About this place

SALANGANE ISLAND NHA TRANG

Location:  Salangane island (Yen island) 17km from Nha Trang.

Description: Far offshore, visible from Nha Trang Beach the Yen island appears with lush green colors where salangane nests have been harvested for years to make the traditional “bird’s nest” tonic and food.

Tourists can visit caves where the swallows create their nets on the rocks and enjoy a delicious and nutritious food prepared from swallows’ nests and sugar candy which in the past was reserved only for kings.

Detail: Salangane Island is most famous for Yen Sao which is the name of the nest of Salangane or swifts. The locals harvest the bird nests (considered a delicacy) used in soups. These nests are processed and exported to Taiwan and Hong Kong. The birds build their nest high on the walls of the cave on the islands. To access the nests, harvesters must climb on ladders fashioned from bamboo.

Because the caves must remain dark lest the birds are scared off, many climbers fall to their death every year trying to harvest the nests. The bird nest comes in two types, white and red nests. The bird’s nest is fashioned by the Salangane that make their homes in caves.

The nest is made out of the bird’s saliva. Usually, a typical bird creates one nest a year during springtime using both parents saliva. As there is such a demand for their nest (thought to have medicinal qualities), the locals began to remove the nest several times a year causing the birds to have to continue producing the nests. The red variety of nests are a result of the birds having to create so much saliva for the new nests that they cough up blood along with their saliva causing the nest to take on the red color of their blood. This variety of nest costs their weight in gold or more in the retail market of Hong Kong or Taiwan.

Yen Islands is not only known as the Salanganes nest, but also the only one has the beautiful twin-beach. Come here, you can visit the Salangane Cave where many workers bamboo stairs to get the nest on the high cliff. It is really the unforgettable sight. By glass bottom boat, you can see fantastic coral-reefs which are covered with multi colored fishes, and enjoy swimming, snorkeling in clear, smooth water on the twin-beach.