VietNamNet Bridge – Canyoning, the sport of travelling down a river in a canyon by a variety of outdoor activities such as scrambling, floating, swimming and abseiling, is popular in other countries. In Vietnam, although the sport is still new, it has been available in Dalat City for several years.

A foreign tourist is about to jump down from a cliff into the lake below

This sport can be found at Hang Cop (Tiger cave) Waterfall and nearby areas on the outskirts of the city. Currently, many companies have tour programs that take in the waterfall so that tourists can practice canyoning.

A group of people who did not know each other before recently joined a tour arranged by a travel firm. We began our trip early in the morning on top of a hill and then started to trek down through a pine forest.

The trek in cool weather was like a morning workout that helped warm us up for strength exercises. There were several tour guides accompanying us.

A tourist is seen rappelling in a waterfall

They provided us with safety gear and some basic skills of canyoning.  One after another, we were asked to practice those skills on a small hill before facing real challenges.

The first challenge was a small waterfall which is 11 meters high. For the first time I stood on top of a waterfall and then slid down. My heart was beating too fast.

The waterfall was slippery while water was running down fast, forcing me to struggle with balancing. However, I finally made it to the foot of the waterfall thanks to a cable of which one end was fastened around my waist and the other firmly attached to the top of the waterfall, along with the help of a tour guide.

When reaching the point around three meters above the foot of the waterfall, the tour guide told us to jump into the cool water of the lake below. A few minutes later, we moved to the dry cliff nearby and prepared ourselves to go down from the height of 27 meters. With the first experience from the first jump, we rappelled in another waterfall and jumped into the lake below from a height of 7-8 meters.

After lunch, we continued our canyoning journey at a waterfall measuring 13 meters in height and conquered it quite easily. Then, we trekked through the forest to take on the final and biggest challenge: Hang Cop Waterfall with water running down thunderously and with a height of 30 meters.

The running water almost blew us away. We could only abseil step by step though the safety cable could secure us.

The closer we moved to the foot of the waterfall, the more slippery the cliff became. From a height of 7-8 meters, we jumped into the lake, where we could look at the imposing waterfall and feel excited.

A canyoning tour in Dalat is just for those who love adventurous games and want to explore Dalat from a different perspective.

A tourist abseils in a waterfall with the help of a tour guide       Tourists trek through a pine forest to the waterfall for canyoning         A tourist rappels in Hang Cop Waterfall – Photos: Nguyen Minh Phuc

Nguyen Minh Phuc

SGT