The project "Sustainable community-based tourism development in Tam My Tay commune" is funded by the EU National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and the Goethe-Institute in Vietnam through the GreenViet Biodiversity Conservation Center (GreenViet) and Provincial Department of Planning and Investment, Quang Nam approved the implementation in Decision No. 200/QD-SKHDT, dated July 29, 2022. The main objective of the project is to contribute to the conservation of the gray-shanked douc population, livelihood development and rational use of resources through the model of community-based tourism in Tam My Tay commune.
The project is a collaborative outcome that entails both the comprehensive research results and major protection achievements of three local Non-Profit Organisations GreenViet, CAB Hoian and Quang Nam Tourism Association. Involved through hearing training and empowerment is the local community of Tam My Tay, with 60 households on around 30 ha land in mountainous area. The majority of the people live on acacia.
However, the acacia monoculture in the habitat of the Grey-shanked Douc langur is not environmentally and economically sustainable. This project reacts to this and supports the development of community-based tourism, as an alternative livelihood for the local people. The project advocates a community-based set of rules and practices for tourism management and practices. By research and open discussions, trainings to community members and support to lead project activities. Multi-stakeholder approach implies support by authorities at provincial and national levels, and exchange webinars to learn from international experience in comparable fields.
The outcome for tourists is a digital story map platform with information about landscapes, biodiversity, conservation, geography and cultural heritage in Tam My Tay and the neighboring areas. The outcome for the locals is a transparent trading process with environmental protectors, cultural researchers, investors, tourists. There will be income for conservation work and local labour.
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NO DIFFICULTIES, NO DISCOVERIES | Author: A Siu
In the most recent count of Grey shanked douc langur, during July 2022, in Tam My Tay village, we conducted the count of Grey shanked douc langurs in 4 mountains where the herbs of langur live. I was assigned to count the number of langurs in a very special area - the most difficult area to discover the langurs is Duong Ban Lau. I had to go down the lower side of the forest and choose the best positions to see the whole view of the mountain from East to West. However, I had difficulties in finding a place having wide-angle observation. Unlike the count in 2022, the residents were just exploiting acacia, so there was a large space to observe. In recent times, the acacia has reached approximately ten meters and spread widely, so all the members of the group discussed and found out the other approach. Instead of standing in the narrow observation point, we found the two most favorable points and decided to observe the wide angle from far seating positions. The first point is near Dong Nhon Lake, next to the wild farm gate. When climbing up the gate, we can observe the whole view of the forest with binoculars and it is about 200 meters. The second point is the eucalyptus tree in the West of the mountain. We were able to climb the 15-meter eucalyptus tree to observe. From the point of the eucalyptus tree to the forest, it is possible to detect 100-meter langurs. As far as I observed from the two positions above, I have counted 2 herbs of langurs which have 10 individuals. -
A MOTORBIKE WITH BRAKE FADE | Author: A Siu
I literally made the title “A MOTORBIKE WITH BRAKE FADE”. It was the first time I have gone to Tam My Tay Village with my colleagues with a view to interviewing the residents about the awareness of forest and wildlife. We conducted the interview from Tam My Tay Village to Tam Tra Village. I was assigned to go with a fresh graduate student to carry out house-to-house interviews. Because the road was strange and the motorbike was borrowed from the man working in the patrol, I didn’t pay attention to the slope and I unflinchingly ran across the road and took the female student to the back seat without realizing that the motorbike lost the brake. When I was running down the slope, I pressed the brake but couldn’t. At that time, my heart was thumping inside my chest and I felt so scared, luckily, I was able to calm down and handle it. With many years of experience driving on mountain roads, I know how to return to 1st gear to slow down and stop to check. This is also the story and the most memorable memory in Tam My Tay village. -
LITTLE CHILDREN | Author: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao
