Da Nhim Lake 

Overview of Da Nhim Lake

Da Nhim Lake is located in Dran Town, Don Duong District, 36km south-east of Da Lat. In 1961, Japanese specialists and Vietnamese experts and workers built a 1,460m long, 38m high dam across the Da Nhim River, forming a 9.7km2 reservoir with a capacity of 165 million cubic meters.

The Da Nhim River was originated from the northern Gia Rich mountain (1,923m high) in Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province, near the border with Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan province. The river flows through Don Duong and Duc Trong districts and pours into Da Dang River near Pongour Waterfall.

The story of Da Nhim Lake

Legend: On the background of the river, K' Ho people have the following story. In the past, in the village of Kon Do, in the Kien Nam commune, there was a married couple named Ho Biang, her husband was K'Lang. that year, the whole area was drought, Ho Biang on the way go to heaven to sue the issue, but when she got to the mountain Găng – Reo in (Duc Trong district is now) she was starved to death. K'Lang traces the seedlings bred by Ho Biang to find her. Seeing her body, K'Lang wept crying, echoed shouting sound flown through "eight mountains, eight rivers, eight forests, eight streams" and fly to the sky. Heaven sent the saint to pour water down to make rain on the earth but K'Lang was still continuing to cry till death. K'Lang's cry touched the elephant's header.the elephant came to protect K'Lang and Ho Biang body, it cried and died as well. Rain mixed with the tears of K'Lang and the elephant flows into the river called Da Nhim River ("Da" is water, "Nhim" is cry).

Today, for security reasons, visitors are not allowed to approach the dam and the sluice gate but can see Da Nhim Lake and Da Nhim River valley from Dran Pass or on the hill behind Giac Nguyen Pagoda.