Preserving the golden forests and silver seas of Bai Tu Long

Roaming all day by canoe, we only managed to pass through a few points of Bai Tu Long National Park - ASEAN Heritage Park, because the area here, including both floating islands and water surface, is over 15,000 hectares. It is worth mentioning that there are only 24 officers and employees of the National Park Forest Protection Department directly managing and protecting this large area. Their work and life have joys and passions, but also have their own hardships and disadvantages that not everyone can understand and share... From Cai Rong Passenger Port, the district's working boat took us to the first destination, Cai Lim. On a beautiful sunny day, the sea and sky of Bai Tu Long caught our eyes in a brilliant, clear color. The sea water was a magical emerald green, the rocky islands were so clear that it seemed like we could touch them...

Mr. Chien rowed out to pick up passengers because the water was shallow and the boat could not dock at Cai Lim pier.

After a long distance, Cai Lim Forest Ranger Station appeared before our eyes, but now the water was shallow, the pier leading to the station was isolated in the middle of the tidal flats with rocks and barnacles sticking out, making it impossible to dock. There was also no phone signal or wifi to call the station for "rescue", so we could only use a loudspeaker to quickly. Perhaps because we had been warned in advance, and because our boat was parked opposite the station, Mr. Ha Minh Chien, Head of Cai Lim Forest Ranger Station, had noticed us early. He rowed a simple raft to pick us up and then "transferred" us to a smaller boat. Sometimes, he jumped into the sea, pushed the boat for us himself, and guided everyone to wade ashore... In the forest and sea, joy comes with worry . The boat ran to Cai De area, hearing the warning that this area was full of sea ants, we quickly brought out the medicine bottle to spray another round, and happily told stories about the "small but mighty" sea ants in this sea area. Last year, we had the opportunity to go to Cai Lim to survey the flora and fauna of the forest. We just didn’t spray mosquito repellent quickly enough, and when we got home, the tiny, slightly red bites on our arms and legs started to swell up the next day, and scratching them didn’t stop the itch. After that, the bites turned dark purple and gradually changed color, and it took a month for the dark spots to disappear.

Cai Lim Forest Ranger Station is located close to the sea, below is a muddy tidal flat with mangrove trees, which are ideal conditions for ants to thrive.

Hearing that, Mr. Pham Quoc Viet, Head of the Department of Science and International Cooperation (Bai Tu Long National Park Management Board) said that Cai Lim is like the "navel" of sea urchins. The station is close to the sea, below is a muddy tidal flat with mangrove trees, which is an ideal condition for sea urchins to thrive. On days when the water is low and there is no wind, sometimes the rangers have to hang mosquito nets to eat rice to prevent sea urchins. Now that the climate has changed, there are more ships passing by, so there are fewer. It is called fewer, but as if to continue, Mr. Chien told a story about the day before when a group of provincial officials went on a business trip and were stung by sea urchins, their bodies were swollen, they could not bear it and had to return home early... After a while, the sea gully running into the area of ​​Luon Cai De cave appeared. The beautiful scenery with undulating mountain ranges running on both sides made us fascinated, forgetting all about the worries about sea urchins. Knowing the terrain, Mr. Chien skillfully turned the boat around, helping us get closer to the cave entrance. The water at the entrance of the cave has a fairly strong flow towards the sea, the ceiling of the cave looks quite low but Mr. Chien said that if we go deeper, the height of 2 adults will not reach. Along with the large rocks right at the entrance, the middle of the cave also has large submerged rocks that make it very difficult for boats to move deeper inside. Behind this 300m long Luon cave is a mangrove forest with tall, old mangrove trees. However, on this trip, we could not realize our dream of admiring this mangrove forest because the preparation was not complete, and safety factors were not guaranteed...

A poetic view from Ba Mun Ranger Station to Bai Tu Long Bay.

