Mang Den Ecotourism Area - Kon Tum

Location: Kon Plong District, the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, about 50km northeast of Kon Tum City.

Characteristics: An attractive ecotourism area with great potential of Kon Tum Province.

From Kon Tum City, following National Road No. 24 about 54km to the center of Kon Plong District, and then passing Mang Den Pass, visitors will arrive at the Mang Den Ecotourism Area. The name Mang Den is transcribed from the word "T'mang Deeng" of the M'Nong people ("T'mang" means a flat land and "Deeng" means a residential area). 

The Mang Den Ecotourism Area is located at a height of 1,200m above sea level. Year-round, it has an average temperature of 18-20 degrees celsius. This feature has earned the area fame as "the second Da Lat tourist city" in the Central Highlands. The area nestles amidst primitive forests and a large area grown with age-old pine trees, spotted by natural lakes, waterfalls and springs. Such rare species of flora as red pine trees and Fujian cypress, medicinal plants as cinnamon and Aquilaria plant, and wild animals as python and chamois have made the Mang Den area different significantly from Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong or Sa Pa in the northwestern mountainous province of Lao Cai.

Living in the area are mainly the M'Nong, Xo Dang and Hre people who have well preserved their authentic lifestyle, distinctive culture and customs, and traditional crafts. These ethnic minorities have often settled nearby lakes, waterfalls or rivers and built their communal houses next to slash-and-burn rice and food crops.

The Mang Den Ecotourism Area is a part of the tourist route "Green Road in Central Highlands" connected to other ones such as "Central Heritage Road" and "Legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail" to form the transnational tourist route "Indochina Heritage Road" linking the world heritage sites in Viet Nam with ones in Laos and Cambodia.

Realizing potential benefits the area will bring in, the Government has worked out a plan to develop this 1,500-2,000 ha green land into a national tourism zone offering various tourism products and regarded it as one of three key socio-economic development zones of Kon Tum Province.