Notes:A wildlife photography trip through the vast forests of Pù Mát.
Amidst the vast Pù Mát forest, day after day, hour after hour, silent camera lenses track the movements of wild animals. The photographs taken are not for social media posts or views, but to be preserved as research material and as the most compelling evidence of the biodiversity of Pù Mát National Park.
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Author:Tien Dong -Technique:Hong ToaiAugust 13, 2025
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One day in early August, I followed National Highway 7 north to the mountainous western region of Nghe An province, home to Pu Mat National Park – one of the three important core areas of the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, which was officially recognized as a World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on September 18, 2007.
Driven by a desire to learn how wildlife is captured in the vast wilderness, I was guided by staff from Pù Mát National Park to observe firsthand how camera traps are set. Indeed, only by experiencing it firsthand do you realize that photographs of wild animals, seemingly taken with a simple click of a camera, are actually the result of a quiet, patient, and highly scientific process, carried out using camera traps placed deep within the old-growth forest.
From the office of Pu Mat National Park, we continued westward for more than 40 km, deep into the core of Pu Mat National Park, in Mon Son commune. Our gear consisted of bulky backpacks, several rolls of rope, cameras, batteries, and sensor equipment, all neatly prepared for a silent "ambush" deep in the forest. After more than an hour's motorbike ride, we left our bikes at the edge of the forest and hiked about 2 km into the woods to reach the camera trap location.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Deputy Head of the Science Department of Pu Mat National Park, accompanied us on this trip. Mr. Hung has a long history of research on biodiversity and wildlife conservation. He said that the use of camera traps to record images of wild animals began around the early 1990s. At that time, Pu Mat National Park was still called Pu Mat Nature Reserve.
Back then, conditions were limited, equipment was rudimentary, mostly mechanical film cameras, and we were entirely dependent on funding programs from international nature conservation organizations. "Every time we set traps, we had to wait a whole month to get the film developed – and when we finally opened the photos, it was as nerve-wracking as waiting for the lottery results," Mr. Hung said jokingly.
According to Mr. Hung, camera trap placement has improved significantly today, not only in equipment but also in scientific methods. Depending on the research topic, such as studying carnivorous animals, hoofed mammals, primates, or rare species, the survey team will arrange camera traps in a grid or grid pattern accordingly. Typically, the grids are spaced 1.5-2 km apart to ensure coverage of the actual habitat of the species. "If an area has a high frequency of animals appearing in photographs, it indicates a good distribution density, which shows that conservation efforts are on the right track," Mr. Hung explained.
Mr. Pham Xuan Sang, a veteran forest ranger of Pu Mat National Park with over 20 years of experience in the forest, nimbly walked along the trail and shared: "Setting up camera traps also requires skill, sir; it's not just a matter of attaching the camera to a tree trunk and being done with it."
Setting up camera traps might sound simple, but according to Mr. Sang, it requires a great deal of experience, meticulousness, and a thorough understanding of the habits of each animal species. This is especially true for extremely intelligent animals like elephants and tigers, because if they smell anything unusual, they will avoid it and never come near again.
Therefore, when setting camera traps, the staff of Pu Mat National Park have to learn how to "go into the forest like the locals." This means not using new equipment that smells of soap or shampoo, but instead wearing old clothes soaked with the scent of the mountains and forests, just like experienced hunters. When setting up the cameras, they must follow familiar trails and paths used by wild animals, where there are footprints, scratches, or droppings left behind.
What most upsets the staff of Pù Mát National Park when setting camera traps is the discovery of numerous animal traps cleverly set by poachers along the pathways. “Some traps are still in position, waiting for animals to step in, while others have already sprung up, trapping dried-up animal carcasses. It’s heartbreaking to see,” Mr. Sang sighed.
For the staff and employees of Pu Mat National Park, the journey to set camera traps is not only about collecting scientific data, but also an opportunity to check the current state of forest protection, remove traps, rescue animals, and preserve the last vestiges of the forest's integrity.
After completing the placement of more than 10 camera traps in the forest and meticulously checking each piece of equipment, we turned back as evening approached. According to the schedule, the team planned to return to remove the equipment about a month later. After collecting data on the animal species captured in the traps, the Science Department of Pù Mát National Park will prepare a report on the density and behavior of those species, to be used for future research.
