Gia Lai Plateau in tourist season

(GLO)- Gia Lai Plateau is entering its most beautiful season of the year. This is also the time when many tourists come to see wild sunflowers, experience the agricultural season or immerse themselves in the unique cultural space of the ethnic minorities here.

The plateau in the awakening season

In the cold sunshine typical of the dry season of the highlands, the coffee plantations begin to turn red with ripe fruit, the rice fields turn yellow and wild sunflowers bloom all over the roads. After the long rainy season, the highlands seem to wake up, bustling with the footsteps of tourists on all the roads.

Gia Lai Plateau in peak tourist season, attracting visitors to explore. Photo: Hoang Ngoc

Chu Dang Ya Volcano (Bien Ho Commune) has become a prominent destination when wild sunflowers are in full bloom, attracting a large number of tourists from within and outside the province. After storm No. 13, wild sunflowers are blooming again, affirming the strong vitality of wild flowers. The natural picture at the end of the year is more charming with pink grass hills in Dak Doa pine forest and rubber forests preparing to change leaves, bringing the beauty of European autumn in the heart of the Central Highlands.

According to Mr. Pham Hoang Truc - Director of Gotour Travel Company (Quy Nhon ward), the merger of the two provinces has created conditions for travel agencies in the East, which is in the low tourist season, to further promote the exploitation of special tours during the dry season in the western region of the province.

Currently, Gotour Travel Company is operating a tour to see wild sunflowers associated with Chu Dang Ya volcano, a tour to explore Kon Ka Kinh National Park (spread over the communes of Krong, Dak Rong, Dak Somei and Ayun) or an experience tour at Ia Mo Nong community tourism village (Ia Ly commune).

International tourists enjoy immersing themselves in the wild sunflower season. Photo: Hoang Ngoc

Along with that direction, many other travel companies are also exploiting the unique strengths of the highland dry season to diversify products and enhance the experience for tourists. Mr. Ha Trong Hai - Director of Cao Nguyen Viet Joint Stock Company (Dien Hong Ward) said that the climate and natural scenery in the dry season bring many advantages to tourism along the plateau, especially ethnographic tours to attract international visitors.

Mr. Hai emphasized: “Indigenous culture is a great strength of Gia Lai tourism. This is a factor that is especially loved by international tourists, especially at the end of the year when many traditional festivals take place in the Bahnar and Jrai communities.”

Recreating cultural activities on the riverbank for tourists to take photos is one of the special activities at Ia Mo Nong community tourism village (Ia Ly commune). Photo: Hoang Ngoc

Some community tourism villages on the plateau are also bustling into the season of welcoming visitors with many activities imbued with local identity. At community tourism villages such as Ia Mo Nong or Mo Hra-Dap (To Tung commune), visitors can directly participate in activities such as pounding rice, weaving, carrying dry gourds to collect water drops, performing gongs or dressing up as mud ghosts to take souvenir photos.

Ms. Dinh Thi Men, a tour guide in Mo Hra-Dap village, said: Recently, the number of visitors to the village has increased significantly thanks to the spread of travel bloggers and hot TikTokers. Activities such as catching stream fish, making cassava cakes or reenacting traditional working life have become attractions for tourists, especially young people.

Experience “a day as a farmer”

Not only attractive for its scenery, the agricultural harvest season also brings tourists different experiences. Across the fields, farmers happily enter the coffee harvest season, threshing rice... These activities are inherently associated with the lives of farmers, now becoming attractive tourism products.

Foreign tourists experience the coffee picking season. Photo: Chieu Ly

Many organic coffee farms in Gia Lai are now open to visitors to experience the process of planting, harvesting and processing clean coffee, such as Farm Me Thu, the farm of Mr. Doan Anh Tuan (both in Kon Gang commune) or famous coffee growing areas of the province. Bringing tourists to experience “a day as a farmer” - directly harvesting coffee and learning about the processing process - is a new idea, attracting tourists to the Gia Lai plateau, especially international visitors.

“Every harvest season, the farm welcomes many tourists, including international visitors, to visit, learn about the coffee production process and experience the life of people in the specialized growing area,” said Mr. Doan Anh Tuan.

Gotour Travel also aims at coffee picking season experience tours. “This is not only an activity imbued with the identity of the highlands, but also meets the current trend of experiential tourism of tourists. That is, directly participating in activities that bring the breath and identity of local people's lives,” Mr. Pham Hoang Truc emphasized.

In particular, the activity of threshing rice in the fields is also being introduced by tourism enterprises and community tourism villages to serve tourists as a unique highlight of the dry season. According to Ms. H'Uyen Nie, Deputy Head of the Management Board of Ia Mo Nong community tourism village, people are ready to guide tourists in threshing rice, picking coffee, and living like a real farmer.

“During previous rice seasons, many tourists enjoyed wearing traditional Jrai clothes, carrying baskets, and using their bare hands to thresh rice in the fields…”, said Ms. H'Uyen Nie.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/cao-nguyen-gia-lai-vao-mua-du-lich-post572434.html