Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station

Some time ago, Gavin and I needed to escape the city for a day, so we headed up to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station.  The ride by motorbike from the city center was enough to make your backside numb, but it was well worth the journey.  Gavin and I arrived, excited to see some animals and meet Lam, the director of the center.  Lam was very knowledgeable and informative.  He led us through the whole center, explaining why the animals were there and what they were.  Most of the animals were rescued from the thriving black market.  They were found, often injured or on the brink of death, and brought to the station for rehabilitation.  Most of the animals will be reintroduced into the wild, but some are permanent residents due to near fatal injuries (e.g. a three-legged porcupine).  Without further adieu, these are some of the many animals we met during our visit.

 Lam and I

 A monitor lizard being tickled.

 A sleeping baby leopard

 A lone macaque.  Handsome and melancholic, I nearly adopted him!

 White-faced gibbons.  The most commonly encountered inmate at the center, these spindly acrobats numbered well over sixty.  We also have a video of them on the move HERE.

 Box turtles - victims of habitat destruction and the bush meat trade.

 A langur eating grapes.

Female gibbons (all gibbons are black in their adolescence, but the females start turning lighter with the advent of puberty).

 Adult river otters queuing up for lunch time. Check out a video of these maniacs HERE.

 

Pangolin.  Another victim of the bush meat trade.  One of the most expensive meats on the black market in Vietnam, going for about $100 a kilo.  We recently came upon a news article where police confiscated thirty of them from one clandestine truckload headed to the market.

 

Juvenile River Otters playing

Un-photographed animals include: porcupines, various reptiles and amphibians, nocturnal lorises, and several soporific sun bears that napped throughout our visit.

If you would like more information or would like to donate to the organization you should check out their website HERE.  They are really doing awesome work, but are understaffed and clearly have a lot of bellies to fill and animals to rehabilitate. 

BBQ

Recently, Gavin and I took a trip outside the city center to enjoy the countryside and visit some creatures at a wildlife rescue center.  Right when our backsides were starting to fall asleep after nearly two hours on our motor scooter, we came across a packed BBQ stand.  As we pulled up and parked our hog in the squishy roadside mud, the local crowd stared quizzically at us as though we were the first foreigners to have crossed the boundary into their sleepy hamlet, let alone dined at their restaurant. (In actuality, hundreds of tourists pass through daily on their way to the Cu Chi Tunnels).  The restaurant was more a series of shacks sheltered by army-issue tents than an actual structure.  The metal tables were scuffed and filthy, the ground was littered with trash, and there were rolls of toilet paper on the tables rather than napkins. Are they for wiping your hands off post-meal or for the instantaneous roadside shits you get after eating there?  

However, the food smelled and looked amazing.  There was a little old gal out front barbecuing pork and chicken to perfection and the sweet smoke filled the air.  We each ordered the pork, or rather pointed at it and grunted affirmatively.  We were delighted by what we received.

 Our spread comprised of a pile of rice, a thin and tender pork chop, fresh veggies, chili fish sauce, and a cup of zucchini soup.  The pork was perfectly prepared and could be easily cut with a spoon and fork (I haven’t seen a knife on a table since we’ve been here).  Savory, simple, and delicious.