Elephant riding, taking the piragua, enjoying gong performance, eating and sleeping at M’Nong minority people’s long houses are a type of tourism that has a typical character of the Central Highlands in Jun village, Lak Lake.
Lak Lake is the largest freshwater lake not only in Dak Lak but also in the whole Central Highlands with more than 500 ha of water surface. When the lake becomes a famous tourism destination inside and outside the country, people’s lives have also been changed.Jun village of M’Nong people has an ideal location: the back is leaning on Lak Lake, the front is facing vast rice fields and a little bit further there are many curious areas such as Bao Dai Palace, M’Lieng ancient village, Nam Ka special-use forest, three-storey waterfall, etc.
Mr. Bui Van Duc- Chairman of Tourism Cooperative in Jun village said in the past, local people were mainly engaged in farming and fishing, so their lives were extremely difficult. However, thanks to tourism, living standards of the people have been improved significantly, especially in households participating in the cooperative. On average, each month we receive from 1,500 to 2,000 visitors, which makes profit for both the people and cooperative.
In 2005, the cooperative was established and its activities are associated with the custom of the M’Nong people, so the number of tourists, especially foreigners, has increased dramatically. Currently, the cooperative has 25 piraguas, 22 elephants to help tourists enjoy Lak Lake and visit M’Lieng ancient village, the ancient palace and traditional long houses of M’Nong people in combination with “homestay”. When the sunset arrives, people gather around the campfire to drink Can wine, enjoy gong performance and folk music. Village boys who row piraguas can receive from 2 to 4 million dong per month. For those who ride elephants can earn 12-15 million dong/month.
Mr. Tran Van Minh, Head of Culture and Tourism Department in Lak district, said Jun village is the fastest economic development area of the district. In addition to farming, fishing, weaving, benefits from tourism have contributed effectively to improving people’s living standards.
Source in Vietnamese: http://vacne.org.vn/default.aspx?newsid=5923