Trip Report – Vietnam’s Rare Primates Tour – Royle Safaris – April 2025
In April Royle Safaris was back in Vietnam for our annual Vietnam’s Rare Primates Tour, which was run with great success. This trip visited Cat Tien National Park, Nui Thanh Reserve, Bach Ma National Park, Son Tra Reserve, Phong Nha National Park, Van Long Reserve, Cuc Phoung National Park and Cat Ba National Park on this trip as we headed from south to north. The trip was successful with all but three species of primates which were targeted not seen (these being the southern & intermediate pygmy slow loris (we have now found a reliable site for southern pygmy slow loris again (after some years of struggling) and the very rarely seen southern white-cheeked gibbon), meaning we saw 13 species of primate, including all three douc langurs.
The trip was also successful for mammals in general with 29 species of mammals recorded, 132 species of birds and 5 species of reptiles despite birds, reptiles and others not being targeted at all. Making this a very successful trip overall for Vietnam.
We will be running a repeat of this trip in April 2024 (1-15 April) and again in 2026. If anyone is interested please get in touch (info@royle-safaris.co.uk) for more info. We have a few places remaining.
We can also run extensions to see Tokin Snub-nosed Monkeys (among other species of rare primate in Vietnam) if you are interested and this can be added to the standard primate tour. We will be posting a separate report after a private tour to northern Vietnam where Tokin Snub-nosed Monkey, Northern White-cheeked Gibbon, Intermediate Pygmy Slow Loris and Cat Ba Langur are all major targets.
Picture courtesy of John Weir.
Trip Report – Vietnam’s Rare Primates Tour – Royle Safaris – April 2025
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3 Comments
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craig9563
Great report and photos – thanks. I was just recently in Northern Vietnam (Oct 9 – Oct 26, 2025). I hired and local guide and driver for wildlife spotting(all animals). We saw a small group of Delacour’s langurs near Val Long Nature Reserve (the guide knows a local land-owner, who let is in to the back of his property). I ,too, was appalled by the nearby limestone mining.
We then visited Cuc Phuong National Park at night and managed to see Northern slow loris on 4 occasions (along with other cool critters such as green pit vipers and Vietnamese mossy frog. We did drive well into the park, about 20 km in, I believe. We also visited the animal rescue / rehab centre while there. While these were not wild, but in cages, I was enthralled to see pangolins, leopard cat and some civets.
Craig, Melbourne, AU.
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Daniel Boyland
Be aware that Cat Ba langur tourism is illegal, as the population is very small and prone to disturbance. Some local guides ignore these laws and conduct langur tours anyway, while paying off corrupt rangers to avoid getting in trouble.