at Tien National Park in southern Vietnam's Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces is considered one of the world's "biodiversity hotspots". The 80,000ha park supports a rich array of animal and plant life, some species of which are endemic to southern Vietnam. It has some 400 plant species including 170 medicinal herbs and 59 orchids. It also houses some 120 species of birds including two endemic and eight globally�threatened ones, 22 reptile species, 14 amphibians, and at least 62 species of mammals.

Cat Tien's best�known resident mammal is probably the Javan rhino. The park is one of two places in the world where Javan rhino populations still survive. Although we didn't see any rhinos (unfortunately), we managed to see many unique species of trees, such as      the one in the photo on the right and below.

   We saw buttress roots and they were indeed much larger than they seemed in our textbook. Just as the textbook taught us, we saw the undergrowth to be very scanty and the canopy very luxuriant, blocking out most of the sunlight. Flora and fauna we did see, but unfortunately we did not manage to catch a glimpse of any wild Vitnamese creatures, unless you want to include the large army ants and earthworms that dotted the damp forest floor.