Wildlife, beach picnics and respite from the dizzying city please tourists here, but the environment might be in danger.

Since becoming Vietnam’s first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000, Ho Chi Minh City’s Can Gio District has become a popular getaway destination for local city-dwellers.

With a diversified 33,000 hectare ecosystem boasting more than 200 species of fauna and at least 50 species of flora, Can Gio – technically an island made by rivers – fits the biosphere mold to a T.

On the way

Driving to Can Gio by motorbike is one of the most pleasant parts of the trip. The main cable through Can Gio, and the only way to reach its tourist attractions, is a single-lane country road that gives way to the untouched swamps and lush mangrove forests the island is known for. Surrounded by rich greenery on both sides, you cross several small bridges where you can catch nice vistas of rivers heading toward the coast before they empty into the sea.

The beauty is incredible, particularly given the fact that much of the forests were destroyed during the Vietnam War. Don’t miss out on trying some of the roadside vendors’ delicious and refreshing brown water coconuts.

After passing several villages, the road ends at Can Gio Beach, where you can see the point at Vung Tau to the northeast on a clear day. While the muddy shores are not ideal for swimming – the water is very shallow – it’s an ideal spot for picnicking and indeed this is what most local tourists do. Grab a seat, order some clams, shrimp and crab for lunch, and relax after the journey by rewarding yourself with some beer or local rice wine.

Other local picnickers are likely to invite you to eat and drink at their tables.

Ecology and animal life

Can Gio’s mangrove forests now account for 75 percent of the island’s total area and its saline waters are home to hundred of species of crustaceans, frogs and insects, which make a balanced diet for the area’s thousands of famous long-tailed monkeys, Can Gio’s biggest tourist attraction.

At Lam Vien Can Gio (Can Gio Park) visitors can feed and even play with the monkeys in a questionably-safe tourist activity.

The omnivorous monkeys also regularly eat mangrove buds, leaves and fruits.

The “Monkey Island” at Lam Vien Can Gio is part of the Can Gio Ecotourism Park run by Saigontourist. The wild monkeys here are very familiar with tourists, so much that they might snatch cooking from your pocket or even a camera from around your neck.

Also on Monkey Island is the thrilling Saltwater Crocodile Sanctuary, home to some 80 saltwater crocodiles. The officially endangered reptile is no longer found in the wild around Can Gio. While cages protect the crocs from the threatening outside environment, it’s really the travelers that find this encounter frightening as the wooden planks used to walk above the crocodile pit don’t feel all that sturdy.

Vam Sat Park near Lam Vien also has a crocodile farm where things can get particularly exciting at feeding time when chunks of meat are thrown at the beasts and a feeding frenzy ensues. While experts here can teach travelers about the reptiles’ living and hunting habits, the farm also offers the nebulous tourism activity of “Crocodile fishing.” Vam Sat also offers crab fishing and boat trips to Dam Doi (Bat Marsh) where hundreds of fruit bats can be seen.

Another of Can Gio’s big attractions is bird watching as thousands of birds nest here every summer. Travelers can watch the birds in action at the Vam Sat Bird Sanctuary where they mate, breed, brood and tend their chicks.

Some 130 species of birds can be found in Can Gio, of which water birds account for over 39 percent.

Tourism and the environment

After the war, Can Gio went entirely undeveloped until 1998 when district authorities launched a campaign with Phu Tho Tourism and Services to transform the island into an ecotourism site and create new jobs for locals while raising public awareness about the importance of preserving the world’s biosphere reserve.

Tourism has since boosted employment in the area – which has often proved susceptible to water shortages, floods and storms – but environmentalists have said that Can Gio’s natural areas lack protection and conservation mechanisms and are poorly managed. They worry that tourism projects here aren’t sustainable and might do more harm than good in the long run.

Some say that anyone could have predicted that a flow of tourists to the island might create some environmental issues, and indeed several foreign travelers there have complained.

“The Monkey Island is an interesting place to visit, however, I think it’s time we started with educating people and introducing fines for feeding the monkeys with human food. Monkeys are smart and they learn that if they get fed they know how to make people feed them for more,” said Jack, an Australian tourist from Sydney.

Susanne from England said littering on Can Gio’s beaches really turned her off.

“I wish people could realize how valuable Can Gio and its biodiversity are,” she said.

Given the history of Can Gio, its global importance as recognized by UNESCO, and it’s miraculous resurrection from a war-torn badlands, one can only hope that the island, one of the southern Vietnamese coast’s only two mangrove forests, can sustain Vietnam’s rise to modernity and that the authorities will help it fend off the ill-effects of “development” as we know it.

Reported by Thuy Tien – Mai The