About 12km from Buon Ma Thuot city center in the southeast direction, Ea Kao lake is likened to an immense sea of water created by man by blocking the large streams Ea Knin, Ea Kao and small streams Ea Chat, Mblim to build irrigation works to serve the irrigation of Hoa Xuan field - a granary of Buon Ma Thuot and a large area of industrial crops in the surrounding areas.
Built and put into operation in 1983, it belongs to Hue village, Ea Kao village, Tu Mblim village and Tuong Ju village (Ea Kao commune, Buon Ma Thuot city). The lake has an area of 288.90 ha, with a length of 4,220 m, the widest part of the lake is 1,300 m (the section adjacent to village 3, Ea Kao commune), the narrowest part is 140 m (the section adjacent to Hue village, Ea Kao commune). consists of three large reservoir dams and two intake sluices.
Ea Kao Lake is a construction work that received great contributions from the labor of ethnic minorities in all villages and hamlets in Ea Kao commune. The completed lake has contributed to improving food production, is a rich source of freshwater seafood for the city, with an average fish production of about 50 tons/year, 120 tons in some years.
Ea Kao Lake is called after the name of the stream Ea Kao, in Ede language: Ea means water, Kao means never dries up, Ea Kao means lake never dries up. In addition, the lake is also known as Ktong Jǔ (deep water area).
As an artificial lake, but Ea Kao lake has a legendary color, associated with the legendary stories of Ea Knin stream, Ea Kao stream, Bamboo hill... With Ea Knin stream, a long stream has many sections With different names, each passage has its own legend story:
In the past, people in Hue village used to go to the forest to find and cut the toothpick tree - a precious wood to build houses on stilts. When going to the bend of the Ea Knin stream, seeing that the water was too fast, the villagers cut down some forest trees along the stream to build a bridge over it. But strangely, all the axes that the villagers carried were all dropped into the stream where they could not be found. So that meandering stream is called Ktong jong (where axes are dropped or whirlpools).
The section of Ktong An stream is associated with the story: That year, the villagers of Hue held an worshiping ceremony to pray for favorable weather and good weather for the village. While preparing the sacrifice, the village elder assigned two healthy young men of the trade to slaughter a pig. After being stripped, shaved clean and washed to prepare to cut the abdomen, two young people sat looking at the pig, one of them blurted out: "If this pig had no hair and was pure white like this, it would be very beautiful. this". The other replied, "Yes yes, it must be beautiful". As soon as he finished speaking, suddenly the pig jumped to life and ran away, everyone shouted and chased. The pig ran across the fields, through the woods, and into a stream on the Ea Knin. When the villagers chased to the place, the pig was nowhere to be seen and since then this stream is called Ktong Ŭn (the whirlpool where the pig fell).
Like Ea Knin stream, Ea Kao stream also has many passages with names: Kǒeang, Ktong Ngau, Kǒ kbeng, Kǒ bul, Jok jek, Ktong tian, Ktong truol, Ktong t luong, Ktong kan, Ea ktung, Blung ya, Ea kbul and Ktong kram, etc. Each passage has different stories, but over the generations, these legends have been lost a lot. Currently, there are only a few stories such as:
Ktong tian (stomach ache): Old people often remind their grandchildren to stay away from this stream because there are many beautiful and very delicious and sweet forest fruits here, but if you accidentally pick the fruit and eat it, you will get hurt. Severe stomach pain, even if relatives use all kinds of medicine to treat, or make offerings to Yang to ask for help from the forest god, the god of the stream, for mercy and protection, it can't be saved. The one who eats that fruit will have to suffer and struggle for seven days and seven nights before he dies.
The section of Ktong stream is famously sacred and is a terror to all those who hunt, gather, and catch fish but unfortunately get lost in it. The villagers here believe that this stream has ghosts because many people who get lost here will have their hearts and livers removed to eat. A few lucky people were shown the way back by the forest god, but before that they had also been lost for many days in the forest by the stream, going on and on and still coming back to the same place. Since then they called this place Ktung tlu (Area of ghosts). In particular, if someone lives well with people around, is filial to his parents, he will be protected by Yang, when approaching the Yang stream, the image of a forest elephant will appear on the cloud and on the water to warn.
In addition, on Ea Kao stream, there are many streams named according to their own characteristics such as: Ktong kan (area with many fish), Ktong Kram (a whirlpool with many bamboo trees),....
With beautiful natural landscape, many trees, large lake, located in the suburbs of Buon Ma Thuot city, Ea Kao lake is one of the ideal destinations for those who love ecotourism. The natural scenery here gives people a feeling of peace and freedom: At dawn, the lake's calmness blends into the peaceful picture of hills and fields. At noon, the lake surface is full of sunlight. Under the sunset, Ea Kao Lake brings a poetic beauty that moves people's hearts. When night falls, the chilly air is mixed with the symphony of insects around the lake, creating a gentle and elegant beauty in the countryside.
With economic and tourism values, on April 17, 2012, the People's Committee of Dak Lak province ranked Ea Kao Lake as a provincial-level scenic relic.
Some pictures of the Monument
