Cuc Phuong, the first national park and its primates

Cuc Phuong was the first place Vietnam decided to protect, in 1962. Sixty years later it is the country's most serious piece of conservation work rather than its most scenic park.

What is the rescue centre actually doing?

The Endangered Primate Rescue Center holds langurs and gibbons confiscated from the wildlife trade. It breeds several species that exist nowhere else in captivity, and releases what it can. It is a working facility, visited on a guided circuit rather than wandered through.

Two others sit beside it. The Turtle Conservation Center keeps most of Vietnam's freshwater turtle species, and the carnivore and pangolin programme works with the animals hit hardest by trafficking. Together they take about two hours and they are the reason to come.

What is the forest like to walk in?

The forest is old, wet limestone jungle, and it is dense rather than open. The main walk runs from the end of the park road to a cho tree said to be a thousand years old. It is a few hours there and back over roots and rock.

Expect to hear far more than you see. Gibbons call at dawn from the far ridges and hornbills go over. The large mammals the park protects are effectively invisible, and the national parks guide sets the same expectation for the rest of the country.

What are the caves?

Caves in the limestone here held burials, and the best known is Dong Nguoi Xua, the Cave of Prehistoric Man. Excavation in the 1960s found human remains, stone tools and shells dated to roughly 7,000 years ago, in a chamber reached by steps from the park road.

The cave takes an hour including the climb, and it is lit only by what you bring. The find matters because it puts people in this forest long before the state that now protects it, which is the argument the park makes about why it is worth keeping.

Are the leeches a real problem?

From May to October, yes, and they are the single thing visitors are least prepared for. They are harmless and persistent, and the answer is leech socks, trousers tucked in, and checking boots at every stop.

The dry half of the year is close to leech-free on the main paths. If the walk to the old tree is the reason for the trip, go between November and April.

How does it compare with the other parks?

Choose Cuc Phuong for conservation and old forest. Cat Tien gives a real chance of seeing primates in the wild, and Ba Vi is the short day out of Hanoi. Phong Nha is a different category altogether, because its subject is underground.

Nobody needs all four. The parks guide ranks them by what each is for, and this one earns its place on the rescue centres rather than on the scenery.

Where do you sleep, and what does it cost?

The park runs accommodation at the gate and at Bong substation, 20 km inside. The second is the one worth taking if you want the forest at dawn. Rooms are basic, fan-cooled and often damp, and they are booked through the park rather than through a hotel site.

Entry is a ticket in the tens of thousands of dong, with separate small charges for the rescue centres and for a guide. A guide is worth taking on any walk longer than an hour, both for the wildlife and because the paths are easy to lose.

How do you get there?

From Hanoi it is about 120 km and two to two and a half hours by car. From Ninh Binh it is 45 km and an hour. That is how most people fit it in: a day from the karst rather than a trip of its own.

Public buses reach Nho Quan and leave a taxi ride at the end. Inside the park a bicycle or a motorbike matters, because the gate and the far end are 20 km apart with nothing between them.