Local Interest
Buon Ma Thuot
Colleen Winterburn
Once a rustic backwater town and site of a decisive battle of the Vietnam War, Buon Ma Thuot has emerged from its war-torn roots and grown into the bustling, sprawling and relatively charmless capital city of Dak Lak province.
It prospers from the spoils of the surrounding countryside, the fertile soil producing rubber, clay, minerals and coffee – lots and lots of coffee. Initially introduced by the French in 1915, coffee is now the province’ s leading commodity and you can’ t walk down the street without being tempted by a cup. In 2009, Dak Lak produced 380,373 tons of coffee, mostly robusta.
6 The MAG Vung Tau
Though the city has little for visitors to see, Buon Ma Thuot is the base for exploring all 13,125 square kilometres of Dak Lak, which sits on a large plateau surrounded by mountains and valleys formed from volcanic activity 25-30 million years ago. The Krong Ana and Krong Kno rivers flow through, joining to become the Srepok River( locally known as Dak Krong), a major tributary of the Mekong River. The river gives life to Dray Nur and Dray Sap waterfalls, meanders through Yok Don, Vietnam’ s biggest protected area, before flowing into north-eastern Cambodia. National parks like Yok Don