Ngoc Linh Timber

This was the fourth logging truck we passed on the road coming out of the Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve. It took me a while to get the camera out of my pack, and the truck was going so slow up the hill and we were going so fast that I was only able to get a small section of the load.  The size of the logs, however, is apparent. [NOTE: Logging is officially prohibited in the Ngoc Linh Reserve].  

Glimpses of Transects

Random clips from the first attempt to run an inventory transect.  Dr. Ban is laughing and scolding at the end because one of the rangers has counted and measured a plant that not only is not a rattan, it's not even a palm.  

Transect II at Song Thanh

The transect the second day took two hours to finish.  This is a shot of team 1 relaxing and waiting for team 2 to finish.  I am pleased that the ranger in the foreground is looking at the rattan manual we put together for the workshop, and amused that his colleague to the right seems to be making a call on his cellphone. [NOTE: Cell phone coverage in Vietnam is amazingly complete.  Only very rarely can you not get a signal].

Lunch at Transect I

The first transect we did took all day to complete. This is about four times as long as it should normally take, but the first day in the field always involves figuring out a bunch of things, e.g. the rattans, the compass, the GPS, recording the data. We stopped for lunch after 6 plots.  Everyone was tired and hot, yet happy. [NOTE: We tallied ten species of rattan in 2000 square meters, and counted and measured almost 300 individuals. Leeches were scarce].

Which Rattan is That?

Dr. Ninh Khac Ban shows workshop participants how to identify "may sap" (Calamus dioicus), one of at least 20 local rattans at the Song Thanh Nature Reserve in Vietnam.  After learning how to identify the species, we will head into the forest to inventory wild populations of rattan. I doubt that everyone will look as fresh and neat in the transect photos. [NOTE: Posted from an internet cafe in Thanh My].  

Rattan Workshop

The rattan workshop starts tomorrow (see Song Thanh N.R.).  I love the sign they printed up.  And the fact that they hung it right next to the bust of Ho Chi Minh, the hammer and sickle, and the Vietnamese star.  This spiny forest resource may finally be getting the attention it deserves...  

Kontum

A view across the Dakbla River from the city of Kontum.  The cloud-covered mountains in the background contain the Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve.  We will head up there tomorrow to get the final permissions for selected forest guards to attend the rattan inventory workshop next week.

Song Thanh N.R.

A shot from the second floor of the offices of the Song Thanh Nature Reserve in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. I will give a training workshop here next week on the identification and inventory of local rattans (see An Unusual Rattan and Weaving a Trivet) for representatives of six nature reserves in the Central Truong Son Mountains. The basic objective of the workshop is to help reserve staff start collecting the baseline data needed to develop management plans for the sustainable exploitation of wild rattan. [NOTE: Vietnam is the third largest producer of rattan in the world; a large percentage of this material comes from the Truong Son Mountains]. 

Gongs and Poets

While the driver was asking directions in Nam Phuoc, I got out and browsed through the shop of a local foundry. Lots of really beautiful gongs, bells, and other cast metal items. I especially liked the little statue of Nguyen Trai (shown below), the famed Vietnamese poet and general who helped Emperor Le Loi defeat the Chinese Ming dynasty in the 13th century.

 

Bao Quoc Pagoda

Detail of the original bell at the Bao Quoc Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam.  The pagoda was founded in 1670 by Giac Phong, a Buddhist monk from China.