Sylvio Lamarche got up very early to observe a herd of black-shanked douc monkeys which were playing on the peak of a 500m mountain behind his house by.

Sylvio Lamarche on Hon Heo mount.

The 54-year-old Canadian previously grew ornamental trees in his homeland before a trip to Van Phong bay in Khanh Hoa province in 1995 changed his life forever.

He enquired about a piece of land at the foot of Hon Heo Mountain in Ninh Tinh commune, and he decided to settle there. In 2000, he sold his farm in Canada and came to Vietnam. He called his newly purchased land “Jungle Beach”.

Lamarche said that it was fate that he would meet the man who is his current manager, Luu Vinh Quang, 44. When Lamarche met Quang for the first time, Quang was a xe om driver. Quang took Lamarche everywhere by motorbike and taught him Vietnamese.. Lamarche also taught English to Quang.

Lamarche says he loves every tree and animal on Hon Heo mount and he tries to protect them.

“I have no power but I have love for the animals and trees,” he said.

Quang said once a neighbor trapped an injured loris and Lamarche asked to buy the animal. When a high price was quoted he knew that buying the animal would only encourage further hunting. Instead, Lamarche called forest rangers to seize the loris. He held the animal and ran to the top of the mount in his bare feet to release it.

In discovering nature in Hon Heo, the Canadian paid special attention to a species of black monkey. He took photos of them and sent to Tilo Nadle, a German expert who is the director of the Primate Rescue Centre of Cuc Phuong National Park in 2007. Experts were sent to Hon Heo and they defined that the doucs in Hon Heo Mountain are black-shanked douc - an endangered species.

Nguyen Huy Dung, deputy director of the Centre for Natural Resources and Forestry Environment of Khanh Hoa province, said that there are a few black-shanked douc in Vietnam so they are strictly protected.

Larmarche has personally help protect 110 black-shanked douc in Hon Heo. In late December, he discovered that there was an additional of 30-40 babies.

In his notebook there are other finds and observations. They include four species of eagle and four species of deer. Both are listed as endangered animals.

He says of the animals: “They only eat grass and leaves. They don’t harm man. We have to protect them for our descendants but I can’t do it alone. I need people’s assistance”.

In the meantime he has five dogs which act as his early warning system for poachers and they help him guard the surrounding wilderness.

His efforts, to date, have not gone unnoticed. The local authorities have presented Lamarche with a certificate of merit for protecting local animals.

He was married a Vietnamese girl and has a son. He joked "I deleted Canada".

Lamarche’s photos of black-shanked doucs: