Experience nature conservation tour in Con Dao

Tourists participate in releasing baby turtles into the sea at Hon Bay Canh.

Accordingly, realizing the increasing trend of experiential tourism , living in the midst of nature and directly participating in the process of preserving natural ecosystems, from the beginning of April, Con Dao National Park (VQGCĐ) launched a nature conservation experience tour on small islands where mother turtles often come to lay eggs, including Hon Bay Canh, Bai Duong, Hon Tai and Hon Cau.

Moving turtle eggs from the beach to the incubation pond.

The tour has 10 sessions, starting from early June to September with 3 itineraries: 5 days, 7 days and 10 days. Domestic and international tourists from 6 to under 45 years old, in good health, preferably knowing how to swim can register to participate. Each session will accept a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 10 guests/location. Children from 6 to under 18 years old must be accompanied by at least one adult/group.

Joining the tour, on the big island, visitors will be trained by the Management Board of the National Park of Dong Nai on necessary skills, expertise, regulations on conservation work, and general knowledge about the National Park of Dong Nai before moving to the small islands.

On the small island, visitors can visit and experience nature, diverse flora and fauna, explore the island's ecosystem, dive to see coral and perform conservation tasks as assigned and guided by the island's ranger.

Beautiful ecosystem in the heart of Con Dao sea.

Specifically, in the morning, visitors will clean the sand, level the beach to create a nesting area for turtles, prepare stakes and signs to mark turtle nests, clean the hatching pits... In the evening, visitors and rangers will patrol and guard the sea and safe shore to attract sea turtles to lay eggs, help measure the size, tag the mother turtle and move the nest to the hatching area, release baby turtles back to the sea, and guide tourists to visit. At the end of the tour, visitors will be awarded a certificate of completion of the nature conservation experience program at the National Park in 2025.

The representative of VQGCĐ added that after 2 weeks of launching the tour, the number of visitors to learn about the program has been very large, mainly young groups and families. Currently, about 20 visitors have booked the tour. For each departure, 1 week before the departure, VQGCĐ will base on the sea weather forecast to inform visitors to prepare. If the sea weather is not favorable, visitors will be advised to change to another trip, or participate in appropriate conservation activities or refund the deposit according to the agreement.

According to statistics from the VQGCĐ, each year more than 2,000 mother turtles come to the small islands of the VQGCĐ to nest and lay eggs. The VQGCĐ also successfully carries out the process of midwifery, moving eggs to incubation ponds and releasing more than 150,000 baby turtles into the sea each year.

Hon Cau is beautiful like a painting.

From the beginning of 2025 to mid-April, the rangers of the National Park have relocated 83 turtle egg nests with 7,340 eggs from the natural sandbank, releasing 4,255 baby turtles into the sea under control. Currently, the number of mother turtles coming to the beach to lay eggs has been steady, with 1-2 turtles per night, mainly at Hon Bay Canh. Sea turtle conservation activities and tours to release baby turtles into the sea have become unique tourism products, only available in Con Dao.

Article and photos: DANG KHOA

The 10-day nature conservation tour itinerary includes:

+ Phase 1: From June 1

+ Phase 2: From June 10

+ Phase 3: From June 20

+ Phase 4: From July 1

+ Phase 5: From July 10

+ Phase 6: From July 20

+ Phase 7: From August 1

+ Phase 8: From August 10

+ Phase 9: From August 20

+ Phase 10: From September 1