Tram Chim National Park

Tram Chim protects about seventy square kilometres of the Dong Thap Muoi, the Plain of Reeds, which once covered a very large part of the Mekong delta and has almost entirely been converted to rice - this is the surviving sample, managed with controlled flooding to keep the seasonal wetland cycle going. It was designated a Ramsar site in 2012. Its emblem is the sarus crane, which used to arrive in hundreds in the dry season to feed on tubers; numbers have collapsed across the region and in several recent years none came at all, which the park and Vietnamese conservation programmes are working directly on.

What you actually see

• A surviving piece of the Plain of Reeds - the rest converted to rice.
• Controlled flooding - keeping the seasonal wetland cycle.
• A Ramsar site since 2012 - about seventy square kilometres.
• Sarus cranes that stopped arriving - the population collapsed regionally.

When to go

December to May for birds; the water is highest from about August. A full day.

Honest expectations

Cranes are not reliably present and in several years have been absent entirely, so it is not a trip to plan around them. Boat trips are on set routes. Mosquitoes and heat are constant. Facilities are basic.

Nearby

Cao Lanh is south; Sa Dec and its flower village are south-east.