Cat Ba National Park is centred on Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Halong Bay. The Cat Ba archipelago itself comprises 366 islents and islands. Together they cover an area of 20,000 hectares of limestone islands. When I visited Halong Bay with a group of AsiaExplorers members, we had an opportunity to kayak in Cat Ba National Park. The kayaking session was long and exhausting, but ultimately fulfilling, as we rowed from island to island, and on our return journey, even had to row across the open sea.
Most of the islets dotting Cat Ba National Park is covered with vegetation, although there are sheer limestone cliffs where hardly anything grew. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon to sea tenacious shrubs clinging to those otherwise barren cliffs, and on occasion, we even saw mountain goats and monkeys on the cliffs. The feeling of kayaking through the labyrinthine maze of islands, where the only sound was that of your oar on the water, was simply magnificent.
There is at least one floating village in the national park. They earn a living through shrimp and fish farming, and from the occasional tourist boat that drop by. As soon as our junk arrived, the villagers rowed towards us with their wares, nothing of value and nothing that we need.
Going to Cat Ba National Park
The easiest way to reach Cat Ba National Park is to book a tour of Halong Bay. There is plenty to choose from in Hanoi.
Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.
Disclaimer
Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.