Pu Luong Nature Reserve and its people
Pu Luong is in the middle of one of Vietnam’s most stunning protected area. Pu Luong Nature Reserve is approximately 170 km north-west of Hanoi, which takes about 4-hours to drive to. Once there you are rewarded with a lush jungles, magnificent rice terraces, and breathtaking limestone mountains.
The area is has some of the last lowland limestone forests and limestone habitat forest in northern Vietnam. It has over 1000 different types of plants, 84 mammal species (including 24 bat species), 162 bird species, 55 fish species, 28 reptile species and 13 amphibian species. Pu Luong nature reserve is also likely to have the largest Vietnamese populations of the globally critically endangered, endemic primate, Delacour’s Leaf Monkey.
The area also is also home to two ethnic groups – the Black Thai and Muong people. Pu Luong means ‘highest peak’ in the local Black Thai language. The Black Thai people, who’s village surrounds Pu Luong Treehouse, are subsistence farmers and have called Pu Luong home since the 16th century. The almost 300 people of this village descend from two families, Hà Công and Hà Văn. The surnames of all the families still reflect their descendents’ names, which is said to come from a dragon that was raised by humans, that created Pu Luong as a gift to his parents by creating a land of mountains, streams and rice fields.
Pu Luong Treehouse
The beauty of Puluong Tree House is its “out of the beaten path” location, deep into the hills and rice paddies. Most exploration will require walking along narrow paths and hike up some steep hills. In return, the peace and beauty that one may enjoy in the pristine Nature is uncommon, if not unique.
