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Majestic Ta Dung

During a journey to explore the South-Central Highlands, Ta Dung lake in Dak Nong province with its majestic landscape and old tales is an attractive tourist destination.
Ta Dung lake, located in the two communes of Dak P’lao and Dak Som, Dak Glong district, is a freshwater lake with an area of about 22,103 ha. It is a manmade lake created during the construction of the Dong Nai 3 hydropower plant, from the damming of a branch of the Dong Nai river. Its average depth is around 20m. The lake is dotted with hundreds of green islands, large and small. This landscape is the reason Ta Dung lake sometimes is described as a miniature Ha Long bay in the Highlands.
 

Ta Dung lake in Dak Nong province with its majestic landscape and old tales is an atractive tourist destination. Photo: Cong Dat / VNP


Boats for tourists to explore Ta Dung.  Photo: Cong Dat / VNP


Tourists at the floating house on Ta Dung lake. Photo: Cong Dat / VNP






Tourists enjoy the wild and majestic beauty of Ta Dung lake. Photo: Cong Dat 

Tourists usually go to Ta Dung from November to February. It’s at the end of the rainy season and the high-level lake water and greenery makes Ta Dung lake a picture of wild and beautiful nature.

The morning at Ta Dung is one of the most beautiful scenes one can see in nature. Visitors will have the chance to witness and get lost in a sea of clouds. Clouds in all shapes and sizes are everywhere, in the yard, on the road, in coffee farms and on beds of wild flowers. At the Ta Dung Ecotourism Area, there is also a 50m long glass bridge for visitors to roam and enjoy this fairytale scene.

Visitors to Ta Dung lake will for sure take a cruise on the lake, which costs 100,000 dong (4.4 US dollars)/ticket. Motorboats carrying about 20 passengers and give them a view of the immense water and green islands that were once hills before being flooded. On the boat, Ho Bi from the Ma ethnic group will entertain guests with the legend of Ta Dung mountain.

The story goes that the village of Bon B’Nam in the past was a fertile plateau and often flooded during storms. Living there was extremely hard. The village patriarch Tang Klao Ca went through the forest to ask for help of two brothers, Saint Dit and Saint Dri. The two saints agreed to help and met with the god Cot Vong, the god of the sea, to ask for a few mountains to be placed near Bon B’Nam in order to give the people shelter during the storms and floods. The mountain that came first was called Father mountain, the second one was Mother mountain. To show their appreciation to the gods, the people invited the gods to a thanksgiving ceremony. The god Ba Trac was very angry because the villagers forgot to invite him to the party. The villagers held another to apologize. After that, Father Mountain suddenly had a lot of giant sugarcanes. Father mountain was then called B’Nam Cao Dung which means the mountain with big sugarcanes, but after time it was changed to Ta Dung mountain.

 
By Thanh Hoa & Cong Dat


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