Fewer than 300 Delacour’s langurs exist anywhere on Earth, and most of the ones that remain live on the cliff faces of one wetland reserve twenty minutes outside Ninh Binh city. That single fact does more to explain the region’s wildlife draw than any amount of scenery. Wild langurs at Van Long Van Long Nature Reserve protects the largest wild population of the critically endangered Delacour’s langur, over 100 individuals known for a black coat and a distinctive white patch that locals describe as “white shorts.

The word “adventure” gets stretched thin in a lot of Ninh Binh marketing. Here is where it actually applies: a nine-cave boat route, a primary jungle trek, and a wetland safari for a primate found almost nowhere else on Earth. The deep cavern route at Trang An Trang An runs three fixed sampan routes, and Route 1 is the one adventure travelers usually mean when they say Trang An: nine distinct flooded caves, including the 250-meter Hang Nau Ruou (Wine Brewing Cave), navigated with experienced local boatwomen.