Ham Rong Mountain of Pleiku

Pleiku has two kinds of volcano. One kind sank in on itself and became a basin, and the basin filled with water to make a lake. The other kind is still standing, a mass of mountain that rises out of the highland.

Biển Hồ, also called T'Nưng, is the first kind. Hàm Rồng is the second.

An extinct volcano that never sank keeps its shape as a hill above the ground. That is what Hàm Rồng is. The peak rises to about 1,028 meters and lies about 11 kilometers south of the center of Pleiku. From the city, it is the clearest landmark on the southern skyline.

Before the science come the names the highland peoples gave it. The Bahnar call the mountain Kông Hơdrông. The Gia Rai call it Chư Hdrông. The Gia Rai are one of the peoples of Vietnam's Central Highlands. The Kinh call it Hàm Rồng. The Kinh are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam. One mountain has three names, and each of the three communities is tied to it in its own way.

In 2025, the Gia Lai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism published a bilingual book called Sự tích núi Hàm Rồng. The title means The Legend of Hàm Rồng Mountain. Nguyễn Quang Tuệ collected and edited it from old Bahnar folktales. So the mountain is more than a name on a map. It is also part of the memory and imagination of the Bahnar, passed down through many generations.

At its foot are pine forest, coffee gardens and cool highland air. Wild sunflowers bloom yellow around the base from about October to December, the 10th to the 12th month of the year.

On the summit there are structures for radio, television, telecommunications and national defense, beside the natural scenery. The mountain is a place to look at the view, and it is also one link in the infrastructure of the whole Central Highlands.

In February 2010, a large fire broke out near the broadcast station on the mountain. Sparks had blown over from a farm field in hot, dry weather. The dry pine forest and dry grass turned a small spark into a fierce fire in an instant.

The real worth of Hàm Rồng is that it is living proof of the geology of Pleiku. The plateau was built by volcanic activity in the ancient past. The ground is fertile basalt, the source of the coffee hills, the tea gardens and the pepper fields known across the country. Biển Hồ, not far away, is an extinct crater that has filled with water. Hàm Rồng is an extinct volcano too, but it still stands firm. They are two shapes of one geological force, and both can be seen with the naked eye on a single day around Pleiku.

Hàm Rồng is not only a fine mountain to photograph. Three communities once knew it by three names. A Bahnar tale lives on in its folk memory. And after millions of years of cooling, the volcano still shows its marks plainly in the land.