Con Ho Islet

The only way onto Cồn Hô is across the water. As the boat pulls away, the mainland bank falls back behind it, and that moment is where the trip really begins.

Cồn Hô lies in the middle of the Cổ Chiên River. It used to belong to Đức Mỹ commune. That commune was in the Càng Long area of Trà Vinh. After the provinces merged, sources record the islet as part of Nhị Long commune, in Vĩnh Long Province.

The islet covers about 25 hectares. Seen from above, many people say it looks like a cá hô. The name itself comes from a story the villagers tell. Long ago, the waters here held many cá hô. One large fish drifted ashore, and the people buried it. From then on the place was called Cồn Cá Hô, and later it was shortened to Cồn Hô. This is a folk tale, so it is best heard as the community's memory, not as verified history.

What sets Cồn Hô apart is not a big building or an amusement park. Most of the households on the islet have made something to share out of their own daily lives. Each one has its own specialty.

The Hai Nguyên household tells the story of the land and its people, and serves a tea of butterfly pea flowers. The Ba Kiệt household bakes eggs wrapped in clay, using straw. The Tư Khen household keeps an old-style kitchen and cooks chè bưởi, a Vietnamese sweet soup with pomelo.

The Vũ Minh household has a garden of coconut and pomelo trees, and a garden boat. The Hai Trãi household offers herbal foot soaks, made with lemongrass, ginger, lá lốt and pomelo peel, all from its own garden.

The Mekong Delta Tourism Association has recognized this model as a Community-Based Ecotourism Destination. Cồn Hô is on its list of 56 typical tourist destinations of the region, updated to June 2024.

The paths across the islet are laid with coconut-fiber mats, to keep the paths from getting slippery when the flood water rises. When the mats rot away, they turn into natural fertilizer for the gardens. That is green tourism in a very practical sense.

When dusk falls, Cồn Hô takes on a kind of light that few places still keep. The light comes not from street lamps or signs but from oil lamps flickering in front of the houses, throwing shadows across the coconut garden and the still river. The lamps are not there just for atmosphere. Cồn Hô still lives by the rhythm of the sun and the flame, in a setting that is not urbanized like the mainland. Sitting by an oil lamp with tea, garden food and the villagers' stories is an evening that many guests remember for a long time.

Cồn Hô is a living example of community tourism. Every roof holds a story, and every kitchen fire holds a memory. The whole islet of 25 hectares is still looked after, day by day, by the people who were born on it. Out on the wide Cổ Chiên, that is the rarest thing of all.