Langbiang Mountain

People call Langbiang the roof of Da Lat, and they do not say it just for fun.

The peak stands about 2,167 meters above sea level. The Lang Biang tourist area lies about 12 kilometers north of the center of Da Lat. From the viewpoint near the top, a visitor can look down on Da Lat and on the Lạc Dương area. Broad stretches of forest run on from there as far as Suối Vàng and Suối Bạc. Few other places in this region give such a wide view over the land.

Lâm Đồng province's tourism material describes the Lang Biang tourist area as divided into five parts. Each part has its own terrain and its own plant cover. The first is a reception area, and the second is Thung lũng Trăm Năm, the Hundred Year Valley. The third is the Mimosa meadow. The fourth is Đankia hill, also called Radar hill, and the last is the peak itself.

The foot of the mountain is home to the Indigenous Lạch, Chil and K'Ho communities. These are Central Highlands communities with a rich cultural life, closely tied to gongs, traditional dress and community festivals. Whenever gongs or festivals come up in talk of this place, they are not simply acts put on to entertain visitors. They are part of a cultural heritage that the communities themselves are still keeping alive, generation after generation.

Everyone who comes to Langbiang hears one story. Tourism material from Lâm Đồng province links the Langbiang plateau to a love legend. It is a folk tale of the local people of this region. Each place that tells it may differ from the next in its details. What is certain is that the tale has become bound to the name of the plateau and to the way the community sees the world. So when people say Langbiang, they mean more than a single mountain. They mean a place wrapped in cultural memory.

UNESCO describes the Langbiang Biosphere Reserve as lying in the north of Lâm Đồng province, at heights from about 650 meters to nearly 2,300 meters. A biosphere reserve is a UNESCO-recognized area where nature is protected and the people living there keep working the land. Across that range of height there are many different kinds of forest: mid-mountain evergreen forest, mixed forest of conifers and broadleaf trees, primary forest, dwarf forest on the high ground, moss forest, bamboo and savanna. UNESCO also records the area as one of the centers of biodiversity in Vietnam. At the heart of the reserve lies Bidoup Núi Bà National Park.

UNESCO recognized the Langbiang Biosphere Reserve in 2015. That recognition means the area is valued for more than its scenery. Its worth for science and for conservation has been recognized by the international community.

From high up at the viewpoint, looking out over the wide green space below, a visitor can see what the name biosphere reserve is meant to say. It is not a sign on a wall. It is a commitment that everything growing green in that sunlight must be kept.

Up on the peak, at 2,167 meters above sea level, the wind moves through the crowns of the moss forest. The sound of gongs rises from the valley, and Da Lat looks small in an endless sea of green. Standing there, people understand why a whole plateau bears the name of this mountain. Standing there, one understands why a whole plateau bears the name of this mountain.