Tra Su Forest

Human noise fades almost as soon as a visitor steps in here. The sound of water, of birds, and of wind through the trees takes its place. The tràm forest of Trà Sư is a place like that.

The forest lies in Văn Trà hamlet, Văn Giáo commune. This is in Tịnh Biên, in An Giang Province. The provincial People's Committee has recognized 159 hectares as the tourist site. That area is held under a lease contract for the forest environment. But behind the visitor facilities lies a much larger stretch of forest, part of the special-use forest system. Special-use forest is the class of forest that Vietnam keeps mainly for conservation and scientific research. So every visit follows the routes that are allowed.

The story of Trà Sư begins on strongly acidic soil, the kind called đất phèn. According to the history page of the tourist site, tràm trees were planted on this empty land in 1983. The aim was to turn it green and to help regulate the water at its source. On May 27, 2003, the forest was recognized as a special-use forest for protecting the landscape, within Vietnam's national system of such forests. In 2018, the eco-tourism site officially began to receive visitors, after the lease contract for the forest environment was signed. Today, 40 years after the planting, those trees are a forest.

The life here is richer than the plain name "tràm forest" suggests. The same page lists more than 70 kinds of birds, 11 kinds of mammals and 25 kinds of reptiles. Among the fish, 10 species appear all year round. Another 13 come only in the season when the water rises. The birds include giang sen, điêng điểng and many others. The plants number more than 140 species. Tràm is the main tree, along with shrubs, vines, medicinal plants and ornamental plants.

The visit moves in three ways. First, a motorboat carries people over a green carpet of floating bèo and under the tràm canopy, deeper into the forest. Next, a hand-rowed boat winds through small channels, so the birds, cò included, can be watched from close by. Last, a bamboo bridge runs through the forest, and visitors cross it on foot or by bicycle.

Trà Sư is most beautiful in the season of rising water, from about September to November. The water climbs, the carpet of bèo grows thicker, and more water birds tend to gather. But the forest is also beautiful in other months, only in a different way. In the dry season the tràm trees stand out more sharply, and the paths are easier.

In the Mekong Delta, a family can spend a few hours at Trà Sư in a slow boat, in the middle of a forest of water, feeling a quiet that a hurried life seldom gives. That quiet costs little, and it is hard to find.