Dambri Waterfall

Some places carry a name like a promise. Đambri is one of them. According to a legend of the K'Ho people, a girl once sat beside this waterfall, waiting for her sweetheart. He never came back. Her tears turned into the water that pours down without end. The tourist park here tells the legend, and it says the name Đambri means "waiting". This is a legend and not history. Even so, the legend changes the way a person walks in. The step is slower, and the ear stays open.

The falls lie in Bảo Lộc, in Lâm Đồng province, about 18 kilometers from the center of Bảo Lộc. Vietnam's tourism database places them on the Đa M'bri, in the cool air that marks the southern Central Highlands. The main fall is more than 60 meters high, a figure given by both the park and the national tourism authority. That is a long drop for water, and it shows. The water makes a thick layer of white foam and a wide spread of mist, and the sound rolls out long before anyone reaches the bottom.

One way down to the foot is a stairway under the trees, and it lets the forest of the Central Highlands into every step. The ground is damp. The roar grows louder with each stair, and the air turns noticeably cooler the closer one gets. The park has kept this route for many years. People who walk it often remember the sound of water striking rock, mixed with the calls of forest birds.

At the bottom, the push of the spray surprises children and adults alike. The mist is not a gentle haze here. It has force, and it lands on the face. On sunny days, at the right angle, that mist can make a rainbow. It does not appear every time. When it does, it may be the moment people remember best from the whole trip.

The grounds hold a second waterfall as well, called Đasara. A lake, Hồ Đamb'ri, gives a place to rest. After the falls, a person can sit there and simply watch the surface of the water.

One part gets mentioned less often, and it is worth a stop. The park keeps a display on the culture of the Central Highlands, with objects of the Mạ and K'Ho communities. The Mạ are one of the ethnic groups of Vietnam, living mainly in Lâm Đồng and neighboring provinces. Among the objects are a dried gourd called bầu khô, a hat, a mortar and pestle, and a tray. They belong to the daily life of the highland people. After the waterfall and the forest, this display gives the visit another layer. It tells the story of the people of the Bảo Lộc land, and it makes the day more than a morning of looking at scenery.

Đambri does not promise records of nature. It is a place of mist, noise and cool air, of a waterfall to stand beside for a while. At the foot of the falls on a highland morning, the spray settles on the face and the roar of water fills both ears. A band of rainbow may appear against the white mist, or it may not. Either way, the moment is enough to remember Đambri by, the waterfall that carries the name of waiting.