Day 1


Day 1 began with an early start and walk through the forest to the little village, where we had brekky at Thao Linh the only local restaurant. Unsure of what I had ordered as there is no menu, I just agreed to breakfast dish I had been offered, in a language I did not understand! As it turned out it was a sweet dumpling.  

Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) was just a short walk back up in to the forest.  We had a tour of the facilities and met the staff as well as several other volunteers from around the world. 


As part of my planning for the trip I had sourced some much needed consumables from a wish list their vets had provided.  I arrived to the centre with 8kg of bandages and dressing materials kindly donated by Millpledge Veterinary and Advancis Veterinary (my rucksack bigger than me to carry it all!).  The whole SVW team were so grateful. 
I had also discussed the issues they face with wound healing and the types of injury they deal with ahead of my trip. With previous experience of low level laser therapy and its use in wound healing, I wanted to trial this in combination with their normal treatment protocols to see if could have benefits.  With thanks to Danetre Health Products, I had the perfect tool on loan; a hand held light therapy machine ‘Photizo Vet Care’.


The most exciting part of my first day was seeing my first pangolin; a beautiful juvenile female, rescued as part of a seizure just a few months previous. They truly are amazing and unique creatures.  This was also aim 1 of my trip achieved ‘Meet a pangolin’!


Adjacent to the SVW is the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre (EPRC), you could hear the gibbons throughout the morning (even as an alarm wakeup call from our room). The EPRC is home to over 180 primates of 15 different species.  Later in the morning we had a tour of the centre and got introduced to their staff and volunteers. Hannah would later be spending some time there as part of her trip, introducing and training the staff to use ZIMS.  As we were looking round a member of staff walked by with two small Langurs clinging on to her; the latest rescues confiscated from the pet trade, both less than 2 years old and relying on human care. 

During lunch time, (11.30 – 1.30 YES two whole hours!) we looked around the tourist centre where we were staying and tried to adjust to the laid back way of life! 

Later that afternoon we helped with the weekly weighing of the 23 pangolins currently in the care of SVW.  This was a great opportunity to learn more about them and the horrendous suffering they endure from the illegal wildlife trade.  The veterinary nurse in me was assessing each of the wounds and health concerns, to come up with a plan to help where I could!  It became real at that point – the emotional roller coaster I was going to go through, involved in treating these animals over the next few weeks.  Weighing them was the prime opportunity to develop our handling skills and take lots of ‘in action/ working’ photos, which were great until Hannah managed to delete them all by accident later!  


Our final tour and introduction to people was at the Turtle Conservation Centre, the third animal rescue and rehabilitation centre within just 100m of each other in the Cuc Phoung National Park.  They have over 600 turtles at the centre in enclosures, aquatic tanks and specialised breeding and holding facilities, most of which have been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. 

It was the end to a very long first day of meeting lots of people!

Location: Cuc Phuong National Park, Nho Quan, Ninh Bình 432857, Vietnam

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