I’ve lived in Da Lat for 7 years with many friends and have various networks throughout the city. In Da Lat, I organised a group of foreigners from many countries to work for an environmental project called “Keep Da Lat Clean”. For this project, we regularly organised cleanup days in the city. I and my friends would frequently collect trash when camping in the “Yellow” stream area. We did these activities voluntarily and quietly as we were doing it for our own love of nature rather and didn’t feel the need to show off to the public what we were doing. Doing this made me feel happy, relaxed and proud of myself for what I did for the environment of my community.

I then became a volunteer for IUCN on Bay Canh islet, Con Dao National Park. The experiences from this program are some of the most beautiful memories of my life. Experiencing a life surrounded by nature and without the internet, telephones, a limited water access was such a different life to what I was used to. Every day during the volunteer program, I recorded my experiences and emotions in a diary, however returning I haven’t opened it as I am afraid to undergo those experiences again with mixture of emotions: tranquillity, fierceness, fear, happiness and uncomfortableness. Throughout the volunteer program I saw first-hand just how harsh wildlife crime can be, from seeing hundreds of marine turtles die due to being caught in dredging nets, seeing a sea turtle mother being chopped to meat. I also got to experience the beauty of nature, from twinkling sun rises, working and falling asleep under the rain, waking up and seeing turtles delivering eggs next to me. One time I was even abandoned on a remote islet by myself after a storm.

Once I finished volunteering in Con Dao, I visited Ly Son and witnessed the environmental impacts that have affected this island. I tried to explain to the local people the need to protect the environment and also shared some of the knowledge I learnt from my Con Dao trip. They were really impressed and surprised.

Missing marine turtles, the blue ocean, the white sand, where there remains air with no dust, no smoke, no power, no internet, but instead waves, I decided to quit my job in Da Lat and move to Con Dao to become a tourist guide.  Within 2 days of the job interview I had already decided I wanted to move, due to my strong love of Con Dao and its nature.

I find my new job extremely interesting as I can meet many people from all over the world. Their lifestyle has inspired me and I have also inspired them with my love of nature, and my love of Con Dao as an area. I feel that I am luckier than some of the other volunteers on my programme as I now have the opportunity to stay in this area longer to conserve its nature.