Buon Don

Crossing the Buôn Đôn suspension bridge means crossing a river and a way of seeing elephants. The Sêrêpôk flows below, and the planks creak softly under each step. Overhead, old fig trees more than 300 years old spread their shade across the water. Here a traveler arrives at a tourist destination and walks into the long story of the Central Highlands at the same time.

Buôn Đôn is in Đắk Lắk Province. It lies in Krông Na commune, about 42 kilometers northwest of Buôn Ma Thuột. Many travel writings explain the name Bản Đôn, or Buôn Đôn, as meaning island village. The reason given is that in the old days the settlements were tied to spits of land, river islands and branches of the Sêrêpôk. The name calls up a land floating in water, where people lived together with the river.

The community here is not only Ê Đê. M'Nông, Gia Rai and Lao people live side by side with them. That mixture makes Buôn Đôn a place with a far fuller culture than the simple land of elephants that many people think of first.

The suspension bridges of Buôn Đôn run for more than 500 meters. They cross the river beneath those same trees. Walking slowly over them, a traveler hears the water of the Sêrêpôk and looks down at the riverbed and the forest on both banks. The bridge sways a little with each step.

The story of the elephant king Khunjunop, also called Y Thu K'nul, is an essential part of Buôn Đôn. Even within the local community, this title of elephant king is told in several ways. What is certain is that Khunjunop reflects an age when Buôn Đôn was tied closely to the work of elephants. It was the time of the mahouts and the trading networks of the border region. The story is a memory the community carries, handed down through the generations by word of mouth. At the tomb complex of the elephant-hunting king, it is heard as local culture still flowing, not as dry numbers in a history book.

About the elephants, one thing needs saying plainly. Đắk Lắk is moving toward elephant-friendly tourism. At Buôn Đôn today, people feed the elephants, watch them, and listen to the mahouts tell the story of each one. In 2025, the whole province had only 35 domestic elephants, mostly at Lắk and Buôn Đôn. Each elephant is now a living treasure of the forest.

This change does not erase a tradition. It adjusts the way a heritage is shown. The mahouts are still there, the elephants are still there, and the bond between the people of the Central Highlands and elephants remains whole. The only difference is that visitors no longer climb onto an elephant's back, and that is a good change for the health of a herd that is growing thin. Standing beside a gentle elephant and hearing the mahout speak of its temper brings a person far closer than sitting on its back.

Beyond the bridge and the elephants, Buôn Đôn has Lao stilt houses, old houses, and the nearby village of Buôn Trí. At the end of 2024, Buôn Trí was announced as a community tourism destination. The village lies a few hundred meters from the bridge area, beside the Sêrêpôk. Its 37 households are Ê Đê, M'Nông and Lao. It is a place to sit in a stilt house and hear the voices of the community and the river, rather than only looking from afar.

Yok Đôn National Park also lies in the Buôn Đôn area. It covers more than 115,000 hectares, with its characteristic khộp forest and elephant-friendly walks. There the elephants live by their own natural rhythm, while people follow quietly from a safe distance, among endless khộp trees that spread their leaves with the seasons.

No single activity stays in the mind at Buôn Đôn. What stays is the sound of the bridge swaying gently over the river. It is the story of the elephant king in the warm voice of a mahout. It is the gentle eyes of old elephants beside the fig trees that are 300 years old. Leaving, a traveler still carries the sound of the Sêrêpôk running on in the ear. And there is the picture of standing in the middle of the bridge, with the river of the Central Highlands breathing underfoot.