Leaving Cai Lim, we headed to Ba Mun, which is considered the “home of biodiversity” of Bai Tu Long National Park. Cai Lim and Ba Mun are only about 10 minutes away by boat and the pier is equally awkward, and the low tide makes the disadvantages even more obvious. While Cai Lim pier is hundreds of meters away from the station, the pier to Ba Mun Ranger Station is very high, the lowest step is up to my chest from today’s shallow water level. Therefore, after stepping from the boat onto two wobbly foam boards placed close together to get to shore, we still cannot follow the steps to the pier to get to the station but have to walk along the tidal flat for a while and then climb up a long ladder hanging along the stone embankment to get to shore. The space of both stations is airy and pleasant, allowing us to comfortably breathe in the fresh air. Going deep into the forests, the forest landscape and streams have many interesting things to explore . Under the cool green canopy of the forest, the heat of summer is also dispelled. In Ba Mun, from the shore down to the bay behind the rocky beach, there is a smooth golden sand beach. Standing under the rows of green pine trees rustling in the wind, looking at a dreamy green bay is truly stunning. While we were enthusiastically discussing the pleasures of the forest - sea with its magical scenery, Mr. Viet "half-jokingly, half-seriously" said: The patrols of the forest rangers in the forest are not only far but also always have the potential risk of insects and poisonous snakes. If you go in the winter, the "specialty" here is the forest cicada. This forest cicada does not make a deafening sound like you hear in the city, but on the contrary, when entering the body, it silently bites deep into the skin, causing pain that lasts a whole year. And a little while later, when you reach the Minh Chau forest, you will feel what mosquitoes are like. The other day, we went to check the inventory here. Even though we were wearing a lot of clothes, mosquitoes still swarmed on us. They were all small but countless mosquitoes, they kept swarming on us...

Patrol route through the forest of officers and staff of Ba Mun Forest Ranger Station.

Indeed, after spraying mosquito repellent several times, our group still suffered from the mosquitoes that kept swarming us as we walked through the Minh Chau forest to make the program. Anyone who had any exposed skin would immediately get angry because of the mosquitoes that couldn't be swatted away. I also remembered what a friend of ours who had experience in the forest once shared: Most forest animals run away when they see people, even if they see snakes without accidentally stepping on them or trying to catch them, they will crawl away on their own, except for 2 animals: leeches and mosquitoes... Support for the forest rangers On this trip, we only stopped by Cai Lim and Ba Mun Forest Ranger Stations and the headquarters of the Forest Ranger Department on Minh Chau Island. Attached to the forest, the youngest forest ranger here is almost 30 years old with about 3 years of experience and the oldest has been in the forest for 14-15 years. Head of Khuc Thanh Liem proudly told us about the management work of the unit, which has not had a forest fire for more than ten years. On the islands are immense natural forests, and the sea surface of the National Park with over 9,000 hectares is clear, there is no illegal fishing or aquaculture, and the waste flowing into the park is cleaned up. Currently, the unit has also applied GPS technology and SMART software for management, contributing to improving the effectiveness of the protection work of the National Park...

Ba Mun and Cai Lim Ranger Stations both have phone signal pick-up points like this.

Regarding life, Mr. Pham Quoc Viet shared with us a joy that in 2023, the Provincial People's Council issued a Resolution on financial support for cadres, civil servants, public employees, and labor contracts in island communes of Van Don and Co To districts. Therefore, their current income ranges from 10 million to more than 20 million VND/person/month. With the characteristics of Bai Tu Long as a National Park on the sea, transportation depends on water vehicles, and at Ranger Stations such as Cai Lim and Ba Mun, there are absolutely no passenger ships passing through. The above financial support has somewhat reduced the difficulties for the rangers, helping them to be more committed to their work. However, their cultural and spiritual life still has disadvantages and shortages. Both Cai Lim and Ba Mun stations that we visited did not have electricity. They use solar power as a replacement, but the capacity is weak, in the summer it is only enough for the fan to run, so they still jokingly call each other "sun-dried fish". There is almost no phone signal or wifi, every station has a signal pick-up point, hang up a box and leave the phone in there, occasionally when there is a little signal, messages will come into the phone to notify about work, family...

Bai Tu Long National Park rangers patrol in Minh Chau Melaleuca forest area.

In addition, the forest rangers are still facing difficulties in terms of vehicles, equipment and communication. Anh Viet said that recently, the Bai Tu Long National Park Management Board has made proposals to purchase new high-speed boats, set up boundary buoy systems to facilitate management work; purchase specialized equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles for patrolling, controlling, and night-time animal surveillance camera systems. This list of specialized equipment has been approved by the Provincial People's Committee, so this year, the unit will have a plan to propose to purchase equipment to serve better management work, helping the forest rangers' operations to have more favorable conditions.