Do Quyen waterfall
Deep in the forest.
Duncan Wright — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lê Thy at Vietnamese Wikipedia — Public domain · Andre Hospers — CC BY 4.0 · Andre Hospers — CC BY 4.0
Bach Ma National Park is a mountain forest reserve in central Vietnam, about 38 km southeast of Hue and 41 km northwest of Da Nang in a straight line. It rises from near the coast into the Annamite Mountains and is one of the wettest places in the country. In 1932 the French engineer Girard picked the summit as a cool hill station for officials from Hue, and by 1937 it had 139 villas and hotels, a post office and a market, earning it the nickname «the Da Lat of central Vietnam». The villas were later abandoned and most are now ruins. The forests were first protected in 1937 and became a national park in 1986, and BirdLife International lists the park as an Important Bird Area with several rare species. A narrow, steep road climbs 19 km through dense evergreen forest to the summit area at around 1,250 metres, where the air turns noticeably cooler. Moss-covered ruins of the old villas peep out from the trees, streams cut between granite boulders, and on clear days the summit looks out over the coastal lagoons and the sea. Marked trails lead to the Do Quyen waterfall, the Five Lakes and the summit lookout. Visitors go up on foot, by motorbike or in a park vehicle. Expect heavy rain and leeches in the wet months from September to December.
Deep in the forest.
Ruins among the trees.
A stream trail.
Bach Ma mountains, between Hue and Da Nang, central Vietnam
On foot, by motorbike or in a park vehicle.
February to August; heavy rain falls from September to December.