The enchanting beauty of the Green Gem in the heart of the mountains and forests

A hidden and attractive beauty is the impression that every visitor when coming here feels clearly with admiration, surprise and amazement. Ba Be Lake is a famous eco-tourism area of the Northeast region with many interesting and biologically diverse landscapes.

Impressive experience at Ba Be Lake

At the end of October, we had the opportunity to meet and visit Ba Be Lake. Following the guidance of the local people, Mr. Tuoi, a Tay ethnic, who can communicate fluently in 3 languages: English, Vietnamese and Tay, a son born and raised in Pac Ngoi village, right in the area of Ba Be Lake, we had wonderful experiences in the above mentioned pristine, open and fresh tourist area. Also following Mr. Tuoi, we walked together to explore Ba Be National Park, kayaked on the lake, cycled to visit Pac Ngoi village and some neighboring villages, took a motorboat on the lake to explore Puong Cave, Dau Dang Waterfall, Ao Tien, An Ma Temple - a sacred temple in the middle of the lake...

Leaving the motorboat, walking about 100 gentle steps, we arrived at Ao Tien, a small lake of about 3 hectares. According to Mr. Tuoi, this lake has underground water streams connecting with Ba Be Lake and nearby caves. Although located about 100m from Ba Be Lake, Ao Tien is always full of water all year round. The pond is circular with stone steps covered with moss. The pond is surrounded by limestone mountains and old forests of Ba Be National Park. All create a peaceful, quiet scene but contains a mystery that attracts tourists to this place. The surface of the pond is always flat, clear like a mirror reflecting the clouds and sky. Ao Tien is full of romance with Tay ethnic girls in traditional costumes gently rowing on dugout canoes.

Along with its simple yet romantic beauty, Ao Tien also has little-known legends passed down by word of mouth by the local people living here from generation to generation. Today, Ao Tien is a famous tourist attraction visited by tourists every time they come to Ba Be. In addition to its beauty, Ao Tien also has rare fish such as carp, catfish, catfish... which are believed to have followed the underground water from Ba Be Lake to live here. Along the road from the Lake to Ao Tien, there are also ancient trees living on limestone mountains such as the O Ro tree, the May Teo tree, the Nu tree...

Continuing the journey to explore the lake, the motorboat took our group to offer incense at An Ma Temple, immersing ourselves in the poetic and lyrical scenery while still feeling the sacred atmosphere. An Ma Temple (An Ma) is located on An Ma Island in the middle of Ba Be Lake. An Ma Island is a limestone island, shaped like a turtle shell, rising about 30m in the middle of Ba Be Lake. The island is covered with green trees, and is a convenient place to observe the lake landscape and birds and animals. The temple worships Buddha, Mau Thuong Ngan, Chua Son Trang, Duc Thanh Tran....

According to legend, the temple is also a place to worship the loyal ministers of the Mac dynasty during the feudal war of the Le-Mac dynasty. After losing the battle, they fled to Puong cave and committed suicide there. To commemorate the loyal ministers, the local people built a temple to worship the Mac family, but fearing revenge from the Le dynasty's army, they changed the name to the Ma temple. An Ma in the Tay ethnic language means "peaceful grave", the resting place of the loyal ministers of the Mac family.

Renovated in 2006, An Ma Temple has a simple, gentle, elegant look, blending with nature. The skillfully and elaborately carved lines have partly expressed the ideas and concepts of the people here, associated with the historical circumstances in each period. An Ma Temple is a place for religious activities of local people, visitors from all over the world and also a place to offer offerings at the Ba Be Spring Festival held on the 10th of January. An Ma Temple Festival is held on the 6th of February of the lunar calendar every year. On the first day of the lunar calendar every month, people often go to the island to burn incense to pray for wealth, fortune, peace and happiness for their families.

The amazing beauty of Ba Be Lake, a green gem in the mountains and forests of the Northeast Lake

Ba Be is 70km northwest of Bac Kan city, located in the center of Ba Be National Park, in Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district; bordering Cao Tri and Khang Ninh communes to the northeast; bordering Nam Cuong and Da Vi communes to the southeast, Na Hang district, Tuyen Quang province. This is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in Vietnam. In 1995, Ba Be Lake was recognized by the World Freshwater Lake Conference held in the US as one of the 20 special freshwater lakes in the world that need to be protected.

The lake was formed about 200 million years ago by a major geological upheaval, causing the limestone mountains to collapse, surrounded by limestone mountains mixed with ancient sandstone and primeval forests. The geology and geomorphology of the lake area are extremely complex, leading to the creation of spectacular landscapes with unique geological and soil structures, which in turn led to the formation of many different ecosystems. Surveys show a complex mix of typical Karst ecosystems (a weathering phenomenon typical of limestone mountains eroded by water) and non-Karst ecosystems in harmony with river and lake ecosystems. Such geological and biological diversity is difficult to find elsewhere in the world.

