The Nho Que River

The Nho Quế River does not begin in Vietnam.

It starts in the Nghiễm Sơn mountains of Yunnan, in China, and runs south. It crosses the border and becomes a border river past the Lũng Cú and Má Lé areas. Then it flows through Đồng Văn and Mèo Vạc. Farther on, it meets the Gâm River in Cao Bằng. The stretch inside Vietnam is a little under 50 kilometers. Yet one short part is enough to make the river famous. It is the 15 kilometers around the Tu Sản gorge, at the foot of the Mã Pì Lèng pass. That part has made the river one of the best-known sights of the northwestern and northeastern highlands.

A river this short draws a great many visitors. The reason lies in the color of the water and the shape of the gorge.

The Nhân Dân newspaper describes the water as a distinctive jade green, set against the gray cliffs of the rocky plateau. Seen from the Mã Pì Lèng pass, that green lies at a great distance below, a thin streak of color between two huge masses of rock. Seen from a boat inside the gorge, the same water becomes a mirror beneath the boat. The cliffs rise on both sides, as if a cleft had been cut straight down into the earth.

UNESCO recognizes the whole region as the Đồng Văn Karst Plateau UNESCO Global Geopark. A UNESCO Global Geopark is an area with landscapes of international geological importance, managed for protection, education and sustainable development. The geological history here reaches back more than 550 million years. UNESCO describes the Tu Sản gorge as one of the deepest in Southeast Asia, with walls about 700 to 800 meters high. A provincial portal of Tuyên Quang gives more detail. It says the gorge is 1.7 kilometers long, with walls of almost 900 meters and a depth of nearly 1 kilometer. This is more than a beautiful sight. It shows what water and the slow movement of the earth can do to limestone over a very long time.

The boat trip on the river is among the most talked-about experiences of the rocky plateau. Motorboats leave a landing in Hấu Chua hamlet and cross the lake of the Nho Quế 1 hydropower plant. Then they enter the gorge. The boats usually stop at its mouth, so that passengers can photograph the two great walls of rock. The Nhân Dân newspaper puts the whole trip at about two hours, while the national tourism authority puts it at about an hour and a half. In practice it can depend on the conditions of each day.

The boat route has run since 2019, once the lake behind the Nho Quế 1 hydropower plant had risen high enough for boats to enter the gorge. Before that, the gorge could be seen only from the pass.

From the viewing point on the Mã Pì Lèng pass, the whole picture opens out at once. The pass road winds on the right, the narrow valley lies below, and the green band of the Nho Quế runs through the center of the scene. Many people consider it the most beautiful view on the Đồng Văn plateau. After that, visitors go down to the landing, board a boat, and look at the same scenery from the inside. The two views give two quite different feelings, yet both belong to one river.

The river is also part of the life of the people of Mèo Vạc. Local residents take part directly in boat services, lodging and cultural experiences. In this way the river has become a livelihood tied to the protection of nature.

It is a short river, yet it makes one of the most memorable trips in the rocky highlands of northern Vietnam.