I just spent the last few days of 2019 in Cat Tien NP. The dry season was in full swing and the forest floor was carpeted with dry leaves. Invertebrate numbers were much reduced since my last visit back in June however the reduction in foliage at this time of year made it perfect for spotting mammals and reptiles.
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| My Room Mate Gecko gecko (Tokay) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
I saw five snakes. My favourite was this beautiful yellow
coloured oriental whip snake which was hunting a lizard in a tree near the
grassland at the edge of the park. Previously I have only encountered the
brown/grey form of this snake,
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| Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam |
The snake was watching a Calotes lizard on the
base of tree trunk.
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| Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam |
After we disturbed the lizard the snake
eventually gave up and headed back up the tree.
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| Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam |
I also saw two kukuri snakes. One was probably Oligodon purpurescens and had
a lovely purple sheen to its scales.
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| Oligodon sps (poss. purpurescens) Cat tien NP Vietnam |
The other kukri snake moved across the path
in front of me at high speed so I only got the one slightly blurry shot.
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| Oligodon Sps. (poss kampucheaensis) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
Having looked this snake up it looks very
like a newly discovered snake
Oligodon
kampucheaensis, described from the cardamom mountains of Cambodia rather
than the rare colour phase of the local Oligodon purpurescens, but I can’t be
certain about either snake.
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Lycodon Laoensis (Indo-Chinese
Wolf Snake) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
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Lycodon laoensis (Indo-Chinese
Wolf Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam |
My fourth snake sighting was of a colourful
wolf snake hunting amongst the leaf litter at night. Try as I might I couldn’t get
a shot of its head as it kept diving under the leaves.
I have no idea what the fifth snake was. It
was on the river bank near Heaven's rapids and escaped into cover at high speed
as soon as we approached. Again I did not get a shot of its head as it was too
quick for me, see below.
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| Unidentified Brown Snake Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
I never get bored of seeing and
photographing lizards, even the common ones like these.
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| Eutropis multifasciata (Sun Skink) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
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| Calotes versicolor Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
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| Calotes bachae Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
I also photographed this lovely crowned spiny
lizard for the first time.
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| Acanthosaura coronata (Crowned Spiny Lizard) Cat Tien Vietnam |
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| Acanthosaura coronata (Crowned Spiny Lizard) Cat Tien Vietnam |
With fewer leaves on the trees spotting mammals was easier. I was delighted to see 5 primates across
two days including 3 species of macaque. I have seen the long tailed (Macaca mulatta) and
northern pig tailed (Macaca leonina) macaques before here, but was surprised to see rhesus
macaques (Macaca fascicularis) living among the long tailed troop. It’s range is normally much farther north and
would not naturally overlap with the long tailed macaques. It appears that the rhesus monkeys were
released into the park by people and have since become naturalised.
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| Macaca mulatta (left) and Macaca fascicularis (right) |
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| Macaca leonina (Northern pig Tailed Macaque) |
I also saw a lovely male golden cheeked
gibbon on the botanical garden trail as well as a few black shanked doucs.
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| Nomascus gabriellae (Golden Cheeked Gibbon) |
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| Pygathrix nigripes (Black Shanked Douc) |
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| Pygathrix nigripes (Black Shanked Douc) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
The highlight however was towards the end
of the botanic garden trail, by a dry stream near Heaven's rapids. My son and I disturbed
a large cat which shot off at high speed across the forest floor remarkably
quietly despite the dry leaves. As it moved away, its large fluffy tail put me
in mind of a snow leopard and the cat seemed to be the size of a large dog. Unfortunately it went too fast for me to get a photo. It might
well have been the extremely rare fishing cat, I discovered later that one
had been sighted in the same area 3 years ago.
On the final evening in the park I saw a
family of palm civets feeding on figs high up in a tree. They did not seem to
be particularly bothered by my presence and managed to drop lots of figs as I watched
them. I also saw a number of squirrels and tree shrews but did not get any photographs.
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| Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Common Palm Civet) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
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| Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Common Palm Civet) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
Despite the dry season there were still a
few interesting insects and arachnids about. This lovely club-tail butterfly was a species first for me.
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| Losaria coon doubledayi (Common Clubtail) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
This scorpion was on the main concrete path through the forest.
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| Possibly Isometrus Sps. Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
This blueish coloured tarantula was in a hole in the botanic
garden.
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| Chilobrachys sp Tarantula Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
This very cool huntsman spider was a guest in my room.
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| Heteropoda venatoria (Brown Huntsman Spider) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
I stayed at Forest Floor Lodge within the National Park and everything I photographed on this trip was within easy walking distance. The view of the rapids make this a beautiful and peaceful place to stay.
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| View of the rapids from the Lodge. |
Lovely blue winged leaf birds have been in the garden at forest floor lodge every time I have visited.
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| Chloropsis cochinchinensis (Blue winged leaf bird) Cat Tien NP Vietnam |
