To enter the park, first you must cross the Dong Nai river ... Nam Cat Tien is protected on two sides by the river - which makes an unambiguous boundary against forest clearance. Note: the denuded hills on the opposite bank
Fish
	There are currently 159 recorded species in the waterways associated with the Park, including this catfish: Hemibagrus (=Mystus) nemurus. Click here - for a list of species - prepared by Park staff and academic visitors.
Ecosystem Services There is an increasing awareness amongst policy makers of the various services that forests perform: including absorbing carbon dioxide and providing clean, consistent supplies of water. The Dong Nai river is especially important, since it leads downstream into the Tri An reservoir: the main water supply for Ho Chi Minh City.
Denuded slopes on river banks result in soil erosion, which not only causes rapid loss of fertility for the land in question, but also loads mud (and possibly agricultural chemicals) into rivers. This is illustrated well in the picture above left, which shows the confluence of clean creek water entering from Park forest (bottom left), with muddy water from a Dong Nai river braid (top left). Furthermore, the picture on the right, taken from approximately the same place in the dry season, shows how the forest acts like a sponge and slowly releases water, thus maintaining flow and helping to prevent drought (and floods during the rainy season).
Water levels in the Dong Nai river itself vary by more than 6 metres in some parts - especially near the park HQ ...
The same stretch of river during the dry                                  ... and rainy seasons        Managing water and access in the rainy season:
Ford on the park road	Raised walkway near the 'crocodile lake', which floods extensively during the rainy season

 The Park 

 The People 

 The Forest 

 Plants 

 Mammals 

 Birds 

 Reptiles &  
 amphibians 

 Waterways  
 & fish 

 Insects 

 Ecosystem 

 Conservation 

 Initiatives 

 Getting there