Visiting Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands), most visitors want to enjoy the beauty of Bien Ho (Sea Lake), which is considered a “pearl” in the Pleiku Plateau, Gia Lai Province.

Bien Ho, also called T’Nung and Ia Nueng, is located in Bien Ho Commune, about 6km north of the city of Pleiku.

Covering 250ha with an average depth of 18m, Bien Ho is the oval-shaped crater of a volcano that went extinct millions of years ago.

The name of Bien Ho originates from the immense surface of the lake that looks like a sea.

The lake is related to many legends that make it more mysterious.

A legend has it that the lake is named T’Nung because it is the name of an ancient village where the villagers lived happily together.

One day a volcano erupted and buried the whole village in its hot lava and the lake was formed from the tears shed by the survivors mourning for their dead relatives.

The Pleiku Plateau is renown as a drought area and is always short of water because it is thousands of metres above sea level.

However, the lake has never been out of water and is full of turquoise water all year round that looks like a giant mirror, reflecting the clouds and blue sky.  

We visited Bien Ho at sunset in the late dry season. We were surprised by the cool air in the lake area and the beautiful and peaceful landscape of greenish pine trees on the two sides of a winding road, some dug-out boats and fishing rods on the lake, and terraced fields on moutains.

If visiting the lake on a moonlit night, tourists will have a wonderful experience rowing a boat on the immense lake.

Bien Ho is not only an ideal destination for tourists, but also a source of water for the lives of the people in the Pleiku Plateau.

It also provides the locals with hundreds of tonnes of fish and shrimp each year. With great natural potential, Bien Ho is considered a gift endowed by nature for the highlanders.

Source: VNP