Cat Ba Island is the largest island of Cat Ba archipelago, about 140 km from Hanoi, with many beautiful sceneries with mountains, primeval forests and blue sea and white sand.
In particular, Cat Ba National Park is a world biosphere reserve of more than 17,300 hectares (nearly 11,000 are mountain forests) with diverse flora and fauna, which is a discovery point not to be missed.
The gate of the national park is 11 km from Phu Long ferry, which is also the starting point for the trenkking tour across the island. Entrance fee to the garden is 80,000 VND per person. The 2 km long route from the gate to the top of Musketeers is easy to walk, chosen by many domestic tourists in groups.
Besides, visitors can trek 6 km or 10 km depending on their needs and health, the travel time to the final destination is Viet Hai village about 4 hours.
If traveling 10 km, visitors will go through 6 rocky slopes with a suitable height for trekking, some sections are a bit steep but short, passing through many types of primeval forest. Visitors should bring light items, mainly water, insect repellent sprays, protective gloves and a bit of food, said Nguyen Duc, a guide fluent in the route.
Non-slip shoes and gloves are two must-have items because the road passes through mossy spots and sharp cat ear kicks, Duc added.
After every heavy forest rain, thunderstorm, visitors will encounter many fallen trees blocking the road. The air in the forest is fresh but the humidity is high, the movement is constantly fast, dehydration, the feeling of sticky skin, quite uncomfortable for first-time visitors.
The guides always advise visitors not to move too quickly, rest at any time to be able to follow the whole journey. In return, trekking visitors will have impressive experiences. The ancient flat-stemmed banyan tree branches like a gate that welcomes visitors into the forest.
Cat Ba National Forest has up to 1,585 species of plants, including many precious trees. The banyan tree strangled in symbiosis with another woody tree forming a shape like a couple embracing each other on the top of Ang Phay. Frog Pond is a famous destination on the journey, about 6 km from the gate of the National Park, located halfway up the mountain, 3.2 hectares wide, 80 m above sea level.
In the dry season, the pond bed narrows, many places dry up water, the bottom of the pond has a thick layer of mud due to dry branches falling and decomposing. Here quite a lot of mosquitoes and grasshoppers.
Mangroves reveal thick roots when frog ponds run dry. According to residents, in recent years, the time when ponds run out of water often lasts longer. Cat Ba forest has 53 species of mammals, 160 species of birds, 46 species of reptiles and 21 species of amphibians. The most famous is the yellow-crowned langur, endemic to the archipelago.
The last slope before entering Viet Hai is the most difficult and challenging because the path is not clear, easy to fall or can be injured by sharp stones.
Going here, the physical strength of visitors also goes down, so they must move carefully, so use forest trees and vines as fulcrum.
Viet Hai village located in the middle of mountains and forests is the destination of the journey. This is a small fishing village with about 400 people living, but there are enough services such as accommodation, dining, foot massage with fish to relax after trekking.
After resting, eating, visitors can cycle around the village to see the scenery, stay overnight or move to the center of Cat Ba town by boat or canoe to continue other experiences.
The trekking tour through the jungle to Viet Hai is rated by visitors as "very interesting" and can "heal" mentally but requires good physical fitness to participate.
According to VnE