Wildlife and parks in Vietnam
The facts
Image: Shawn O'Donnell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 Ha Long Bay
More than 2,900 species of plants and animals live on Ha Long Bay's islands, in its caves and mangroves and in the sea around them.
The bay's management board lists island forests, caves, mangroves and regularly flooded coastal wetlands as distinct ecosystems, all packed into one bay of limestone towers. In 1998 the British geologist Tony Waltham studied 32 of the caves and wrote that the landscape value of the bay was perhaps beyond debate.
Source: Ha Long Bay Management Board, Ha Long Bay: a world natural heritage masterpiece. Checked October 2026.
Image: Rushen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Sa Pa
About a third of Vietnam's amphibian species live in Hoang Lien National Park around Fansipan, and 347 bird species have been recorded there.
The park covers 68,569 hectares of mountain forest. Of the birds, 49 species are restricted in Vietnam to the northwest Tonkin region, and the park shelters globally endangered animals such as the Fansipan shrew mole. Poaching has kept mammal numbers low, so listen for frogs and birds on a trek rather than expecting to see big animals.
Source: Wikipedia, Hoang Lien National Park. Checked October 2026.
Image: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Ninh Binh
In Vietnamese, Delacour's langur is called the langur with white pants, for the sharp white fur on its rump and thighs; Van Long reserve holds its largest population.
This critically endangered monkey lives in pockets of forest in the karst mountains of northern Vietnam and nowhere else. Fauna & Flora puts the Van Long group at around 300 animals, while an IUCN team counted about 140 in 2019. The national tourism authority calls a rowing boat trip through the reserve a must, with an eye out for the langurs.
Source: Fauna & Flora, Delacour's langur, IUCN, Good governance is the key to success in Van Long Nature Reserve, Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, Ninh Binh, Wikipedia, Delacour's langur. Checked October 2026.
Image: Cool critter channel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 Mekong Delta
Until 2022 the heaviest freshwater fish on record was a Mekong giant catfish: a 293 kg (646 lb) fish caught in the river in Thailand in 2005.
In June 2022 fishermen in Cambodia hauled in a giant freshwater stingray of about 300 kg, also from the Mekong, and Guinness World Records now lists the two species as joint holders of the largest freshwater fish title. The giant catfish, which can reach about 3 m, lives only in the Mekong basin and has become rare because of dams and overfishing.
Source: Guinness World Records, Largest freshwater fish (species), Guinness World Records, Record-breaking ray confirmed as world's largest freshwater fish, Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
Image: Elmschrat / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 Phu Quoc
More than half of Phu Quoc is national park, protected since 2001, and the forested north of the island is where you go for jungle trails, streams and quiet beaches.
The park covers about 336.57 square km, and Vietnam's tourism authority says more than half the island has been part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2006. In 1822 the British envoy John Crawfurd was told that the island's great forest held deer, hogs, wild buffaloes and oxen, but no leopards or tigers.
Source: Wikipedia, Phu Quoc, Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, Phu Quoc, The Week, Phu Quoc travel guide: an island paradise in Vietnam. Checked October 2026.
Image: Jerome Bourjea / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 Con Dao
From April to October hundreds of green and hawksbill turtles crawl ashore on Con Dao to lay their eggs, and on Bay Canh island visitors can watch them and help release the hatchlings.
The national park says about 400 females nest on its beaches each year, with 10 to 20 a night on Bay Canh and Hon Tre in July and August, and more than 87% of the eggs hatch. VietnamPlus puts Con Dao's share of Vietnam's turtle nesting at up to 90%. Bay Canh is 20 minutes from Con Son by speedboat.
Source: Con Dao National Park, Volunteer program participating in sea turtle conservation, VnExpress International, Con Dao travel guide, VietnamPlus (Vietnam News Agency), Con Dao developing sustainably by protecting its sea turtles. Checked October 2026.