Visiting Dray Sap waterfall in Central Highlands

A view of the upstream of Dray Sap waterfall in the central highlands

In the Central Highlands, travelers wandering about 30 kilometers south of Buon Ma Thuot City to Krong No District in Dac Nong Province will find themselves in the misty world of the Dray Sap waterfall.

The Dray Sap is one of a popular group of waterfalls in the Central Highlands including Gia Long, Dray Nur and Trinh Nu (Maiden). It is called the waterfall of smoky mist because Dray Sap in the E De ethnic people’s language means ‘fall of smoke.’


To reach the waterfall, visitors must cross many small slopes and a wooded area where visitors will sometimes see ethnic people with papooses in their back. There are not many tourism services at the waterfall except for a ticket entrance and a beverage booth since Dac Nong Province has not yet started developing tourism services at the popular group of waterfalls.

Visitors begin the journey to explore this giant waterfall by climbing down a moss-grown staircase. There are two ways to discover the waterfall, one is the roundabout route to the top and one will lead visitors to the foot of the waterfall.

Dray Sap Falls extend 500 meters divided into three parts; the upstream, the middle and the lower stream. The water is supplied by two rivers, the Krong No, which means river of the husband in the M’Nong ethnic people’s language, and the Krong A, the river of the wife. There are usually legendary stories associated with famous landscapes and Dray Sap is no exception.

Dray Sap’s legend is about a beautiful E De girl named H’Mi. Many rich M’Nong and E De men love her and propose to her but she denies them because she falls in love with a poor man from her village.

H’Mi usually makes an appointment with her boyfriend to go to work together in the mountain fields. Once, when they sat side-by-side on a mountain rock, a bird-like beast appears and lands near them.

The beast has a large trunk and its trunk drills down into the ground making water erupt into the air. It starts raining heavily and H’Mi changes into a cloud drifting in the sky while her boyfriend changes into an ancient tree.

The ground that the beast bored, turns into Dray Sap Falls. Nowadays, visitors can find a huge ancient tree beside a large rock upstream of the waterfall.

The path upstream of the fall is rather rocky. At first, visitors should climb down the moss-grown stairs and pass a small wooded area. Then, visitors will pass a wooden bridge and mountain fields of the ethnic people. Visitors continue to follow a small path to arrive upstream. Standing at a height of 20 meters upstream, visitors can contemplate the vastness and the mightiness of the waterfall.

Visitors who want to explore the lower stream can return by following the old, rather rocky, path. It is suggested that visitors wear sandals on the journey to discover the waterfall.
By SGT