Dray Nur Falls

Two rivers meet, and what they make is a third. That is plain geography, but around Krông Ana people tell it in pictures. The Krông Ana is the female river, and the Krông Nô is the male. Together they become the Sêrêpôk. Right where they join, the water drops over two big falls. Dray Nur lies on the Đắk Lắk side. Dray Sáp lies on the other side, in the old Đắk Nông province. Local people call them the Wife Falls and the Husband Falls. This is a folk legend, not a historical event. Still, it explains why the two falls are always named together.

In the Ê Đê language, Dray Nur means "female falls." The Đắk Lắk Culture and Tourism Center records this meaning. The falls lie in the Buôn Kuốp area of Dray Sáp commune. They are about 25 to 30 kilometers south of central Buôn Ma Thuột.

Both the national tourism authority and the provincial tourism center describe the falls as about 250 meters wide and more than 30 meters high. It is one of the widest falls in the Central Highlands. From the main viewpoint, the water is not a narrow ribbon but a broad curtain, and the sound of its fall fills the whole area. The state has ranked the place as a national scenic site since January 26, 2011.

One notable feature of Dray Nur is a suspension bridge over the Sêrêpôk. It is more than a place for photographs. It joins the banks of the two old provinces and gives a view of the falls and river from above, so a visitor can sense both the width and the depth of the water. In the middle of the bridge, the sound of the water below rises clearly, and the whole 250 meters of falling water spreads out ahead.

Behind the falls there is also a cave. Both the national tourism authority and the provincial center mention it as part of the site. Visitors walk along the rock wall and work their way behind the water to reach it. From inside, looking out, the white water hangs before the cave mouth like an enormous veil.

Dray Nur stands close to the Dray Sáp falls across the river. Those falls belong to the Đray Sáp and Gia Long Landscape Protection Area. They also belong to the Đắk Nông UNESCO Global Geopark. A UNESCO Global Geopark is an area with landscapes of international geological importance, managed for protection, education and sustainable development. The two falls stand on opposite sides of one river and share one water, yet each has its own character.

What many visitors remember best is swimming at the falls, especially on sunny days, when the water below the fall lights up in the sun. The water is cool, and the falling river is loud on every side. Under the main fall, many people say, comes a moment that a photograph cannot capture.

Dray Nur is a waterfall that lets the scenery speak for itself. There is the curtain of water, 250 meters wide, and the sound of it falling and echoing. And on clear mornings, the pool below gives back the light. The legend of the Wife Falls and the Husband Falls is more than ornament. It is the way the Ê Đê speak, in their own language, of something truly beautiful. A visitor here may find that the Wife Falls and Husband Falls legend is no idle invention, but the way the Ê Đê use their own words to speak of something truly beautiful.