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Besides setting traps to photograph wild animals, we were told many fascinating stories by the staff of Pu Mat National Park about their journeys tracking rare species. Some species, such as wild boars, monkeys, deer, muntjacs, and even elephants, appeared frequently in the camera traps. However, capturing a tiger was a long and arduous journey, and we only managed to photograph one once, 26 years ago.
It was 1:30 AM on December 21, 1999, when a camera trap placed deep in the Pù Mát rainforest flashed. The resulting image shocked the entire conservation community. A mature Indochinese tiger, estimated to weigh 150-170 kg, was stealthily approaching its hunting grounds when it was captured perfectly within the frame. The photograph was the result of a collaborative project between Pù Mát National Park and an international conservation organization, using modern equipment funded by Europe. It became the only photograph of a wild tiger in Pù Mát National Park to date. And that is precisely what has troubled many officials and staff of Pù Mát National Park.
Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Director of Pu Mat National Park, recounted the story of capturing the tiger photograph with a slow, melancholic tone, but his eyes still shone with emotion as if the image of the tiger had just appeared yesterday. “We placed so much hope in that moment. It wasn't just a photograph, but living proof that the Pu Mat forest still breathes the spirit of animals, symbols of a time when they dominated the old-growth forest,” Mr. Tuan said.
After that fateful flash of light in 1999, hundreds of other camera traps were set up along trails, ravines, streams, and mountain peaks. But never again did the tiger return to the camera traps.
Mr. Le Anh Tuan - Director of Pu Mat National Park
Mr. Tuan recounted that every time he went to set camera traps or check the results, he always wished his colleagues could once again "get lucky" and capture a tiger photograph. The staff of Pu Mat National Park silently hoped that, even just once in the thousands of photos taken, a fleeting glimpse of a black and yellow stripe would appear amidst the forest canopy, or perhaps just a pair of fierce eyes in the dark night. But they never saw it.
That feeling of longing has persistently haunted the officials and staff of Pu Mat National Park for decades. Even so, they haven't given up. "We only fear that it has fallen into the hands of poachers, or has crossed the border into Laos, but if it's still alive, it will surely return," Mr. Tuan hoped.
Having spent many years working with the forests and wildlife of Pu Mat National Park, Mr. Tuan understands that the photograph of the Indochinese tiger is not only proof of the biodiversity of Pu Mat forest, but it also creates a significant impact on scientists conducting research on wildlife conservation in Nghe An in particular and Vietnam in general.
However, according to Mr. Tuan, photographing tigers and other wild animals in their natural habitat is a challenging and patient journey, requiring a combination of modern technology, in-depth ecological knowledge, and luck. Tigers are solitary carnivorous animals that move silently, are primarily nocturnal, and tend to avoid humans, making approaching and photographing them extremely difficult. Even with hundreds of camera traps set up, they can still avoid or simply not pass through the area where the equipment is located.
In fact, the unique topography, climate, and natural features have endowed Pu Mat National Park with incredibly rich natural resources. These include a typical tropical and subtropical forest ecosystem on mountainous terrain, with forest cover exceeding 98%, of which 76% is primary forest or forest with minimal impact. As a result, the fauna here is considered to be exceptionally diverse. 1,906 species belonging to 6 classes have been identified (including: 132 mammal species; 343 bird species; 51 amphibian species; 63 reptile species; 119 fish species; and 1,198 insect species).
Mr. Tuan also shared some very valuable information: by 2019, after many years of implementation, Pu Mat National Park had officially deployed camera traps covering the entire park. Thanks to this, hundreds of rare animal species have been recorded, many of which are listed in the Vietnam Red Book and the IUCN Red List… This shows that Pu Mat is a hotspot for the conservation of endangered and rare species at the national and international levels.
Before we parted ways, Mr. Tuan and many other officials and staff members of Pu Mat National Park expressed further concerns. They noted that in the dense tropical rainforest conditions of Pu Mat National Park, with its rugged terrain, humid climate, and easily damaged equipment, maintenance, battery replacement, and data extraction from camera traps are far from simple. Furthermore, these devices are often expensive, resulting in high purchasing and maintenance costs.
Furthermore, the drastic decline in population due to illegal hunting and habitat loss has made the probability of encountering rare species increasingly low. A photograph of a tiger taken deep in the forest is not only a rare moment, but also vivid evidence of the fragile existence of these wild symbols on the brink of extinction...
