The second day of our planned excursions led us south-west to Cuc Phong National Park. We’re actually staying up here overnight, so we’ve checked out of the Desoylia with plans to return on the evening of the 7th.

As it was a three hour drive out of Hanoi, we managed to get a good view of rural Vietnam on the way up here, which is something we hadn’t experienced until now. The land seems to be mostly made up of rice paddys, which is understandable being the second largest country for rice exports in the world. It was very foggy at the time, and you could barely make out the mountainous scenery, which was all around us.

We arrived at the park at about 10am, and after checking in we visited the Endangered Primate Rehabilitation Centre, a short walk away from the reception. Sponsored by many different countries, it’s focussed on preserving the rarest species of monkey in Vietnam.

Mostly kept in captivity, some of the rarest monkeys under protection of the centre have only a 60-odd number in population. It’s actually encouraging to see that they are managing to breed in captivity, though weather it will sustain and grow their numbers is in doubt due to the limited gene pool.

After lunch, we went on a 7km mini-trek in the surrounding forrest, visiting a nearby cave and a 1000 year old tree. Compared to some of the jungle walking we’ve done in the past, this was a little like skipping though the park - unfortunately, there was very little to see along the way apart from a few banana trees and the odd leech.

We arrived back at the lodge around 5pm, and got an early night in after dinner.