Websites, big tree mapping and so much more

Last night, we went on the park's night safari tour. We saw rabbits, a fisher, a mouse deer, dozens of sambar deer, a long tailed night jar (which is a cool bird), and one domestic  house cat (they are a conservation problem here too).

We started this morning with a discussion of the parks' websites, discussing what is good about each one and what things could be improved. For example, some parks' websites clearly state the price of package tours (which I think is important) and others do not list package tours. People had good ideas and strong opinions which is appreciated.

We also talked about Facebook marketing and other social media platforms. Twitter and Instagram are apparently not as popular in VN. MySpace is over. Dr. Khahn asked me if we should start using Twister, which confused me because I had not even heard of it, but I googled the interwebs and it's a real thing.  Facebook is popular here, but people had different opinions about who was using it and for what purpose; probably because there are a lot different kinds of audiences using Facebook for a variety of uses. I like it to post pictures of my cats and see what the Governor is up to.

All the parks have Facebook pages but not all are in English. We talked about how often to update, whether it should be detailed information just a pretty/interesting photo, etc. Each of the parks’ staff members shared their FB and webpage info.

Of course we talked about the universal obstacles to good web presence: time and clear delegation of duties. I struggle mightily with these in my University work; everyone does. There is no simple fix for those 2 problems, except having money to dedicate staff time to work on it.  I enjoyed looking at all the websites with them.

I’m not sure why I am unable to find the Cat Tien National Park FB page.  Maybe if one of my CTNP friends reads this blog post they can send me direct url in the comments section. Maybe because it is marked as Vietnamese language? I’m not sure but I think that a good and simple FB would really help connect tourists/travelers to the park. I’m having the same problem with Yak Don and Bidoup National Parks’ FB pages.

Here is the FB page for Dong Nai Biosphere Preserve https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dong-Nai-World-Biosphere-Reserve/291221094409894. Please show them some love and like their page!

I think all 3 parks’ websites come up easily with a Google search. Staff pointed out that there are several private hotels/tour companies just outside the park, and many of them have stronger websites, and this is a “pull” of tourists away from the park lodging and tour guides.  We’ve had some conversations about whether the relationship between private businesses and the government park agency. Big topic.

People shared their group projects, which was to design some interpretative signs (this will be its own post). LOVED IT. You will also love it. Preview: gibbon info.

We visited the park museum which was really fascinating (it will be its own post later).

After lunch, a subset of the group discussed how to go about GPS mapping the “big trees” in the park. There are 7 species of trees that have special conservation status and the park needs a map of them.  Sounds straightforward. However, (a) the jungle is really dense and (b) the park is really huge and (c) measuring Diameter at Breast Height...? We did not resolve the methodology issue but we’ll discuss again on Tuesday when Mr Tan and I return from Bien Hoa.

Also, Mr Tan and I are in Bien Hoa. It's a city about an hour outside Ho Chi Minh City, where the Forestry University is located. My host Professor Tuyen invited us to dinner in the faculty restaurant, where we totally got the VIP treatment.  Food sensory overload. My favorite thing was learning about “Century Eggs” which are beautiful and taste like fresh-laid and hard boiled eggs.  Read about it here. http://rojosgourmet.blogspot.com/2008/05/really-its-gourmet-1000-year-old-egg.html

Tan and Tuyen tell me that it’s extremely common in south Vietnam. Maybe I can learn this technique and apply it to our backyard chickens in Missoula.

 Thank you Dr. Tuyen for a lovely evening and warm welcome to the Forestry University!  Dr. Tuyen works in applied sustainable agriculture methods, I enjoyed hearing about his research and extension work in multi-crop systems for increased yield and soil conservation.  Looking forward to meeting more faculty and students tomorrow.