For my Environmental Sustainability class we have multiple scheduled excursions throughout the semester. Our first trip was to Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest this past weekend. An enormous portion of Vietnam's mangrove forests were destroyed during the Vietnam War due to Agent Orange and explosives. This has had a large environmental impact on the people of Vietnam even until today. The mangrove provides wonders for the ecosystem such as the removal of nitrogen, providing homes to aquatic and land animals alike, and its roots help in holding the sediment in place. The rehabilitation of these mangroves in Cần Giờ is considered by Vietnam to be a huge success story.
The Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest also goes by another name, Monkey Island. The population of the monkeys on this island is overwhelming. They are relatively nice monkeys but they will grab at your belongings, steal food, and occasionally jump on you.
 |
| Feeding one of the monkeys! |
 |
| A monkey eating a popsicle |
At this mangrove forest there also happened a crocodile farm! I have never been so close or seen so many crocodiles at one time. We actually got to feed them for 20,000 dong ($1) which was nifty.
During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong (the communist party of the northern Vietnam) had a based stationed in Cần Giờ. We were able to visit the base which was built directly over the marsh water.
 |
| The soldiers at this base often had to produce their own weapons |
No comments:
Post a Comment