The Central Highlands K L K Province

 k L k province has two things in abundance: minority villages and coffee. Vietnam is home to 54 different ethnic groups, despite the government’s harsh efforts at assimilation; 46 of these groups live in  k L k province. The largest are the Ëdç and the M’nong, which number in the thousands in the area surrounding Bu®n Ma Thuÿt. Traditionally, the Ëdç built their thatched-roof, longhouse-style homes from wooden planks. To see these traditional longhouses, you must visit one of the villages open to tourists. The M’nong, closely related to the Malay, traditionally live in homes on stilts. Legend explains such architecture: originally the M’nong were a seafaring people, and they build their homes to look like the boats of their ancestors. Today the M’nong are famed as elephant handlers.

To visit these ethnic groups, one can arrange a group tour through the government-owned Daklak Tourist (☎852 108) or hire out a motorbike driver who knows the villages. There are a few villages set up to host tourists 20-40km south of Bu®n Ma Thuÿt along Hwy. 14 and some near L k Lake (see Daytrips). Villagers are generally welcoming and as curious about you as you are about them. Both the Ëdç and the M’nong are Christian tribes, and a drive along Hwy. 14 passes several roadside churches and Christian cemeteries.

A drive on any of the roads leaving Bu®n Ma Thuÿt also takes you through coffee country. The landscape is blanketed by coffee bushes, grown both on large plantations and on smaller, private farmland. There are a few ways to see the early stages of the booming Vietnamese coffee industry. The most expensive way is to take an arranged guided tour. A better experience is to hire a xe ®m driver who personally knows coffee growers. But the cheapest and most convenient way is simply to take a ride through the country, checking out the coffee beans being sorted and dried on the road. Locally grown coffee can be bought wholesale in the Bu®n Ma Thuÿt market or sampled at one of the city’s ubiquitous cafes. Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world.  k L k is the reason why.

• Bu®n Ma Thut

The capital of the  k L k region was developed in 1899 by the French colonial Compagnie d’Agriculture d’Asie for the production of coffee and rubber, which grow well in the fertile red ...more

• Yok Don National Park

Yok Don is Vietnam’s largest national park. This expansive wildlife preserve now encompasses over 1000 square kilometers, stretching from 37km northwest of Bu®n Ma Thuÿt to the Cambodian border. ...more

• Kon Tum

Kon Tum, the capital of Kon Tum Province, is the last city before the Central Highlands swell into the mountainous jungle to the north and west. At the foot of these mountains along the Dakbla River ...more

• Chumomray National Park

Area: 487 sq. km. Climate: Hot and wet May-Oct.; drier and a bit cooler Nov.-Apr. Highest Peak:  Chumomray Peak, 1773m. Features: Dense jungles, mountainous terrain, better-than-average ...more