Experiential tourism in the border area of ​​Ia H'Drai Kon Tum

On a beautiful day last September, we set out on a journey to explore the border region of Ia H’Drai - a land with 3 hydroelectric plants and majestic natural landscapes.

Departing from Kon Tum city at 12 noon, our group of 16 people in two cars headed straight to Gia Lai province, then back to the border district of Ia H’Drai of Kon Tum province. At nearly 3 pm, the car arrived, everyone gathered at the ferry dock, waiting for the motorboat to take them to Se San fishing village to rest before exploring Mo waterfall.

Nguyen Hai Trieu boat (from An Giang) can accommodate 20 people, fully equipped with life jackets. After resting, depart from the fishing village, for more than 30 minutes floating on the surface of the large hydroelectric lake, visitors can both admire the river scenery and take beautiful photos on the lake, then the boat will take you to Mo waterfall.

With the water pouring from above creating white foam, Mo waterfall is likened to "a sleeping princess in the forest". The waterfall is located on a branch of the Po Ko river. Mo waterfall is considered by tourism experts to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Central Highlands, located on the border between Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces today.

Welcome the early sunrise at Se San fishing village.

After exploring Mo waterfall and taking souvenir photos, we returned to the fishing village to stay overnight at Nguyen Hai Trieu's raft house. The people here take advantage of the specialties that nature has given them to make a living, combining tourism, serving food and drink to visitors with products such as dried anchovies, anchovy rice paper, Se San river fish cakes, grilled catfish, etc.

After sipping a few glasses of wine, Trieu volunteered to sing a few vọng cổ songs to remind them of their homeland in the West. Trieu confided: More than 10 years ago, people from the provinces of Ca Mau, An Giang, Long An... migrated to the area of ​​the Se San 4 hydroelectric reservoir to establish a fishing village to raise and catch aquatic products.

In the early days of coming here to make a living, each person had a 3m2 raft, covered with an old tarpaulin, during the day they went fishing, fishing, and at night they returned to the raft to sleep in the murmuring sound of the river and lake. The life of wandering on makeshift rafts, without temporary residence papers, without a home... contains many difficulties and uncertainties.

At the end of 2017, after visiting the lives of the fishing village people, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - former Secretary of Kon Tum Provincial Party Committee directed the functional departments of the province and Ia H'Drai district to pay attention to solving the household registration and land issues, creating conditions for the fishing village people to go ashore and send their children to school.

At the beginning of 2018, 29 fishing village households were granted household registration books, each household was granted 400m2 of residential land and supported with 50 million VND to build houses on shore, with national grid electricity to each house. The residential area of ​​the fishing village people is only about 1 kilometer from the Se San 4 hydropower reservoir, in the area of ​​village 7, Ia Toi commune.

Mr. Trieu confided: In the past, life drifting on the river, making a living was very difficult. Now, the government supports the construction of houses, allows for household registration, and creates conditions for people to settle down and find work. Everyone in the fishing village has a stable life thanks to fishing and fish farming in cages. Besides having a solid house built on the shore, the happiest thing for the people here is that their children can go to school. The people of the fishing village are very grateful to the Party and the State for giving them a peaceful and happy life in their new homeland.

Processing specialty rice paper with anchovies at Se San fishing village.

According to Mr. Trieu, having a stable place to live, fishermen boldly invest in aquaculture to develop the economy. Previously, people only caught fish naturally; now, they boldly invest in cages to raise grass carp, red tilapia, and catfish... In particular, people have created the famous specialty "Sê San anchovy rice paper". This is also the main source of income for people in the fishing village.

Along with that, in order to help people stabilize their lives, the local government has established cooperatives to find outlets, provide technical support, and breeds for dozens of households here. In addition to fishing, some fishing households also take advantage of the lake to provide tourist services, earning an additional 5-7 million VND per month.

At 4am the next morning, we followed Mr. Trieu to experience the anchovy harvest. He said that he set the bottom net the day before, and every morning he rowed a boat to harvest. His family set up 5 traps, if it is not the full moon season, they can catch 4-5kg of anchovies/day, if it is the full moon season, they can only catch 2-3kg.

After breakfast prepared by Trieu's family, we left the fishing village to go to Ia Dom waterfall. According to Mr. Le Ba Khanh Luan, an official working in the Cultural Department of Ia H'Drai district, Ia Dom waterfall has 12 beautiful and majestic floors. Currently, the waterfall is still wild and has not been invested in for tourism development.

After experiencing Ia Dom waterfall for about an hour, we chose a spacious, airy rubber garden by the roadside to rest and have a light lunch. After lunch, we got on the bus back to Kon Tum city, ending the journey of exploring and experiencing the majestic nature in the border district of Ia H'Drai.

Nearly 2 days with family and friends experiencing tourism in the border land of Ia H'Drai was very interesting and left many impressions. If tourists have the opportunity to come, they will feel the attraction of the Se San River, the waterfall, the lake, the land and the love of Ia H'Drai people.

Mr. Huynh Duc Tien - Chairman of Kon Tum Provincial Tourism Association said: We have only tested bringing 2 groups of tourists here. Hopefully, the Kon Tum - Se San River - Mo Waterfall - Fishing Village - Ia Dom Waterfall tour will be one of the attractive and promising tours in the near future for tourists who want to temporarily leave the hustle and bustle of urban life to explore the beauty that nature has bestowed upon life.