20 years with Dan station
15km from the center of Cuc Phuong National Park, Forest Protection Station No. 1 (also known as Dan Station) is nestled among the forests.
Mr. Do Tien Dung (born in 1969), Head of Dan Station, said that he has worked here for more than 20 years. During that time, station staff like him had to live in a situation of "3 no's": no electricity, no phone signal, no internet.
“On the first day I started working at the station, there were 6 officers assigned to manage and protect more than 7,000 hectares of forest. The area is large, forest management and protection still face many difficulties when the force is small, in remote areas, so communication with the outside is even more difficult,” said Mr. Dung.
According to Mr. Dung, currently the level of forest resource encroachment here no longer exists, forest security is guaranteed, forest watchers like him mainly monitor tourist activities so that they do not impact the environment.
“Every job has its own hardships. We forest rangers also have our own hardships, patrolling the forest all day. However, after a long time of doing it, we get used to it. If we don’t go into the forest for a day, we miss it,” Dung shared.
According to the staff working here, because there is no electricity, food preservation is difficult, mainly using dry food, or buying food is only used for the day. On hot days without fans, people often go to the stream to cool off, cooking is mainly done using wood stoves or gas stoves.
Mr. Dung shared that before, Dan station used solar power for lighting but it was not enough, after a while it broke down. Currently, the station is supported by a generator with 2 liters of gasoline/day. However, only at night when eating dinner do people dare to turn on the machine, it runs for about 2 hours and then everything returns to darkness.
No electricity, no phone signal, no internet so the rangers here cannot keep up with daily news.
Family is the support
Most forest rangers work far from home, family, and children, so communicating with their families from a distance is extremely important. In the "3 no's" conditions at Dan station, communication is somewhat more difficult.
“In any case, no matter where we are, we have a way to fix communication problems. We give our family and relatives the phone numbers of our agencies and colleagues in places with signal so that when there is work, we can contact them and then everyone can report to the station staff,” said Mr. Dung.
Mr. Pham Phi Long (born in 1994, from Hoa Binh) said that he had just gotten married and had young children. Sometimes, because he missed his wife and children, he would take the opportunity to call home to talk to his wife and children whenever he had to go to the center.
“When I got married, I asked my unit for 3 days off to take care of work. Once I finished my work, I went back to work. Every week I had a day off, I took the opportunity to go back to my hometown to visit my wife and children,” Long confided.
Mr. Bui Van Hai also shared: “Working far from home, forest rangers are at a disadvantage. Taking care of children and family depends on their wives. Sometimes, husband and wife are separated because they do not pay attention to each other in time. When there is family work or the child is sick, they cannot return home.”
Mr. Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Head of the Cuc Phuong National Park Forest Protection Department, said that Dan station is a special station because it has no electricity, no phone signal, no internet, and is not close to residential areas. Communication and travel are difficult, and the area is large, but over the years, forest security in the core area has always been guaranteed.
Cuc Phuong National Park covers an area of 22,200 hectares, located in 3 provinces of Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh with a rich and diverse flora and fauna typical of tropical rain forests. Cuc Phuong is also the first National Park in Vietnam and for 4 consecutive years (2019-2022) has been honored as the leading National Park in Asia.
Tran Nghi
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