Isolated ethnic people of Ba Be Lake nurture the old way of life

Located in Binh Thoi Hamlet, Thoi Thuan Commune, Thot Not District, 52 kilometers from the center of Can Tho City, Bang Lang Stork Garden is a popular stop for tourists.
From Can Tho City, tourists can go on National Road No. 91, passing O Mon District then traveling to Not Not District. Then tourists will continue through a bridge which is also named Bang Lang. Around one kilometer from the main road is Bang Lang Stork Garden.
On the way to the garden, visitors will pass green rice paddies and interlacing canals. Tourists can visit the garden by taking a cruise on Hau River, or a bicycle ride past the orchards, craft villages and immense rice fields.
The garden covers about two hectares and is home to thousands of storks as well as many other kinds of birds. There are various species of storks living at Bang Lang Stork Garden including cattle egret, ibis, striated heron and painted stork.
There are also other species making it their home such as black-crowned night heron, little cormorant and greater coucal heron.
Eighty percent of birds in the garden are the white cattle egret. This species of stork often builds their nests in the garden from March to August of the lunar year.
The best time to admire the garden is 5 p.m. when flocks of storks fly back to their nests. They hover on the sky then perch on tree peaks, twitter together and pose in the wind. Tourists must not forget to take photos of those moments. There is a three-meter watching tower for tourists to see birds.
Nguyen Ngoc Thuyen, who is often referred to as Mr. Bay Co, the owner of Bang Lang Stork Garden, at first he only wanted to save some storks stuck in fishing traps but the garden kept getting bigger and bigger.
Thus, the garden was spontaneously established in 1983. It is strange that a large number of storks chose to make their home at the garden of Mr. Bay Co. At first, there were very few but then Mr. Bay has created good conditions for the storks to live in his garden. Since then, Bang Lang garden has gradually been expanded with the current area of about 2 hectares and number of storks ranging from 100,000-150,000 of more than 20 species.