Thuy Tien Falls

Deep in the watershed protection forests of Krông Năng, one waterfall carries a name as lovely as a poem. It is Thủy Tiên Falls.

The falls lie in Giang Tiến hamlet of Ea Púk commune. This is Đắk Lắk province, about 56 kilometers east of the city of Buôn Ma Thuột. The road bends through patches of old forest. The air grows cooler with every step, and the sound of water drifts out from far away, long before the eyes can find the falls.

People also call them the Three-Tier Falls, because the water drops down three steps in a row, and each step has its own character. The first tier is narrow and steep. Water rushes through a crack in the rock like hurried music. The second tier opens wide. Its stone steps run on, and its shallow pools glitter with light, as if someone had set each stone in place to please the eye. The third tier is the high point. The water plunges straight into a wide, deep pool and throws up white foam in the cool, damp air.

In 2009, Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officially recognized Thủy Tiên Falls as a national scenic site. It was a well-deserved honor for a landscape that nature shaped in the middle of the Central Highlands.

But what brings the falls to life is not only the three tiers or the white foam in the forest. It is also the story of H'Năng, told by the Ê Đê, the Indigenous people of this land. The legend says she bound her life to this waterfall through a deep love for nature and for the people who live here. The story passes from one generation to the next. It is one way the Ê Đê remember the bond between their community and the water, the forest and the earth.

Standing before the falls, you hear the voice of the old Central Highlands forest, the voice of stories passed down through many generations, and the voice of a land that knows how to keep its beauty.

And when the foam of the third tier rises, pure white against the deep green shade of the trees, people understand why this waterfall was given a name so soft and clear: Thủy Tiên.