On telling our driver that we wanted to leave for Mount Lang Biang at 5.30am he explained that the reserve did not officially open until 7am, but that if we were prepared to pay a little extra for the jeep ride, he felt that he would be able to arrange one on an early arrival. We were and it seemed no problem for him to arrange a jeep to the drop-off point as we arrived at the parking area. It was quite a climb through open pine forest with heavily-grazed understorey and we were glad to have saved ourselves the 2+ hour ascent on foot. The drop-off point is marked with a sign showing the trail to the 'birdwatching area' and the request to 'take only photos and leave only footprints'. From the drop-off point we still anticipated it being quite a hike to the gully at the base of summit trail but in fact it wasn't too far at all. We enjoyed having the area to ourselves for the first 3 hours or so before a steady stream of summit-walkers began to pass us on their way to the summit. We initially concentrated our efforts on the gully hearing some distant Collared Laughingthrushes and finding a singing Grey-cheeked Warbler. We then started on the ascent to the summit and readily found some mixed-species flocks containing the localised Black-crowned Fulvetta. On returning to the gully we took some paths into the forest and found a trap laced with banana. A tourist guide accompanying a couple to the summit stopped to ask if we had seen many birds. He went on to say that for the last 4 years the area has been heavily trapped with the birds put into cages and taken away. He explained that he was sad that he now saw and especially heard so few birds in the forest there. We made our way back to the drop-off point for our pre-arranged 3pm jeep ride back to the parking area that all worked smoothly. We were amazed to see, by then, such a large number of jeeps transporting day-trippers to the summit by road and were glad they hadn't all been keen to walk the trail.
Little Egret 1
Osprey 1 over lake in central Dalat
Large-tailed Nightjar h
Grey-headed Woodpecker 2
Black-crested Bulbul 1
Mountain Bulbul 2
Ashy Bulbul 2
Ashy Drongo 1
Jay 4
Yellow-cheeked Tit 4
Grey-crowned Bushtit 1
Chestnut-vented Nuthatch 4
Rufous-capped Babbler 1
Dalat Shrike-Babbler 1 male
Blue-winged Minla 3
BLACK-CROWNED FULVETTA 6
Mountain Fulvetta 8
Grey Bushchat 2
Yellow-browed Warbler 2
Kloss's Leaf-Warbler 2
GREY-CHEEKED WARBLER 1 singing male
Chestnut-crowned Warbler 1
Verditer Flycatcher 1
Mugimaki Flycatcher 3
Large Niltava 1
Mrs. Gould's Sunbird 6
Tree Sparrow 5
Dawn at the parking area with cloud shrouding the summit
Well-marked trail to the summit
Views from the trail
Male Mugimaki Flycatcher at Mount Lang Biang
Grey-headed Woodpecker at Mount Lang Biang
Male Large Niltava at Mount Lang Biang
Verditer Flycatcher at Mount Lang Biang
Male Yellow-cheeked Tit at Mount Lang Biang
Male Dalat Shrike-babbler at Mount Lang Biang
Jay at Mount Lang Biang
White Monarch at Mount Lang Biang
A few street scenes on our journey back to Dalat under threatening skies
