Day trips,Hanoi,Halong bay,Sapa,Hue,HoiAn,NhaTrang,Saigon budget tours

Cat Ba Island 2 days trip

Viewed from above, Ha Long Bay looks like an extremely vivid huge drawing. This is a wonderful and skilful masterpiece of the Creation and of nature that turns thousands of dumb soulless stone islands into fantastic sculptural and artistic works of various graceful shapes, both familiar and strange to human beings. Thousands of islands emerging uneven in the fanciful waves look strong and magnificent but also mild and vivid. Amidst these islands we feel as if we were astray in a petrified legendary world....

Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. This golden-headed langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild, although it is the subject of a well-organised conservation programme. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity, although it is at risk from too rapid an increase in tourism. Other mammals in the Park include civet cats and oriental giant squirrels.

- Length of the trip	: 2 days
- Trip Starts from	: Hanoi city
- Trip Ends in	: Hanoi city
- Required booking time	: 15 hours for individuals and 5 days for group in advance
- Rates per person	: 70$ - Standard: Sun Flower Hotel**
	: 115$ - Deluxe: Holiday View Hotel***
	: 145$ - Deluxe: Cat Ba Water Park Reort****+
- Rates are valid from 1 Janualy 2009
- Others : Halong Bay 1 day on Junk

Details of Tour:

Day 1: Hanoi - Halong Bay - CatBa Island

In the morning: our guide and car pick you up at our office at 7h45. Drive to Ha Long city. Stop over in Hai Duong province for a short break. Arrive in Ha Long at 11.30. Have lunch at a restaurant or on the boat

In the afternoon: Cruise through the emerald waters between the limestone outcrops and long corridors, visit THIEN CUNG cave (the cave of the heavenly palace - famous for its stalagmites and stalactites) A short way visit the newly discovered DAU GO grotto (wooden stakes'-wherein 1288 one of Vietnam's most famous Generals Tran Hung Dao amassed hundreds of stakes deep inside the cave prior to a battle within invading Mongol army). On the way you will enjoin Tam Cung Cave and Dau Nguoi (Human Head) islet... Keep sailing to Cat Ba Island. Arrive in Cat Ba Island at 6.00. Walk around the Island for sightseeing. Overnight at hotel in Catba island.

Day 2: CatBa Island - Hanoi

In the morning: After breakfast. Leave Cat Ba for Ha Long city. You will enjoy Van Gia fishing village with kindergarten shool, which are sported by the French en route. Continue on to cruise to Soi Sim beach, stop for a swim, and then visit Ga Choi, Dinh Huong, Co Don, Cho Da islets on the way. Arrive in Ha Long city at 11.40. Have lunch at restaurant

In the afternoon: Road trip back to Hanoi with stop-over in DaiNghia humanity center. Arrive Hanoi about 17h00. Finish tour.

Tour price:

Price	Group	Private/pax
Price	Group	1pax	2-3pax	4-6pax	over 7pax
Standard	70$	289$	146$	115$	97$

The trip includes:

The car with air-condition
Twin - share accomodation with daily breakfas in Cat Ba Island.
English speaking tour guide (other languge are avaitable upon request )
Meals specified in tour program (Main: $4 & ABF:$2)
All entrance, permission and visiting fees
Boat trip in Halong Bay in progam.

The trip excludes

Visa to Vietnam
Departure airport tax
Meals which are not included in the program
Personal travel & medical insurance
International flights to and from Vietnam
All personal & daily expenses
All gratuities and tips to drivers and guides

Note:

Surcharges for peak seasons, Christmas and New Year Holidays, lunar New Year Festival, extras for room, air tickets upgrades shall be applied
Group tour: To join with other people on available daily tours. These tours are fixed itinerary and deparute time. It is possible to join in even your group of only 1 or 2 people. Customer do not to find other people to form the group. It is our company duty to gather the tourists for each tour. For these tours, you have to share the coach, boat and tour guide with other tourists who come from different nationalities. The number of people of this group is normally less than 16 persons.
Private tour: To do the tour privately. The tour is not fixed, it is possible to be customized for your group. All service is reserved for your group only. You do not have to share the bus, boat, tour guide with other tourists. One exception, if you stay at the boat in Halong bay - it is like the hotel in Halong - you still have to share the boat with other people.

General information about Cat Ba Island:

Cat Ba Island is situated in Ha Long Bay, 50 km to the east of Hai Phong City, in Northern Vietnam. It is the largest of 366 islands in the Cat Ba Archipelago, and has a surface area of about 140 square km. The Cat Ba Archipelago shares the distinctive rugged appearance and scenic beauty of the Ha Long Bay Area that was declared a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, in 1994. The area is one of the best examples in the world of a Karst landscape invaded by the sea. Some 1500-2000 large and small islands and cliffs rise steeply from the shallow marine waters. Many of these islands reach towering heights of 50 to 100m with sheer vertical cliffs on all sides. Spectacular rock relief and bizarre rock formations provide evidence of a long history of erosion and landscape evolution through the sculpturing power of water. The greatest part of the islands’ mountain range like most of the smaller offshore islands of the Archipelago, are covered by tropical moist limestone forest. Cat Ba Island also has coral terraces, sandy beaches, freshwater wetland areas, tidal flats, mangrove forests and willow swamp. Spectacular scenery and a high diversity of landscapes make Cat Ba a special place and it has become a main destination for national and international tourists.

The People

Cat Ba Island is currently inhabited by about 13500 people, living in 6 communes, of which Cat Ba Town is the largest. Archaeological remains suggest that people have inhabited the Cat Ba area for at least 6000 years. Local livelihoods in the villages are built on subsistence agriculture and fishing. Comparatively new sources of employment and income at the local level are shrimp and fish-farming, and tourism.

The National Park and Biodiversity Conservation

Cat Ba National Park was established in 1986. After a re-arrangement of the park boundaries in 2006, the park now comprises of 109 square km of land area and an additional 52 square km of inshore waters and mangrove covered tidal zones. Cat Ba National Park was Vietnam’s first national park to include both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Cat Ba Island, its national park and the surrounding area are nationally and internationally recognized for their importance to biodiversity conservation, exemplified through the recognition of the Cat Ba Archipelago as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve, in 2004.This is not only because the area has a high number of different ecosystem and habitat types, but also because it possesses a great variety of plant and animal species, many of which, like the Cat Ba langur, are now rare and endangered.

About 1400 vascular plants, including 23 Endangered and Critically Endangered species (Red Data Book of Vietnam; IUCN Red List) have so far been recorded. Large and partly endangered mammals include the Cat Ba langur, the Southern Serow (Naemorhaedus sumatraensis), Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor), and civet cats (Viverricula indica, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The cave, land snail and butterfly fauna is rich including the most northerly cave-adapted crab species, plus four species of true cave snails. The region is considered a hotspot for land snail diversity and might also be conserving a considerable number of bat species including rare ones.

In 2007 a reptile survey was conducted in Cat Ba National Park by Dr. Thomas Ziegler, from Cologne Zoo and Nguyen Quang Truong, from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, in cooperation with the Cat Ba Langur Conservation Project. It led to the discovery of the Cat Ba Tiger Gecko (Goniurosaurus catbaensis), endemic to Cat Ba Island, adding to the list of endemic and rare species and once more emphasizing the need for nature conservation on the island.