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Cat Ba island, a hidden treasure of Vietnam
Updated: 28/9/2017 | 11:35:45 AM
Cat Ba Island is caves, jungles and waterfalls. Cat Ba Island is caves, jungles and waterfalls. Rugged, craggy and jungle-clad Cat Ba, the largest island in Halong Bay, has experienced a tourism surge in recent years. The central hub of Cat Ba Town is now framed by a chain of low-rise concrete hotels along its once-lovely bay, but the rest of the island is largely untouched and as wild as ever.
With idyllic Lan Ha Bay just offshore you'll soon overlook Cat Ba Town's development. Almost half of Cat Ba Island (with a total area of 354 sq km) and 90 sq km of the adjacent waters were declared a national park in 1986 to protect the island’s diverse ecosystems. Most of the coastline consists of rocky cliffs, but there are some sandy beaches and tiny fishing villages hidden away in small coves.
Lakes, waterfalls and grottoes dot the spectacular limestone hills, the highest rising 331m above sea level. The island’s largest body of water is Ech Lake ( Frog lake ) (3 hectares).
Cat Ba National Park
Cat Ba's beautiful national park is home to 32 types of mammal, including most of the world's 65 remaining golden-headed langur, the world's most endangered primate. There are some good hiking trails here, including a hard-core 18km route up to a mountain summit.
To reach the park headquarters at Trung Trang, hop on the green QH public bus from the docks at Cat Ba Town, hire a xe om (around 80,000d one way) or rent a motorbike for the day.
A guide is not mandatory but is definitely recommended to help you make sense of the verdant canopy of trees. Most visitors opt to visit the park on an organised tour – Sails of Indochina runs good day-trips here – but you can also arrange guides with the rangers at the park headquarters. Within the park the multichambered Hang Trung Trang (Trung Trang Cave) is easily accessible, but you will need to contact a ranger to make sure it's open. Bring a torch (flashlight).
The challenging 18km hiking trail in the park takes six hours and is best done with a guide. Boat or bus transport to the trailhead and a boat to get back to town also need to be arranged. Again, rangers at the headquarters can help with this or speak to Sails of Indochina or Indochine Junk in Cat Ba Town. Take proper hiking shoes, a raincoat and a generous supply of water for this hike. Independent hikers can buy basic snacks at the kiosks in Viet Hai (a remote minority village just outside the park boundary), which is where many hiking groups stop for lunch. This is not an easy walk, and is much harder and more slippery after rain. There are shorter hiking options that are less strenuous.
Many hikes end at Viet Hai from where taxi boats shuttle back to Ben Beo Pier (about 200,000d per boat). A shared public boat (50,000d per person) departs from Ben Beo at 6am on weekdays and 7am on weekends.
Of the mammals present in the park, the more commonly seen include macaques, deer, civets and several species of squirrel, including the giant black squirrel. Seventy bird species have been spotted here, including hawks, hornbills and cuckoos. Cat Ba also lies on a major migration route for waterfowl that feed and roost on the beaches in the mangrove forests. Over a thousand species of plant have been recorded in the park, including 118 trees and 160 plants with medicinal value.
Cannon Fort
For one of the best views in Vietnam – no, we’re not kidding – head to Cannon Fort where there are astounding panoramas of Cat Ba Island's jungle-clad hills rolling down to colourful tangles of fishing boats in the harbour and out to the karst-punctuated sea beyond.
The entrance gate is a steep 10-minute walk from Cat Ba Town and from the gate it's another stiff 20-minute walk to the fort, or take a xe om from Cat Ba Town (25,000d).
Well-labelled paths guide visitors past underground tunnels, and two well-preserved gun emplacements (one ‘manned’ by life-size Viet Minh mannequins), out to two viewpoints overlooking the island. There's even a cafe (with more great views from its terrace) and a tiny museum.
The tunnels and gun emplacements here were first installed by the Japanese in WWII, but were also utilised by the French and Vietnamese during subsequent conflicts.
Cat Ba market
The market at the northern end of Cat Ba Town's harbour is a great local affair with twitching crabs, jumbo shrimp and pyramids of fresh fruit. This is perfect place to get a good insight into local life of this stunning island
(Source: Sails of Indochina - Baie de Lan Ha)
