After being isolated from the birding and travelling world for so long, Vietnam has become one of the key destinations on the world birding travel map. Our comprehensive Vietnam birding tour takes in all the essential sites, giving us an excellent chance of locating all of Vietnams’ available endemic and near endemic species.

Our main tour departs from Dong Hoi in north-central Vietnam and comprehensively works its way southwards through the lush forests that still cover much of central and southern Vietnam. The limestone forests of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park harbour mouth-watering specialties such as Red-collared Woodpecker, White-winged Magpie, the exceedingly localised Sooty Babbler, Austen’s Brown Hornbill and the recently described Limestone Leaf Warbler.

Continuing south, we cross over the Sa Mu Pass for Rufous-cheeked Laughingthrush before arriving in Bach Ma National Park where highlights include Hodgson’s Frogmouth, Masked Laughingthrush, Rufous-throated and Black-browed Fulvettas, Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler, White-gorgeted Flycatcher and Silver Pheasant.

The extensive hill and montane forests of Ngoc Linh and Mang Canh will be our next destination and here we’ll search for the extremely range-restricted Golden-winged, Chestnut-eared, Red-tailed, and Black-hooded Laughingthrushes, the recently discovered Black-crowned Barwing, Yellow-billed Nuthatch, Green Cochoa, Indochinese Fulvetta and Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler.

The dry, deciduous woodlands of Yok Don then await us where we hope to find Burmese Nuthatch, Chinese Francolin, Black-headed and Great Slaty Woodpeckers, the scarce White-rumped Falcon, and Rufous-winged Buzzard among an incredible selection of other great birds!

A scenic drive from Yok Don will take us to Da Lat, a former French hill station at the southern extreme of the Central Highlands. From Da Lat we will make day trips to the nearby Mount Lang Biang, Mount Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, the famous Ta Nung Valley and Ho Tuyen Lam for many delectable specialties such as Collared Laughingthrush, Vietnamese Cutia, Vietnamese Greenfinch,  Black-crowned Fulvetta, Annam Prinia, Annam (currently Mrs. Gould’s) and Lang Biang (currently Black-throated) Sunbirds and the once mythical Grey-crowned Crocias, a species thought to have been extinct for over 50 years! The nearby Deo Nui San Pass also offers some exciting birding and specialties here include White-cheeked and Orange-breasted Laughingthrushes, Blue Pitta, Indochinese Green Magpie, Yellow-vented Green Pigeon, and the near-endemic Black-headed Parrotbill.

We finish this epic birding adventure in the magnificent lowland tropical forests of Cat Tien National Park. Numerous specialities, both avian and mammalian occur here, and we hope to find Blue-rumped and Bar-bellied Pittas, Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant, Green Peafowl, Siamese Fireback, the elusive, Orange-necked Partridge, the rare Pale-headed and Black-and-buff Woodpeckers, Orange-breasted Trogon, Ashy-headed Green Pigeon, the stunning Golden-crested Myna, Great Eared Nightjar and Blyth’s Frogmouth. Significant mammals in Cat Tien could include Gaur, Pygmy Slow Loris and three beautiful primates: Black-shanked Douc Langur, Indochinese Lutung and Red-cheeked Gibbon, while we’ll also seek out Red-shanked Douc and Delacour’s Langurs, as well as Northern Buff-cheeked Crested Gibbon during our time further north in the country.

Now that peace reigns over the once troubled land of Vietnam, we invite the keen birder with a taste for the exotic to explore this incredible country.