Tourist Destinations of Dalat - Dalat Waterfalls

Dalat Waterfalls, Waterfalls in Dalat Vietnam.

Pon Gour Waterfall: Many people regard this waterfall fifty kilometers south of Dalat as one of the most magnificent in Indochina. Although its drop is only forty meters, the waterfall has a  plentiful supply of water and carries religious significance for local ethnic-minority people, who flock there for Lunar New Year's festivities and to pray for good luck in the coming year.

Some monks passing the Pongour Waterfall

Ankroet Waterfall: This waterfall fifteen kilometers north of Dalat and nearby Dankia Lake makes an attractive outing for tourists. The road to the waterfall winds through ethnic-minority hamlets, where residents have vegetable farms. 

Datanla Waterfall: This waterfall at the foot of Prenn Pass and near Highway 20 is ten kilometers south of Đà Lạt's city center. The easiest may to get there is by motorbike taxi. The waterfall lies in a valley not far from Tuyen Lam Lake. With its height of twenty meters, Datanla Waterfall is not as steep as the ones at Prenn and Pon Gour. It slopes gently and falls gracefully, but its pool is deep. After a walk of ten or fifteen minutes (about 300 meters) from the pass to the waterfall, trekkers come to another path that follows a long and steep slope. Youth like to jump from one rock to another and worm their way through the bushes.

Vietnamese researcher Nguyen Diep says the ''Datanla'' comes from the Co Ho phrase ''Da Tam Nha'', which means ''water below the rocks” and has been mispronounced as ''Datanla”. The banks of the stream that flows into the Datanla once served as the base and hiding places for the Lat people when resisting Chăm invaders. Eventuatly, the Lạch drove out the invaders. Thereafter, Datanla became a local resistance base whenever foreign groups invaded. 

Datanla's scenery is wild and charming. It is said that nymphs from Heaven once bathed there, hence the name ''Suoi Tien'' or ''Nymph Spring”. 

In 1998, the government classified Datanla as a site of natural beauty. 

Prenn Waterfall and Pass: Prenn Pass and Prenn Waterfall are twelve kilometers from the center of Dalat City and on Highway 20 near Datanla Waterfall. Prenn Pass, which is ten kilometers long, lies at the entrance to Dalat City The thirteen-meter waterfall is a hundred meters to the south of the slope of the pass. At its foot is a bridge partly veiled  by the rush of water. The government recognised Prenn Waterfall as a site of national beauty in 1998. 

In the Cham language, ''Prenn'' means ''an invaded area'' or ''borderline''. Several centuries a go, the Cham in the Kingdom of Panduranga on the east coast (present-day Ninh Thuan Province) invaded the land of the Lạt and the Chil, both related to the Cơ Ho. Prenn was the border area and also the battlefront between the two sides. The Cham lived on the stretch of land from Prenn through D' Ran (Đon Duong District, Lam Đong Province) to Phan Rang on the coast. The Co Ho, Lat, and Chil  lived in the area on the western side of Frenn. 

According to Cham history, this conflict took place in the seventeenth century during the reign of King Porome (1625-1651), who has great military strength and wanted to expand his kingdom westward into the Lang Bian Highlands. However, the Co Ho; the Lat, and the Chil clipped his ambition. The Cham occupied Đ' Ran for a long tim. Vestiges of the Cham dynasties can be found in the area. Some villages in Đon Duong District still bear Cham names, such as K' loong and N'Thol Ha. 

Cougah Waterfall: Also called ''Pothole,'' this waterfall is located thirty-eight kilometers from Dalat and three hundred meters from Highway 20. It is seventeen meters high and has two falls, one relatively quiet and the other gushinh. ''Gougah'' comes from the ethnic-minority language, while ''Fothole'' is an invention of Kinh (ethnic Vietnamese) people to describe the egg-shaped stones that can be seen at the foot of the waterfall during the dry season. 

Dambri Waterfall: T'his waterfall eighteen kilometers west of Bao Loc District Town on National Road No. 20 is a majestic ninety meters high and is an important stop on tours departing from Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan Provinces, Ho Chi Minh City, and the Mekong Delta. 

“Đambri” which means ''waiting'' in the Co Ho language, combines the names of to lovers, Dam and H' Ri. According to legend, in ancient times when the stream's flow was much lighter, H'Ri often cam to the pool at the foot o the waterfall. One day, Dam (sometimes called Kđam) stopped by the stream while hunting. He say H'Ri bathing and was mesmerized by her beauty. Dam and H'Ri fell in love and married. 

One day, Dam went hunting and did not return. H'Ri waited and waited and wept so much and so long that her tears created a stream that formed a large waterfall. 

Eventually, Đam returned. Hearing of his wife's despair, he jumped in the pool at the base of the waterfall to demonstrate his loyalty. His body turned in to the lion-shaped rock at the base of the falls. People say the lion is young Dam crying over his dead wife. The Co Ho named the waterfall  Dam H’Ri, which is now mispronounced as ''Dambri''.

Dalat Waterfalls, Waterfalls in Dalat Vietnam.