The geology and geomorphology of the Ba Be Lake area are extremely complex, creating spectacular landscapes with unique geological and soil structures. The lake is located in the Gam River arc, with rugged terrain and torn by mountains from 1,400m to 1,600m high and interspersed with valleys. The lake is fed by two rivers, the Cho Leng River and the Nam Cuong River, which then flow into the Nang River and fall into Dau Dang waterfall. Ba Be Lake is made up of three lakes named Pe Leng, Pe Lu and Pe Lam. The lake is over 8km long, the widest point is 2km, the water surface area is about 500ha, the average depth is 20m, some places are up to 35m deep, there are many species of aquatic animals and freshwater fish living, including many rare species listed in the Vietnam Red Book such as Whale Carp, Green Ram Fish, Chien Fish... Ba Be Lake water is clear, cool all year round, the whole lake is like a watercolor painting, reflecting the bold silhouette of mountains, the vast clouds and sky, looking like a giant mirror reflecting the winding mountain ranges appearing and disappearing on the water surface. On the lake surface there are many beautiful small islands such as Ba Goa Island, An Ma Island...

Ba Be Lake is covered with the majesty of mountains and forests and a charming, soft beauty with water blending with the sky and earth, the surrounding mountains and forests, sometimes moss green, sometimes blue, sometimes mixed with the yellow color of tree shadows, sometimes the white color of clouds... Ba Be is like a jade in the middle of the Northeastern mountains and hills, so fresh, pure and elegant.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a “green gem” in the Northeastern forest, as it is one of the 20 largest natural freshwater lakes in the world. The lake covers an area of 500 hectares, located in the Ba Be National Park area, with a system of primeval forests on limestone mountains with 417 plant species, 299 vertebrate species, and 49 freshwater fish species. Specifically, in 1995, Ba Be Lake was recognized by the World Freshwater Lake Conference, held in the US, as one of the 20 special freshwater lakes in the world that need to be protected. At the end of 2004, Ba Be National Park was recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park.

The whole lake is like a watercolor painting that captivates visitors to this place. Follow the Nang River towards Ba Be Lake. Both banks of the river are steep limestone cliffs. The Nang River flows through the Lung Nham limestone mountain range, creating Puong Cave, 300 meters long and over 30 meters high, with many stalactites of various shapes, magical and sparkling. Millions of years of erosion by the river of time on the limestone mountain range have created a mysterious cave in a strange lake. The river winds poetically through narrow bends in the cave, passing under curtains of strangely beautiful stalactites. On sunny days, the whole lake is like a watercolor painting that captivates even the most demanding visitors. The lake's surface is calm, always clear and blue like a mirror reflecting the mountains, clouds and sky.

Ba Be is also a place that hides a treasure trove of traditional culture and art with the ethnic communities living around the lake with rich and unique legends, enjoying a cup of spicy corn wine with grilled pork taken from the kitchen to treat distinguished guests. The stilt houses precariously located on the mountainside of the Tay ethnic group, the cultural activities of the Dao and Mong people, folk songs such as Then singing, Si singing, Luon singing, Khen dancing; traditional festivals such as Long Tong festival, spring festival, dugout canoe racing, ethnic martial arts, archery, crossbow shooting... make this area even more attractive.

The community living in the Ba Be Lake area has about 3,000 people of the Tay, Dao, H'Mong and Kinh ethnic groups living in 10 villages in the National Park, of which about 58% are Tay. Over the past 2,000 years, the Tay people have settled here and become the majority ethnic group in Ba Be. The Nung and Dao people came to live about 100 years ago. Meanwhile, the Kinh and Mong people have only recently migrated here. For a long time, the Tay people in the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam have had a tradition of cultivating wet rice along the valleys, along rivers and streams, and they also cultivate many other crops. The crop calendar is marked by the "Long Tong" festival - the festival of going to the fields. Normally, the Tay people live in low-lying areas along rivers and streams; the Dao people live halfway up the mountain, and the Mong people live in the high mountains.

A complex of lakes, rivers, streams, mountains, forests, and caves has kept Ba Be Lake's water at an average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, warm in winter and cool in summer, making Ba Be an ideal place for tourists to rest and travel all year round. It is no wonder that people often say "Bac Kan has gold-panning streams, Ba Be Lake, and a girl in green". With a long history of geological development, unique geological features - geomorphology as well as landscape, Ba Be is truly a wonder, worthy of being a place for every tourist to come and enjoy.

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