Dray Nur and Upper Dray Sap

The Sêrêpôk River runs through border country. That is where the Krông Ana area meets the old Đắk Nông province. Here stands a cluster of falls, and each name in it carries a layer of history of its own.

The falls of Dray Nur and Upper Dray Sáp lie in Dray Sáp commune. The commune is in the Krông Ana area of Đắk Lắk province. Provincial planning documents treat them as one tourist area, the Dray Sáp Thượng and Dray Nur falls cluster. The planned area covers about 111.88 hectares.

The two falls hold official recognition at different levels. Upper Dray Sáp, also called Gia Long Falls, became a national historical and cultural site on January 4, 1999. Dray Nur, about 2 kilometers away, became a national scenic site on January 26, 2011. The state has put its mark on both, and standing before them, you can feel the weight of that.

The name Gia Long has its own story. The province's Culture and Tourism Center records that around 1935 to 36, Emperor Bảo Đại came up to the highlands and visited Upper Dray Sáp. Bảo Đại was the last emperor of Vietnam. He gave the falls a new name, Gia Long, after the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. The Nguyễn dynasty was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945. This is a tale passed down by local people, not a record from an independent original document. Even so, the name clings to the falls like a memory that does not wash away easily.

The rock around the falls shows that water was not the only builder here. The center says Upper Dray Sáp formed when a basalt flow from the Nâm Blang volcano spread over sedimentary rock. Water, basalt and millions of years together made the rough surface and the many layers of ground seen today.

Dray Nur is the more popular of the two. A path runs through the forest there, past old trees, with room to take in the whole sweep of the falls. The two falls and the land between them follow one another, each a different layer of the place.

Buôn Kuốp is an important cultural link in this cluster. The provincial People's Committee records about 50 traditional long houses in the village. Most of its people are Ê Đê and M'Nông. The M'Nông are one of the peoples of Vietnam's Central Highlands. The village still keeps the gongs of the Central Highlands, the Ay Ray singing of the Ê Đê, and the xoan dance. Here the gongs are not played as a show for visitors. They are the breathing of a living community that has kept its culture through many generations.

At Dray Nur and Upper Dray Sáp, the Sêrêpôk, black basalt, old forest and village culture meet on a strip of land millions of years old. Water falls over dark stone, louder than the forest around it. Behind it lies Buôn Kuốp, where the long roofs still ring with gongs.