Delight sounds the identical in each language. Not the phrase, however the feeling. That was a stunning shock discovery once I took my new-found ardour for bird-watching abroad for the primary time in Vietnam.
I’m a brand new twitcher. Once I moved to the Aussie bush a few years in the past, my passing admiration for birds grew into a correct interest. I’m no professional, however I’ve come to like seeing what lives the place, observing completely different species and studying their habits. My guided journey to the Thung Nham Fowl Valley, two hours south of Hanoi, was the proper possibility for an enthusiastic newbie like me.
I might go on ceaselessly in regards to the cognitive advantages of awe-inspiring nature experiences or how connecting with nature makes you extra conscious of your impression on our planet; that’s all very true and essential. However largely, I’d prefer to make a case for packing binoculars and going bird-watching in your subsequent journey.
Wow moments go straight to the center and transcend language.
You don’t want lots of package. My binoculars are pretty cheap, however they do the job, and it’s thrilling to have the ability to get an up-close take a look at an imposing chook in flight
It’s a shortcut to a state of childlike glee that’s simply so good for the soul, particularly once you go searching and discover that you simply’re sharing that second with strangers from all over the world who all really feel precisely the identical.
Wow moments go straight to the center and transcend language. That’s why meals and tradition are so nice for bringing folks collectively. Now I do know that Vietnam is incredible in any respect three sorts of wow – meals, tradition and nature.
I’d already been to Vietnam a few occasions and liked it, so I used to be actually excited to get out of the town and away from the extra well-known locations this time.
We rose early for our bus journey south towards the UNESCO World Heritage Web site of Tam Coc, an eco-tourism park in Ninh Binh, it’s a inexperienced panorama crammed with towering limestone cliffs and shimmering waterways.
We handed small cities and farms alongside the best way, locations the place water buffalo nonetheless labored the fields, and the scent of ripe rice crammed the air. Tam Coc is a refuge for over 45 species of birds, together with egrets, herons, storks and kingfishers, and one of the best ways to view them is by taking a ship journey out onto the park’s lakes and wetlands.
We boarded a small conventional boat steered by a neighborhood elder with a giant grin and an ageless sparkle in his eyes. He deftly guided us out onto the water, and inside 30 seconds of stopping on the nesting areas, we noticed a procession of fluffy child herons toddling alongside atop a flotilla of water lilies. We gasped in delight, and the sound rippled out by way of every of the little boats surrounding us, making us chortle – first on the humorous little birds after which at one another.
Sharing that second of pure pleasure with our Intrepid chief and boatman has stayed with me as a lot because the sight of a whole bunch of gorgeous birds gliding overhead, touchdown, taking off and nesting within the timber. It was a rare day, my face ached from smiling afterwards.
So pack your binoculars and go chook watching in your subsequent journey. It’s an ideal excuse to get off the overwhelmed observe, a possibility to see the locations you go to from a brand new perspective and a extremely particular solution to join with native folks and share their love for his or her land.
Uncover your individual wow moments in Vietnam with one in all Intrepid’s small group adventures.
