Đảo mèo giữa lòng Hà Nội

A colony of over 30 cats has been living in isolation on an island in the middle of Thong Nhat Park lake for many years, little known to the public.

Hoa Binh Island, located in Bay Mau Lake within Thong Nhat Park, is known as the "cat island" since some young tourists discovered the presence of many stray cats at the end of 2025.

The park has seven entrances, but the island is most easily visible from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street. Visitors often find it difficult to notice the area from the other entrances.

The island is accessible by pedal boat, but visitors have difficulty reaching the shore due to a lack of mooring points. Most choose to rent a motorboat from Mr. Chu Ngoc Phong, a park employee, with a travel time of about two minutes.

According to Mr. Phong, there is a temple on the island where visitors come to offer incense on the 15th and 1st of the lunar month. This area has started attracting many young people to the "cat island" since the end of last year. 

Currently, there are about 30 cats and two dogs living on the island. A fallen ancient tree has become a favorite hiding place for the cats. According to Mr. Phong, the cats were brought there by park staff more than 20 years ago to catch rats. Over several generations, the cats have reproduced and formed the "community" as it is today.

Every day, Mr. Phong and the caretaker provide food for the cats. "These cats are very clever; sometimes when they get tired of dry food, they go to the lake and catch fish themselves," Mr. Phong said. Many fish bones from the cats' catches are still scattered on the island.

Having learned about this place through social media, Tuong Trang (in the black shirt) and her friend visited the "cat island" for the first time on January 18th. Although their main activity was observing the cats, Trang was impressed with the peaceful atmosphere and considered it a suitable place to "relax her mind" and immerse herself in nature on the weekend.

 The female tourist also prepared food for the cats and recorded images of them peeking out from the tree hollows.

Having visited Thong Nhat Park many times but unaware of the existence of the "cat island," on her first visit, Tieu Nguyet (wearing glasses) said the space here felt pleasant, comfortable, and had its own unique charm, making her want to return again.

Because the cats are shy around people, Mr. Phong limits each visit to a maximum of 10 visitors. When the "cat island" attracts more visitors, the amount of leftover food scattered around the tree roots increases, causing unsanitary conditions.

To prevent strangers from swimming to the island to steal cats or shoot birds at night, Mr. Phong has added two dogs to guard it.

A round-trip motorboat ticket costs 30,000 VND per person. Due to the lack of other entertainment activities, visitors usually only stay on the island for about 30 minutes. 

Due to a lack of trash cans and regular cleaning staff, many young people voluntarily clean up the area after playing with the cats.

Spanning over 50 hectares, Thong Nhat Park is the largest park in Hanoi, bordering four streets: Tran Nhan Tong, Le Duan, Dai Co Viet, and Nguyen Dinh Chieu.

In December 2025, the entire fence, over 2,000 meters long, will be removed to directly connect with the streets and the central pedestrian area. Removing the fence will help the park attract a large number of visitors, especially young people and families with small children, on weekends.