Con Dao Island 5 .5.59 -.
The Con Dao Archipelago is a remarkable group of 15 islands and islets, 180km (97 nautical miles) south of Vung Tau in the South China Sea. The largest island in the group, with a total land area of 20 sq km, is the partly forested Con Son Island: ringed with bays, bathing beaches and coral reefs. Con Son Island is also known by its Europeanised Malay name, Iles Poulo Condore (Pulau Kun-dur), which means ‘Island of the Squashes’. Local products include teak and pine wood, fruit (grapes, coconuts, and mangoes), cashews, pearls, sea turtles, lobster and coral.
For the intrepid traveler, Con Dao offers a rich – if tragic – historic, as well as ample pursuits for nature lovers and beach bums. Roughly 80% of the land area in the island chain is part of Con Dao National Park, and there are plenty of great hiking opportunities as well as deserted beaches.
Con Dao is one of those rare places in Vietnam where there are virtually no structures over two storeys, and where the travelers’ experience is almost hassle-free. There’s even no need to bargain at the local market! Owning to the relatively high cost and inaccessibility of the islands, mass tourism has thankfully been kept to a minimum.
Con Dao is Vietnam’s most important sea turtle nesting ground, and since 1995 the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has been working with local park rangers on a long-term monitoring programme. During nesting season (March to September) the park sets up ranger station to rescue threatened nests and move them to the safe haven of hatcheries.
Other interesting sea life around Con Dao includes the dugong, a rare and seldom-seen marine mammal in the same family as the manatee. Dugongs live as far north as Japan, and as far south as the subtropical coasts of Australia. Their numbers have been on a steady decline , and increasingly efforts are being made to protect these adorable creatures. Major threats include coastal road development, which causes the destruction of shallow-water beds of seagrass, the dugong’s staple diet.
These days most visitors to Con Son are package-tour groups of former VC soldiers who were imprisoned on the island. The Vietnamese government generously subsidies these jaunts as a show of gratitude for their sacrifice. It’s safe to say that foreign tourists are few and far between, but as the infrastructure and access improves, this is bound to change. Those who make the effort to go now are not likely to regret it.
The best time to visit Con Dao is from November to February . the rainy season lasts from June to September, but there are also northeast and southwest monsoons in autumn that can bring heavy winds. In November 1997 typhoon Linda did a number here: 300 fishing boats were lost, reefs were wiped out and the forests flattened. September and October are the hottest months, though even then the cool island breezes make Con Dao relatively comfortable when compared with HCMC or Vung Tau.
