<figcaption>Ea Tyn map</figcaption>

The swamps of Dac Lac province are locat­ed in the mys­ti­cal region of Vietnam’s Cen­tral High­lands. Sur­round­ed by the Kro­ng Ana (moth­er riv­er) and Kro­ng Bong (father riv­er), the south­ern Dac Lac swamp in ancient times was a region of savan­nas, low forests, lakes and marsh­es, its ter­rain unsta­ble and vaporous. The region was cov­ered by giant grass, nenuphar water lilies, lotus blos­soms, bam­boo groves and reeds. It was home to a stun­ning array of wildlife, includ­ing croc­o­diles, swamp tigers, gaurs, ele­phant herds, uni­corn rhi­noc­er­os, giant lizards, pythons and numer­ous aquat­ic bird species. Begin­ning in 1960, the region was drained and con­vert­ed into rice fields or build­able zones. How­ev­er, some of the ancient sur­faces remain, pro­vid­ing wit­ness to a for­got­ten primeval time. These areas are mirac­u­lous­ly pre­served, such as the three nat­ur­al lakes of Ea Tyn, Ea R’Bine and Ea Boune, whose banks run up against the Chu Pan­gon and Chu Yi Yang (Spir­it Yi Mount) for­est on the north­west side of the Nam Kaa moun­tain range.

<img alt="Nam Kaa crocodile" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/nam-kaa-ea-tyn-mountain/Nam-Khaa-1583921366.jpg" />
<figcaption>Nam Kaa crocodile</figcaption>

As told by for­got­ten tes­ti­monies about the traces of the lakes, Ea Boune, Ea Tyn and Ea R’Bine are three nat­ur­al lakes locat­ed in the north-west façade of Nam Kaa, they extend to the west with swamps and rice fields, not far from the Kro­ng Knô area. The Ea Boune, a semi-spher­i­cal shaped area is dis­tin­guished by an island and over­looked by Mount Chu Pan­gon. Fur­ther south is the Ea Tyn, an area stretch­ing five kilo­me­ters along the banks of rivers by the edge of an old for­est by Chu Pan­gon and Chu Yi Yang (Mount of the Spir­it Yi). Trav­el to the south around the Ea R’Bine area which is embed­ded in the woody flanks of Chu Yi Yang.

<figcaption>Fish­er­men on Ea Tyn Lake</figcaption>

In 2017, Secret Indochi­na sur­veyed the area around the three lakes and cre­at­ed inno­v­a­tive new expe­ri­ences such as an explo­ration of the Ea Tyn lake and its sur­round­ing ances­tral for­est. This adven­ture starts at Lak-Lak lake, where you trans­fer to a path along the south­ern part of Kro­ng Ana swamp, now dot­ted with rice fields. Arrive at a Rhade (Edé) ham­let and glean insights into local eth­nic cul­ture. Then, begin a five-hour trek to Chu Yi Yang Mount (781m) through deep woods and trails mean­der­ing inside thick under­growth. Con­tin­ue on to the Chi Yi Yang south­ern ridge under the sump­tu­ous foliage of frangi­pa­nis, banyans and ancient dipte­ro­carpaceas. Lis­ten as your Rhade track­er explains tree vari­eties, the activ­i­ties and beliefs of his peo­ple, and Viet­nam War episodes such as the crash of var­i­ous USAF fight­ers in the area. Fol­low a hunt­ing track to Ea Tyn and embark on small boats known as pirogues to explore the ancient lake before enjoy­ing lunch in a lake­side cabana.