Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons
• Nalbandian, Haas, Ginepri pull out of Heineken Stars
• Multicolored activities at Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary

Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons

Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons

Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons