This mountainous region of Kon Tum, where do people from the West come to fish and do tourism that people are going to see?

In the middle of the immense Se San Lake ( Kon Tum Province) on the border of Ia H'Drai District, there is a fishing village bearing the mark of the Southwest region. There is a story about the journey of the Western residents who traveled far away with their dreams of a fulfilling life.

After traveling more than 120km, we arrived at village 7, Ia Toi commune (Ia H'Drai district, Kon Tum province) to see the fishing village - the home of the residents of the Southwest region. As soon as we reached the boat dock, a man's voice echoed: "Are you going to Se San fishing village? Get on the boat, I'll take you there."

That man is Nguyen Duy Khanh (born in 1979, from Hau Giang ), who has lived in Se San fishing village for 10 years.

Initially, Mr. Khanh and his wife and some relatives went to the small lake in Dak Lak province to fish. Gradually, many people from Hau Giang, Ca Mau, Long An provinces ... also gathered. Realizing that life was difficult because there were few fish and many fishermen's nets, in 2014, Mr. Khanh and his wife went to Se San lake to make a living.

Hearing me ask why there are many rivers in the West that are good for fishing, why do we have to travel to this remote place to cast nets to make a living, Mr. Khanh sighed and said: In the countryside, we can only work for about 3 months during the flood season, the rest of the time we have to work for hire to make a living, but we only get a few pennies.

In the countryside, there are few fish and many fishermen, so there is not much. Families with ponds can still afford it, but those who just wait for luck like me will definitely have a shortage.

Mr. Khanh's motorboat just cut through the water, and in less than ten minutes, it took us to Se San fishing village. Before our eyes, a village as beautiful as a watercolor painting appeared in the middle of the vast river.

Taking us to his houseboat, Mr. Khanh continued to tell us that in the first days of arriving in Se San, his life and that of other households encountered many difficulties.

Each family lived on a small raft of about 4-5 square meters. At that time, the households did not have registered residence in Ia H'Drai district, so they had to constantly drift from one side of the lake to the other, unable to settle down.

It seemed like life would be adrift forever, but in 2015, Ia H'Drai district was established on the basis of separation from Sa Thay district. Kon Tum province's policies have opened up settlement opportunities for fishing villagers. Each household was supported with 400m2 of residential land, 50 million VND and imported to Ia H'Drai district.

Having a stable place to live, Mr. Khanh and his wife boldly invested in aquaculture. If before, they only caught fish naturally, now Mr. Khanh and his wife invest in cages to raise catfish, eels, and tilapia. Currently, his family has 5 fish cages, exporting dozens of tons of commercial fish each year, earning 30-40 million VND.

A rural household in the West is casting a net to catch fish on the Se San hydroelectric reservoir in Ia H'Drai district, Kon Tum province. Photo: TH.

To facilitate business, Mr. Khanh and his wife got to know the guests in the villages and communes in the area. Whenever there was delicious fish, Mr. Khanh invited them to enjoy it. Over time, they became close, and a few people suggested that Mr. Khanh open a tourism service.

“My friends suggested it so I tried it out. At first, I didn’t make a menu, I just made whatever was available on the raft. While waiting for the food to be prepared, I took customers to see the beautiful scenery of the lake. Over time, seeing that people enjoyed this service, I expanded the raft, then made a menu and listed the prices. When paying, everything was clear, so customers were happy and I felt comfortable,” said Mr. Khanh.

Then, the number of tourists kept whispering to each other and coming to Mr. Khanh increased. On average, Mr. Khanh welcomed about 70-100 visitors per month. After many years of association, his family now has 3 floating houses that can welcome 200 guests at the same time.

In the near future, Mr. Khanh plans to buy more boats so that tourists can experience the beautiful scenery in the middle of the lake. In particular, he and his wife are installing rooms in the floating house so that tourists can rest and experience overnight.

“Since coming to Se San Lake, my wife and I have a better life, we have enough to eat and save. If we had stayed in our hometown, we would have had difficulty even getting food, let alone thinking about becoming a boss like now,” Mr. Khanh said excitedly.

Leaving Mr. Khanh's raft, we boarded the raft of Mr. Nguyen Van Son (39 years old) and his wife. Mr. Son was born in An Giang. Poor and without a piece of land to settle down, Mr. Son's family's livelihood fluctuated with the flood season.

In early 2010, introduced by a friend, Mr. Son and his wife moved to Se San to start a business. Here, the couple built a raft and lived day by day by fishing. Se San Lake is fertile, with an abundant amount of fish. Every day, Mr. Son catches about 60kg of fresh fish of all kinds.

Realizing that fishing alone would only be enough to get by and not enough to develop the economy, Mr. Son and his wife invested in 6 cages to raise various types of fish such as eels, catfish, loach, and tilapia. Every year, his family exports dozens of tons of commercial fish, earning 35-40 million VND.

In recent years, with convenient transportation, tourists have come. Mr. Son's family has opened more tourism services, processing fish specialties to serve tourists.

According to Mr. Son, just with typical fish dishes such as catfish, loach, eel steamed, grilled, hot pot is enough to make diners exclaim. In particular, in the past few years, Se San fishing village has appeared a type of freshwater anchovy. This fish is caught, dried and processed into anchovy rice paper products that are very popular with tourists.

“Recently, many tourists have come to visit and experience. Realizing the importance of improving service quality, we pay special attention to cleaning the house, ensuring fresh and hygienic food,” said Mr. Son, adding that his family welcomes about 50-70 visitors each month, earning about 7-10 million VND.

Mr. Le Van Quan - Vice Chairman of Ia Toi Commune People's Committee, Ia H'Drai District (Kon Tum Province) said that Se San fishing village currently has 29 households with 103 people, most of whom come from the Southwest.

In addition to fishing and aquaculture, the villagers also take advantage of the water surface and typical fish dishes to attract tourists to visit and experience. Currently, Se San fishing village has 6 households implementing tourism services.

These facilities all invest in a system of floating houses that ensure 3 hard floors, have aquaculture cages combined with sightseeing and culinary services. Each year, Se San fishing village welcomes about 3,500 visitors.

Arriving at Se San fishing village, drifting with the fishermen of the Southwest, we were able to better understand the meaning of the saying “good land attracts birds”, “settling down and working”. It turns out that not only the place where we were born and raised can be called our homeland, but our homeland is also the place that has nurtured us and given us a fulfilling life.

Source: https://danviet.vn/vung-nui-kom-tum-nay-dan-mien-tay-den-day-danh-ca-lam-du-lich-o-dau-ma-nguoi-ta-dang-len-xem-20250103141352.htm