About 60 km south of Buon Ma Thuot City, Lak Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in Dak Lak Province and the second largest in Vietnam (The largest natural lake of Vietnam is Ba Be Lake), with an area of about 500 ha. Here, visitors can easily experience a variety of eco-tourism tours such as elephant riding, canoeing with dugout canoe, renting a bicycle to visit the M’nong village.
Riding elephant and taking dugout canoe at Lak Lake
Taking a dugout canoe is the ideal choice for visitors to explore the rich vegetation of the lake.
On the unique wooden dugout canoe, M’nong people row the boat and tell visitors about the legend of Lak Lake. In the past, after a battle between the fire god and the water god, an M’nong Rlam young boy named Y Lak caught a small eel and took him home to grow. Strangely, the eel grew as fast as it could, and soon the pond became an immense lake. The M’nong people called this lake “Dak of Lak”, meaning the water of Y Lak or The Lak Lake today.
Around the lake, there are more than 10 elephants ready to serve the needs of tourists. Elephant rides are available in many packages such as 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 60 minutes with prices ranging from 200,000 VND to 600,000 VND.
The journey of elephant riding is through the ancient villages, rice paddies, line of Konia trees and wading around the lake. After the end of the trip, visitors can reward the elephant with small gifts such as banana or sugarcane trees.
Visitors will surely surprise when seeing the elephants are free to grazing around the lake.
Admiring the scenery and explore the life of local people in many unique ways
Visitors can also rent bicycles to explore area with the roofs of cottage, long houses and community culture in the M’nong villages such as Jun village and M’lieng village.
In order to see the whole lake, tourists should visit Bao Dai Palace, the resort on the hilltop behind the town of Lien Son. This is the place, where Bao Dai King used to visit, hunting and resting every occasion to Dak Lak.
Less than 10 km from Lak Lake is Yang Tao commune, the only place in the Central Highlands preserves the ancient pottery handicraft of the M’nongRlam people. Here, visitors can learn about the art of making pottery as well as buying pottery products for gifts with affordable prices.
Around the lake, there are many wild places with hills, mountains, lakes, dikes, river… for tourists do trekking and recording the charming scene.
In early September, along the road from Buon Ma Thuot City to Lak Lake are the rice fields are in the harvest season, the ideal time for visitors to enjoy the natural scenery.
