With JBL in Vietnam

If 70 people working in the pet supplies sector head for Vietnam under the JBL banner, they must all have given it some thought. To put it precisely, they all initially only followed the statement by JBL: “Vietnam is still virtually unexplored with regard to its fish and reptiles,” reported expedition leader Heiko Blessin, for example, in advance of the trip. JBL received several hundred applications from representatives of the wholesale and retail trade, employees of institutes, private aquarium and terrarium enthusiasts and members of the press. Those chosen met on 1 May at Frankfurt Airport. 18 hours later, after a brief stop in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), they arrived in Nha Trang, a flourishing tourism centre on the country’s east coast. Fascinating excursions Divided into two groups and then again into several teams, the party embarked on excursions into the jungle in the hinterland of Vietnam, by boat out onto the South China Sea and to desert-like coastal regions. All these trips had just one aim – to discover, study and determine the flora and fauna and the fish and reptile world of the country. Habitats were also researched. For example, flow measurements were carried out in the rivers carrying fresh water in the jungle. As a direct consequence, many of the participants have redesigned their aquariums since their return and have achieved successes that they had never achieved before. “There’s simply no substitute for one’s own biotope investigations and observations of nature,” Heiko Blessin told PET worldwide. The same goes for the wide-ranging light measurements conducted both on the surface and underwater in the open sea. Pet product retailers in particular among the party can use the findings from this to give advice in-store when discussing the subject of light. “For the most part, the members of the party were so enthusiastic that they even measured water in places that were only accessible following hours of climbing over rocks the size of a house, and were still on the hunt for reptiles in the environs of the hotel at two in the morning,” recounts Heiko Blessin. Participants from Europe Philippe Chevoleau, editor in chief of the French magazines “AQUAmag” and “Bassins de Jardin”: “As an aquarium hobbyist, going to Vietnam was kind of a dream. Mostly as this country isn’t as open to mass tourism as can be the case for other countries around. Being with many people from different countries was also very pleasant, having so much fun and…