Can Gio Biosphere Reserve Day Trip from Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Rating: 
Trip Type: Day Trips
Duration: 8 hours
Located just south of Ho Chi Minh City, the UNESCO-listed Can Gio Biosphere Reserve was once the target of chemical warfare and now boasts acres of mangrove forest teeming with life. Travel by motorized canoe with an informative guide who takes you to view monkeys and nesting birds, as well as a bat lagoon and a crocodile swamp. You’ll learn about this eco-tourist zone at the Can Gio Museum, take in the sights from Tang Bong Tower and get a glimpse of Rung Sac Guerilla Base. Round-trip hotel transport by minivan is included.
Numbers are limited to 10 people, ensuring an informative experience with a small group.
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Located just south of Ho Chi Minh City, the UNESCO-listed Can Gio Biosphere Reserve was once the target of chemical warfare and now boasts acres of mangrove forest teeming with life. Travel by motorized canoe with an informative guide who takes you to view monkeys and nesting birds, as well as a bat lagoon and a crocodile swamp. You’ll learn about this eco-tourist zone at the Can Gio Museum, take in the sights from Tang Bong Tower and get a glimpse of Rung Sac Guerilla Base. Round-trip hotel transport by minivan is included.
Numbers are limited to 10 people, ensuring an informative experience with a small group.
After hotel pickup by minivan, depart for Dan Xay Bridge, where you take a motorized boat or canoe with your guide to the Vam Sat Ecological Tourist Zone, located approximately 30 miles (50 km) south of Ho Chi Minh City.
Start with a visit to a natural bird reserve — especially beautiful from May to October when the bird nesting is at its peak — and a crocodile swamp, where you’ll learn about the process of crocodile incubation and get a glimpse of a newborn crocodile swarm.
Your small-group tour makes a trip to a bat lagoon before heading up to Tang Bong Tower. Reaching a height of 85 feet (26 meters), the tower boasts a panoramic view of the beautiful Can Gio Biosphere Reserve below.
After conquering the tower, enjoy a delicious lunch at a local restaurant.
Your next destination is Forest Park, aka Monkey Island. Check out the exhibits at the Can Gio Museum, which show the biodiversity of the mangrove forest, home to more than 125 species of fish, 130 species of birds, 30 species of reptiles, 20 species of mammals and 50 species of flora. Your guide then takes you to the Mangrove Forest Park Fauna Conservation, which is filled with thousands of wild monkeys as well as saltwater crocodiles, wild cats, otters, pythons and deer.
Enjoy the antics of the monkeys before moving on by canoe, gliding through the mangrove forest ecosystem to the Rung Sac Guerilla Base. Hear fascinating commentary about the Vietnam War guerillas who hid in the mangrove forest — used as a floating base — and the US chemical warfare that wiped out much of the flora and fauna. By 1998, more than 98,000 acres (40,000 hectares) of dense mangrove forest were replanted, leading to the high biodiversity seen today in the UNESCO-designated Can Gio Biosphere Reserve.
Once you’ve made it back to dry land, return to Ho Chi Minh City with drop-off at your hotel.
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