# Cryptocoryne Annamica : dream journey



## AnhBui (25 Aug 2016)

Read this post recently and just want to share with you guys about a rare plant. Original post is in the end of this thread and written in Vietnamese

Hello ABV members, it's been awhile since my last post here. I am a hobbyist, a crypt. collector. And like other nature lovers I always want to discover Vietnam's nature. In 2015 I visited Gia Lai Kontum to find a very rare crypt. that listed in ICUN red list. I had never seen it before and all information about the plant I had very unclear. And I failed to find it among vast Gia Lai Kontum jungles

Returned Gia Lai Kontum in 2016 with passion but in fact I did not really know where and how I should start my journey.  

Below is my photo report of the journey
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6:00AM I stopped at Kontum bus station with a friend. We hired a local man to be our guide. It is because we did not have GPS and were afraid that we might be lost




After meeting with some local hobbyist and friends we started







In two days we went through different territories from small savanna, woodland, jungle to swamp...

















There were many types of aquatic and emersed plants in this fountain, but not what I am looking for. At this time we were travelling 5 hours in jungle. We were running out of water. We brought knife, eggs, rice and matches. It's getting dark. We stopped at a camp and had our dinner






. It's cold at night and we had never experienced that cold in the middle of jungle before. We slept at 8:00PM and set our alarm at 5:00AM

We had our breakfast and continued to our journey. Path ahead was very stiff, slippy, we had to grip on tree, plant for moving forward
12:00 PM no food, no water. My legs kept cramping every 30 minutes. I started feeling dispirited and decided to go back

A few photos of what we met on the journey
-Begonia



And other plants










On tiring and boring way back I still hoped that I could find C. Annamica. And then I found it. An excitement run through my veins 









A shot to mark my 22




I could see that this is an ideal environment but only found 50 bushes. A really rare plant and it is the reason why it is in the Red list. After many years I am one of not so many Vietnamese people see it with our own eyes among Tay Nguyen jungles

5 hours back and stopped a local village for food. Another day at Quy Nhon and return to Sai Gon. I have learned and experienced a lot during this journey and I hope that one day I would find one for more unknown crypt. of Vietnam. Thanks for reading the post
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Original post here
http://www.aquabird.com.vn/forum/showthread.php?t=130321&p=1569661#post1569661


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## dw1305 (25 Aug 2016)

Hi all,





AnhBui said:


> And other plants


A Gesnerid would be my guess for that one, something like a _Petrocosmea_ or _Chirita_ species.

cheers Darrel


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