see a paved turn-off (the only other road before reaching the lake); take a left and continue until you reach a bridge. Cross the bridge—Duy Th£ is the first building on the other side. (☎894 133. Rooms 46,000-70,000; meals 30,000.)

There is a restaurant 2 on the park premises, which is also run by the government and conveniently located beside one of the hotel buildings. The food is pricey and of limited variety—a fish entree will cost you a minimum of 50,000 per person. For breakfast, there are noodles with beef or a fried egg (20,000) and at lunchtime, ph (15,000) and dinner-type edibles are available. Alternatively, the small food stand by the hotel offers bánh cuon (rice crepes with dried meat) for only 1000 each. It is also possible to purchase drinks and snacks at the hotel or the boat landing, but prices are again inflated; it’s a good idea to stock up on fruit and water before entering the park.

Outdoors. Food and hotel accommodations in Ba B€ may be limited, but sights abound. Visitors usually come to Ba B€ for one or two days, but there is a week’s worth of park to see. Whether or not you intend to take a guided tour, the park headquarters can be instrumental in planning your stay. Make sure you wear good footwear and bring lots of water wherever you go.

Guides are available for half-day (200,000) and full-day (US$20) tours; boat rentals cost an additional 400,000. Prices are the same for groups of 1-5 people, so it’s best to get a group of park visitors together. While it is also possible to go without a guide, communicating with locals and following trails can prove tricky because of the lack of adequate maps (unless you speak Vietnamese). Then again, the guides don’t speak English very well, either. Be sure to confirm ahead of time exactly what sites the tour will be covering and whether or not all transportation and food is covered in the original cost of the trip.

In addition to leading your way, a guide may be able to offer the local perspective on the silent war that exists between the local minority groups and the government-operated parks department. The government has offered financial compensation, drinking water, and electricity to local communities in exchange for relocating; they plan to build an electricity-generating dam at the villages’ present locations. But villagers are unwilling to sacrifice their fertile land and sense of home, instead requesting better facilities where their homes now stand.

The most popular full-day trip takes 7-8hr. and briefly visits all of the park’s major attractions. Beginning at the Nang River boat landing, 7km northeast of headquarters, tourists climb aboard one of the boats in the motorized fleet and head down the river, entering a gorge squeezed between impressive limestone cliffs. The Nang snakes into Puong Cave, an enormous tunnel that echoes and smells of bats, 11 species of which live on the high ceilings. The boat drops you off at a muddy landing and a path leads into the cave with excellent views of the river. Check out the stalagmite that (sort of) resembles the Buddha.

Upon exiting the cave, the landscape becomes welcoming and the boats stop at a trail leading 1km along the river to the Tày village of B=n Cám. Sitting in a modest home drinking tea, it’s tempting to feel as if you’re B=n Cám’s first Western guest.

Leaving B=n Cám from a different landing, the trip continues down the Nang, passing dug-out canoes and local ferries before entering a small inlet on Ba B€ Lake. A short hike away is the startlingly silent Ao Tiˆn (Fairy Pond). The pond’s serenity is occasionally disrupted by locals with bottles of rice wine, but it’s worth a look nonetheless. From Ao Tiˆn, the boat heads across Ba B€ Lake. At this point in the trip, you can decide how to finish the day. Those who are short on time can truncate the tour and be dropped off at the lake boat landing (making the journey 5hr. long), but to make full use of the boat and guide, you can choose to also visit C®c Tÿc and Bó Lù villages (Tày), which resemble B=n Cám village. Another option is to head to <u }ng Waterfall, which has drops of 45m over an 800m span.

Other tour options abound, but require effort to set up. There is an 8hr. day hike up D·n èn Mountain (1000m), which has impressive views overlooking Ba B€. The way home passes Cao Trî Village, home to both Nüng and Tày. A strenuous two-day trip visits Puong Cave before turning up a channel to Bán T<u and B=n Cám (Dao Tr\n, H’m®ng). The trail continues steeply to <u }ng Waterfall and an overnight in <u }ng Village (US$5). The next morning, trekkers visit án May Village (H’m®ng), Khñu Qua Village (H’m®ng), and C®c Tÿc Village (Tày) before circling back to Ba B€ Lake for the major attractions.

If you’re averse to the guided tours, take a boat across the lake (6am-6:30pm; 10,000 each way) and head out from there. If you hope to visit certain minority groups, check the map by tourist headquarters with information on each village. As a general rule of thumb, Tày, Nüng, and Kinh live by rivers and do not dress in traditional garb. The Dao live in middle mountain regions, and the H’m®ng villages are the most remote, located in the upper mountains.