Published:  10:20 Monday - December 12, 2016

The monsoon season is the busiest time in the Plain of Reeds of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. This is also the best time to explore the region’s beauty and the generosity of nature.

Located approximately 200 km from Ho Chi Minh City, the Plain of Reeds is famous for several ecological tourist sites including Xeo Quyt, Go Thap, Gao Gong, and Tram Chim, which remain almost untouched and are among the most beautiful in the monsoon season, when locals go harvesting and fishing. 

A wide variety of fish come upstream from the Mekong river to the region. Linh fish and dien dien flowers are the most popular local products at this time of the year. This year, the monsoon season was a bit delayed but more water came along carrying with more shrimp. 

Doan Van Nam, a local in Tram Chim township, said he works as a builder in the dry season and when the river water level rises, he goes fishing.

“Building is hard work. Fishing is much easier. There’s a lot of fish this year enabling me to have a better income", he said.

During the monsoon season, Tram Chim has a lot of shrimp bringing a wide variety of birds to the area. Flocks of white storks shadow grass fields and cajuput forests creating a peaceful scene. When the flood recedes, red-headed cranes, one of the world’s rarest species migrate to the Tram Chim National Park. 

“Red-headed cranes often come to Tram Chim in the dry season from the final months of the year to March or April. It’s the time when the monsoon season ends, leaving behind an abundance of foods. Red-headed cranes only stay in the core region of the national park which is in the rich alluvium lower area of the river", said a local tour guide Vu Kim Anh.

During this season, the Plain of Reeds is particularly beautiful with blossoming white and pink lotuses. The region receives tens of thousands of visitors in the moon season from September to December.