I took this picture when I was staying at Mr. Nguyen Du’s house to work. By chance, the children gathered to play in the yard, I gave each of them a comic book. Surprisingly, they are so passionate and sit in each corner to read attentively. The entertaining activities of these children are so simple. There are only a few toys played over and over again, and books are even rarer. Every day, they just go to school in one session, they gather to play together for the rest of the day. When they are bored, they play on the phone and until the afternoon, they invite each other to go swimming in Giang Thom Lake. Sometimes, I can take advantage of time, I invite all of us to go swimming in Uncle Danh’s swimming pool, each of them is black but extremely cute. I hope the children can have access to more books, so the world of childhood is rich and colorful. -
VISIT THE HERD OF LANGURS AT DUONG BAN LAU | Author: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao
“ Go lightly, talk quietly. Talk loudly and they won’t come out.” In the afternoon, when visiting the herds of langurs, Uncle Danh reminded me and an apprentice journalist that we were going to take pictures of Uncle Danh to make a photo report, but he forgot that he was the main character when he saw the langurs. "Capture, capture, capture, they're there", "here, they are about to jump over that tree, keep the camera ready"... He really loves the herds of langurs. Just looking at them made his eyes glow and shine with indescribable joy. No matter how busy he is, he still tries to arrange work to visit the langurs once or twice a month. Whenever we see the growth of the langurs, there are many young ones. So funny! -
THE PRESIDENT OF LANGURS | Author: Hoang Quoc Huy
“ The president of langurs” - it’s a name that people often say about Uncle Vo Ngoc Danh in each meeting, he has a talk with people and propagandize about the protection of Grey shanked douc langur in Tam My Tay Village, Nui Thanh District, Quang Nam Province. For those who meet Uncle Danh at the first time, it is easy to be attracted by the inspirational stories which are told about the way he takes care of the langurs as his descendants. Uncle Danh was the first person to voluntarily protect the herbs of langurs at Hon Do mountain by doing simple things such as encouraging people not to encroach the natural forest and save the remaining forest for the langurs to live, daily go up the mountain to take care of the langur herbs, chase away animal trappers, bird traps... and gradually form the Pioneer Group for the conservation of Grey shanked douc langur in Tam My Tay Village consisting of 19 members. Through his long association with the herbs of langurs since the 2010s, Uncle Danh's understanding of the habit, living area and characteristics of each langur family in all four mountains really impressed the listeners, even scientists were amazed with his practical knowledge. If you have the opportunity to come to Tam My Tay Village, you will surely have the opportunity to meet Uncle Danh, go with him to the mountains to see the herbs of langurs and immerse in interesting stories told by "The president of langurs''. -
FROM SYMPATHY TO LOVE | Author: Võ Ngọc Danh
Living and having a strong attachment to the forest for many years, when getting old, my joy is to contribute to the preservation of the forest and the protection of the Gray shanked douc langur. I consider the forest as a second home, consider the langur as a child and it is also considered as a treasure of Tam My Tay Village. During the patrols and encounters with hunters, I always choose to graciously explain the importance of the forest, the wildlife and the preciousness of the Gray-shanked Douc langur. When they understand and change their awareness, they won’t go back to hunt animals again. I hope that I will have a lot of health to continue to accompany the Pioneer Group to protect the forest and propagate to the community to understand and join hands to preserve the biodiversity of Tam My Tay Village. -
I AND “LANGUR THAO” | Author: Vo Ngoc Danh
In 2018, in the survey of langurs in Hon Ong, when going down the mountain, a little girl, Thao slipped and fell into the cliff, our heart gave a stick lurch. Luckily, Thao caught a dry tree to hold back, so I love her more. If she didn’t catch that tree, I wouldn’t imagine what would happen. I have experienced many visits to the mountain for many years with a lot of memories, but her slipping on the trip to Hon Ong is the most unforgettable memory. At present, I name her “Langur Thao” and the phone number is also saved as “Langur Thao”. When I meet a group of partners or sponsors coming to Tam My Tay Village, I would tell them about that story. This also reminds us to work together and try to protect the Gray shanked douc langur well and develop more and more. -
MY PARTNER | Author: Nguyen Du
This is my beloved chariot. It is also an excellent partner in each petrol. Despite being sunny or rainy, potholes or slippery roads, in the early morning or at night, it doesn't mind helping me complete the task. Wherever I go, it accompanies me as dearly as a friend. -
TAM MY TAY - A FRAGILE TREASURE | Author: Nguyen Du
