Thac Mo Lake of Binh Phuoc

A sheet of water covering about 110 square kilometers lies below Bà Rá Mountain. It is not a natural lake. This is Thác Mơ Lake, the reservoir of the hydropower plant of the same name on the upper Bé River. It is the result of a large engineering project, built more than 30 years ago. Its work for the land downstream matters far more than the scenery in front of you.

The lake lies in the former province of Bình Phước, which is now part of Đồng Nai. It spreads across three areas. One is Phước Long and another is Bù Đăng. The third is Bù Gia Mập. Work on the project began on November 20, 1991. The whole project was completed on April 30, 1995. It is the first step in the plan for using the energy of the entire Bé River basin. The plant has an installed capacity of 150 megawatts, and it produces about 600 million kilowatt hours of electricity in an average year.

Making power is not the only job of the reservoir. It has to regulate the flow of the river through the year, and it also helps supply water for farming, industry and daily life downstream. That means the Bé River, the Đồng Nai River and the area around Ho Chi Minh City. The Bé River is about 300 kilometers long, and the land that drains into it, as far as the dam site, covers about 2,200 square kilometers. So the calm surface of the lake is also a water-control system that serves millions of people downstream.

The shores are open and green. The lake is ringed by rubber, cashew and durian orchards. Along the water, people fish, watch nets being thrown, and eat simple country dishes among the fruit trees. This is how the local government of Phước Long describes the place.

The Government's online newspaper once recorded something more. It wrote of a raft village on the lake, where fish were raised and caught in the open water. That is a picture of local livelihood and culture, and it shows more than a view.

The lake is often paired with Bà Rá Mountain on a single trip, because the two lie close together and complete each other's landscape. The mountain adds height, breadth and a spiritual air. The lake adds the wide stretch of water that reflects the mountains and forest. From the top of Bà Rá, the green water spread out below is part of what gives the view of Phước Long its own character.

The rainy season runs from June to October. Then the lake turns lively, as heavy showers carry water down from the forest. In the dry season the surface lies perfectly still and reflects the green of the mountains and forest of Bù Gia Mập.

Many older sources still give the province as Bình Phước. The change came with the reorganization of 2025.

The lake does not reveal itself from a single viewpoint. It is a place to take slowly. There is the water in the early morning, the rubber and cashew orchards around it, and the stories of the fish farmers and their life beside the lake. And with luck, Bà Rá Mountain stands high in the far distance. It helps explain why people call Phước Long a land where mountains and water belong together.