Mangroves, crocodiles, and fruit bats

By Guest Editor John

Having limited enthusiasm for the pleasures of third world urban centers, I booked myself a river trip to a nature reserve in the Mekong Delta. It promised mangroves, crocodiles, and fruit bats. Also lunch. 

The tour started in the Saigon River ship channel a kilometer from our cruise ship’s dock. Eight of us intrepid tourists hopped into a boat powered by a 200 horsepower Yamaha outboard and roared down the river and up the Song Sai Gon Canal, built by the French in 1862, at perhaps 30 knots. 

The canal was filled with unpleasant urban flotsam. It periodically tangled the propeller, causing the boat driver to stop and reverse the engine to clear it. Tidal range in the estuary can exceed four meters, and rising sea levels mean that the substandard dwellings along the canal flood more frequently. 

Our guide cheerfully explained that the government offers canal-side owners a relocation allowance based on the size of their house on land (nothing for any part floating or built over water), but it’s insufficient to persuade them to leave. “It’s not like China here. The government won’t make them leave”, she says. 

We passed boats heavily laden with produce for the city. 

New construction along the canal and throughout the area indicate increasing prosperity in recent years.

We stopped to visit a local village market. Low tide made docking the boat challenging. 

The market was an acre of small stalls and narrow walkways filled with shoppers. Beeping motor scooter riders nosed through the throng. 

Vendors chatted cheerfully with each other. Abundant meat, fish, and vegetables were on offer to nourish the living. Symbolic paper goods were to be incinerated to supply the departed. 

We zoomed further through the maze of delta distributaries, less obviously polluted as we went away from the city, to reach KDL Sinh Thái Vàm Sát Cần GIờ, a restaurant and pavilion in the nature reserve. There we climbed onto tippy pontoon barges to cross a muddy, crocodile-filled pond. Our guide encouraged us to dangle bits of meat above the water for the amusement of the crocodiles. 

 

For our amusement, our guide scattered pieces of banana to attract a local troupe of monkeys from the forest. 

Then, at last, we reached the promised peaceful mangrove forest. A 100 meter irregular stone path led from the commerce-filled estuary to a quiet swamp. No motors allowed here. In small boats we paddled through the groves. 

 

This entire area was devastated fifty years ago by Agent Orange, sprayed liberally over the Mekong Delta. Its restoration is touted as an ecological triumph.

We stopped to admire fruit bats sleeping high on tree trunks. 

Two caretakers live in the reserve. In exchange for watching the area, they are allowed to net fish for their own subsistence.