My hometown, Tam My Tay is a treasure - which the poetic Trau River flows through, Dong Nhon lake and Bau Vang dam give the fresh water flowing to the fields, Ho Giang Thom attracts tourists on the hot summer day, or natural forests are diversified with flora and fauna, especially there is a precious asset of the whole world - the Gray-shanked Douc langur. However, when seeing the bird traps, animal traps, looking at the blue cuckoos lying in the scattered places or looking at the dead porcupines and squirrels, I realized that the treasure was very fragile. The pioneers, GreenViet and the rangers always make efforts to propagate and patrol to protect the forest and the gray-shanked douc langurs, this gradually raises people's awareness and the impact on the forest would be reduced significantly, the herd of langurs are growing. Many households voluntarily left the row of acacia bordering the natural forest. If we don’t know how to preserve and the community doesn’t join hands to protect, the treasure will disappear. I hope that the people will join hands to protect and preserve the precious treasures not only of our own but also of all mankind. In the future, when referring to Tam My Tay, people will remember the land which is not only rich in culture - history, but it also has diverse resources preserved from old forests to green rivers, remember precious and gentle langurs and remember the friendly and hospitable people. -
ONE-DAY LANGURS’ OBSERVATION | Author: Nguyen Hai
As scheduled from the previous meeting, at 5:00 a.m. in the early morning, when the cold mist was still spreading across the mountain peaks, we were fully present at Mr. Vo Ngoc Danh's house to conduct the trip to count the langurs. After checking full of tools: binoculars, cameras, survey forms, and smartphones being ready with SMART software, we and the GreenViet team start departing. Dividing 2 people into 1 group helps them go to the areas where langurs live: Hon Duong Bong, Hon Do, Hon Ong and Hon Duong Ban Lau. Everyone gently approached the reasonable observation positions, chose the best vision to detect, record and count the number of langurs. During a day from 5:30 to 17:30, despite the hot sun and hard work, we were all excited when we counted many more young langurs. The herd of langurs proliferated and developed better than last year. -
MATERNAL LOVE | Author: Nguyen Nhien
During a survey of Langurs in Hon Do, near the location of Mr. Danh's Banyan tree, we had a plan to rest under the shade of the Banyan tree. Suddenly: bang!!! – The Langurs moved down nearby, startled and scattered because they were so surprised to detect the appearance of humans, the whole herds of langurs were so frightened to run towards the natural forest. However, a young langur was left by her mother. At that time, the mother’s langur had run a quite long distance - when being near the edge of the natural forest, she detected that she had forgotten the baby’s langur. The mother’s langur hurriedly came back with the young langur who was near us with a very scared and alert face. The closer she got to us, the more hesitant the mother’s langur was, so she couldn’t approach and hug her baby. However, with the strength of the maternal love, the mother’s Langur overcame the fear, despite the dangers, she came to hold the baby’s langur in her arms and ran back to the natural forest. Witnessing the whole story, I was moved to tears by the love of the mother’s langur. I think it's just like being human who always has a divine maternal love. -
THE LANGURS’ KEEPER | Author: Huynh Cong Phuong
This is a photo that I love so much. It was taken by Nguyen Truong Sinh in 6/2022 – a photographer who took pictures of Gray-shanked Doucs at Hon Do. He named me “The Langurs’ keeper”. Many years ago, keeping langurs was both my responsibility and my pride when being contributed to the protection of the rare and precious langurs in my hometown - Tam My Tay. My hope is that the herds of langurs would continue to proliferate, and the forest would be protected. In the future, tourism will have the chance to develop, the community will gain benefits, and let’s join hands to preserve the environment. -
MY PLEASURE | Author: Mai Tri
At Tam My Tay, Grey-shanked Douc langur is increasingly being paid attention by a lot of people who are both the domestic government and foreign partners. Each visitor coming to Tam My Tay brings more hope to open up the opportunities to protect and develop the Grey-shanked Douc Langur’s population and the livelihoods of the community. Welcoming one guest is a pleasure and having more ones is much pleasure. It is hoped that the sponsor's project will reach Tam My Tay with a view to contributing to preserve and promote the images of the grey-shanked douc langur and develop sustainable tourism for the homeland. -
A CHINESE PARASOL TREE | Author: Luong Thanh Van
After 2 hours of patrolling hard on Hon Do mountain, I stopped to rest under a Chinese parasol tree. It is big enough for 1 human to hug. Going to the forest many years ago, I really appreciated such ancient trees. The tall, wide trees are the Gray-shanked Douc langur’s favorite habitat. I hope that the community will join hands to preserve and develop Tam My Tay natural forest to create a habitat for many kinds of wildlife in general and Gray-shanked Douc in particular. -
THE FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION JOIN HANDS TO PROTECT THE GREY-SHANKED DOUC LANGUR | Author: Le Van Hong
