Busy melaleuca trading season unfolds in Vietnam’s U Minh amid quiet change

From the water, the landscape appears as an unbroken stretch of green, with rows of melaleuca trees extending across the horizon.

The forests have long defined the region, and expanded further after 1975 as state forestry farms planted trees in orderly lines, turning them into a steady source of timber and charcoal.

Beneath the canopy, a dense ecosystem has sustained local livelihoods for generations.

Activities such as beekeeping, fishing, snake trapping, and turtle catching once provided abundant food and income.

Residents recall that only a few decades ago, fish were plentiful enough to be startled into jumping into boats, while turtles could be caught on foot in the forest.

Today, that landscape is beginning to shift.

Acacia plantations grown for woodchip production have spread into what is known as Ca Mau’s melaleuca heartland, offering higher returns for some households.

As a result, parts of the melaleuca forest have been reduced, although the ecosystem beneath acacia is described as less diverse, with fewer fish and other species than under melaleuca.

Even so, the forests retain their distinct character.

During the flowering season, white melaleuca blossoms blanket the trees and release a strong fragrance that carries through the air.

The trade in melaleuca wood continues alongside these changes, with boats gathering at riverbanks to load timber and transport it to other regions, maintaining a long-standing connection between the forest and river commerce.

For many who live in or visit U Minh, the enduring image is still the vast green of melaleuca stretching into the distance, even as the landscape gradually evolves.