Pu mat national park and Homestay

Pu Mat National Park is located in the middle of the Annamite Range. Pu Mat National Park is located in Anh Son, Con Cuong and Tuong Duong districts, Nghe An Province, about 130km from Vinh City. Located in Nghe An Province, Pu Mat National Park is the flagship park on the northern massif of the Truong Son Mountains along the Vietnamese-Lao border. The area contains some of the world’s most threatened species. Here, in these steep forested mountain slopes of the Vu Quang Nature Reserve and in the neighboring protected area of Pu Mat National Park, a team of Vietnamese and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) scientist recently discovered a new genus of large mammal, the sao la (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis).

The park, formerly known as Pu Mat National Reserve, covers an area of over 91,000ha and has 896 flora species, 241 mammal species, 137 bird species, 25 reptiles and 15 amphibians. Many scientists also see Pu Mat as Viet Nam’s great museum of animal gene pool.

In the Thai language, Pù Mát means "high slope". This park was established by Decision 174/2001/QĐ-TTg, dated November 8, 2001, by the Prime Minister of Vietnam on upgrading Pù Mát Preservation Zone.

This park is situated from N 18°46′to 19°12′and from E 104°24′to 104°56′. The park covers an area of 94,804 ha, spreading in three districts of Tương Dương, Con Cuông and Anh Sơn of Nghệ An Province. Of the total area, the strictly protected area comprises 89.517 ha, and the ecological recovery area comprises 1.596 ha. A buffer area covers 86.000 ha.

Biodiversity values
2,461 plant species have been confirmed to occur at Pù Mát, some of which may be new to science; taxonomic work is currently underway to confirm this. The most widespread vegetation type in the national park is lowland evergreen forest.

Pù Mát is probably one of the most important sites for mammal conservation in Vietnam. The Social Forestry and Nature Conservation in Nghe An Province (SFNC) surveys and research have confirmed the presence of five mammals endemic to Indochina: northern white-cheeked gibbon, red-shanked douc, saola, Truong Son muntjac and Annamite striped rabbit. The SFNC studies also confirmed the continued occurrence a number of other globally threatened mammals at Pu Mat, including Assam macaque, Ussuri dhole, Indochinese tiger and Indian elephant.

A "substantial" population of 455 critically endangered northern white-cheeked crested gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys) have been recently found living in the Pù Mát National Park in Nghệ An Province, northern Vietnam, near the border with Laos. Conservation International report they are living at high altitudes, and far from human settlements. This population, representing two thirds of the total known in Vietnam are, apparently, the "only confirmed viable population" of this variety in the world.

Significantly, Pu Mat is one of Viet Nam’s rare forests such as Quang Nam, Danang, Ha Tinh and Thua Thien-Hue where sao la (long-horned bovid or scientific name Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) can be found. Sao la is one of the animals facing extinction, according to the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Endangered Species.

Together with many unique animals, the primitive forest also has many beautiful landscapes. Among the favourite destinations are the 150m Kem Waterfall, Giang River and ethnic minority villages in the forest such as Thai, Tho, Dan Lai and H’Mong.

The trekking tours, where travellers have an opportunity to explore the jungle and unique villages, are among the top choices for visitors of Pu Mat. These tours also allow visitors to speak to ethnic minorities and learn about their arts and culture, visit villages making brocades or tho cam and enjoy special food such as com lam (rice in bamboo cylinders).

Visitors taking Highway 7 from coastal Vinh to Pu Mat meander west through pure, rustic beauty towards the border. The park headquarters are near Con Cuong, a small “wild west” town perched on the banks of the huge and slumbering Ca River, which is itself nestled amongst precipitous karsts peaks.

Pu Mat true wilderness with spectacular features such as the Kem Waterfall is accessible only to well-organized expeditions. However, the reached buffer zone shares the park’s beauty. Park staff can direct visitors traveling on foot or b motorbike to ethnic Thai or Dan Lai (Tho) village and can even help arrange for stay in the villager’s stilt houses in the luscious, forested river valleys. Here, visitors can experience the park’s extraordinary diversity, although they wont’s glimpse the more magnificent wild animals, such as Asian elephants, tiger, sao la, Asian black bears, or yellow-cheeked gibbons.

Those who stop to rest or swim in the shimmering rivers may catch a glimpse of rare, giant black squirrels jumping through the forest canopy and might hear the crested argus, a beautiful pheasant with one of the world’s longest sets of tail feather. The buffer zone is the perfect place to see local people living together with the forest. Elderly Thai women search for gold, using stick to balance themselves in the rivers. Young men and women build large wooden waterwheels to irrigate their small fields. Local villagers will guide visitors through labyrinths of karsts caves during nighttime bat surveys. Many caves are over ten kilometers long. Surveys have shown that these caves may contain the greatest diversity of bat species in Viet Nam.

Habitat destruction and hunting threaten the park’s animals and plant, which deserve the highest global priority for conservation. The Pu Mat National Park staff is working hard to save this jewel for future generations.