In the passing time, with the attention of all leaderships of Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province, the Green Viet Biodiversity Conservation Center in Da Nang organized to protect Gray-shanked Douc langur in Tam My Tay Village, Farmers' Union and Women's Union held 7 traditional meetings to raise awareness of langur’s conservation, 4 propagandas to encourage acacia growers to change the sustainable farming’s habit, 2 propagandas to mobilize hunters to stop hunting in langur's areas. There were 10 posters printed and distributed, 2,000 leaflets distributed to the people. Specifically, about 15 households signed a commitment that exploitation would leave 3m of Acacia mangium adjacent to the area Gray-shanked Douc langur live. Now the country knows about this rare primate species, as long as the herd of langurs can be preserved, all primate experts will come here to study and then carry on many conservation projects that will benefit people later. -
WOMEN'S UNION PROPAGATE TO PROTECT GREY-SHANKED DOUC LANGUR | Author: Tran Thi Thu Ha
In order to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, from March 2 to March 7, 2022, at Tam My Tay Village, Women's Union organizes activities with a view to propagating resolutions and integrating with 800 members of 6 branches to protect the Gray-shanked douc langurs which are living in 4 areas: Hon Ong, Hon Do, Hon Duong Bong and Duong Ban Lau. The attendance included cell secretaries, the head of the village who joined to give the guiding speech. Through this activity, all of the women understood and had awareness to protect the Gray-shanked Douc langur in Tam My Tay. -
NATURAL LANDSCAPE | Author: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen
This is a photo which I took of the children in the Junior Ranger Club during a nature expedition which protect the Gray-shanked Douc langur at Ho Giang Thom, Tam My Tay Village. The reason I took this photo is to save the group's activities. This photo will be displayed in the traditional room of the school. Through this photo, I also want to introduce an ideal tourist attraction, it looks like a wild but wonderful place bestowed by nature. This place is considered as a tourist resort, especially in the summer, the tourists bathed in a cool stream with white waterfalls, rugged rocks, trees and birds... Joining with the children and taking some pictures, I realize that the children are very interested in experiencing and discovering activities. So, they aren’t fond of studying the classroom’s lectures or watching video channels as much as actual activities. It is so wonderful when enjoying the natural scenery and immersing in the cool stream. Therefore, organizing a successful activity is indispensable to explore the experience. -
THE PATROLS’ LUNCH | Author: Nguyen Cuong
This is a patrols’ lunch (belonging to the Pioneer Group for the Conservation of Gray-shanked Douc Langurs and GreenViet Center staff ) during a forest patrol. This photo is related to A Siu - GreenViet center staff and I - a member of the Pioneer Group. Has anyone ever tried the feeling of a hot afternoon stopping next to a murmuring stream yet? Picking up a handful of forest vegetables along the stream with a packet of noodles in the backpack would make a 100% clean delicious pot of soup. Only a pack of steamed rice with braised fish is having an energetic lunch. Therefore, we have eaten several packs of rice with a small backpack for 1 year, and continued the way to protect the langurs to be peaceful in the middle of the jungle. Due to the peace of the Gray-shanked Douc Langurs, we have so much fun every day. -
MODEL OF TAM MỸ TÂY GLUTINOUS RICE | Author: Le Van Hong
Tam My Tay glutinous rice, which is popular with many people, is a very famous specialty of Nui Thanh land. Production of glutinous rice is not required highly, and the profit is much higher than that of rice. Tam My Tay Farmers' Association actively encourages people to expand the area for growing glutinous rice in the village. Especially, through the success of the production model and the replication of traditional glutinous rice production techniques of the Agricultural Technical Center of Nui Thanh district. The main character in the photo is Mr. Tran Van A, who is the head of the agricultural and forestry extension department, is checking the results of the summer-autumn crop of 2020 to produce gourd sticky rice in Dong Bau, Trung Chanh, Tam My Tay commune. We recorded the results of the harvest with an average yield of 4,400kg/ha and there is analysis and evaluation to replicate in the area. Thereby, this contributed to restore Tam My glutinous rice products and raise the income and improve the lives of farmers. -
TAKING THE LOST PYGMY LORIS TO THE FOREST | Author: Huynh Cong Phuong
On December 16, 2020, a Pygmy loris got lost in a residential area near the cultural house in Tinh Son, Tam My Tay Village, Nui Thanh District, Quang Nam Province. When the people caught sight of the gray-shanked douc langur, they immediately reported to our village patrol team to find a solution. Then, the patrols and the local rangers took this Pygmy loris to the Hon Do mountain. This is the first time people have seen a Pygmy loris in the daylight, so everyone is so excited.
