BBC Planet Earth III: Extraordinary Life in Phong Nha Ke Bang and Saola Conservation

Recently on November 26, 2023, the BBC Planet Earth III showed an episode called Extremes. The Episode with a total duration of 58 minutes depicts the lives of animals in the world's harshest places; Includes transparent blind fish species inside Hang Son Doong and Hang Va, Ellesmere Wolves: on Ellesmere Island, Canada; Snow frog: Alps, France; Barbary Pass: Atlas Mountains, Morocco; Cuu Lagoon: Nevado de Toluca, Mexico; Golden-shouldered parrot: Cape York, Queensland, Australia; Arrival: Amboseli National Park, Kenya; and snow leopards: Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

Son Doong Cave is located in the core zone of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh province, Central Vietnam.

Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that covers an area of 123,326 hectares in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. The park is home to a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, including many endemic and endangered species.

According to Tien Phong News on March 4, 2019. A possible saola, a rare and endangered species, was captured by a camera trap in the primeval forest of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park on February 9, 2019. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dang, a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and a leading expert on Vietnam's forest animals, analyzed the image and compared it with the identifying features of the saola. He confirmed that there was a 90% chance that the animal was a saola, based on its body shape, size, color, and horn characteristics. To confirm the presence of the saola in this area, the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board is actively collecting more specific and clear evidence. They are also strengthening the strict protection measures in the detection area to prevent any harmful activities.

The saola was first discovered by science in 1992, when a joint survey of the Vietnamese Ministry of Forestry and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found a skull and horns of the animal in a local hunter's home in Vu Quang Nature Reserve. Since then, the saola has been rarely seen in the wild, with only a few confirmed sightings and camera trap images. The saola is considered one of the world's most critically endangered mammals.

In 2021, Oxalis Adventure launched a new wildlife conservation tour in the core zone of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park. One of the missions of the Hang Ba Deep Jungle Expedition tour is to conserve and protect the area that may be inhabited by the saola, a rare animal that lives in the dense forests of the Annamite Range.

The Hang Ba Deep Jungle Expedition tour takes you to the core zone of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, which borders the Hin Namno Nature Reserve in Laos, where the saola is also known to occur. The tour leads you through an ancient primary tropical forest, where you can observe the footprints and other traces of wild animals, such as mountain goats, deer, wild boars, gibbons, langurs, and wildcats. Moreover, the tour uses camera traps to record the day and night time activities of wildlife, without disturbing their normal behavior or driving them away from their natural habitat. The tour also supports the conservation efforts of the wild animal rescue activities in the national park. The tour aims to raise awareness and support for the protection of this remarkable animal and its habitat, and to contribute to the biodiversity and ecological integrity of the region.

The Oxalis Experience.