As one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Central Highlands, Voi (Elephant) Waterfall has made many visitors infatuated with its magnificent and impressive appearance as well as the story behind it.
The legend among elderly people of the K’Ho ethnic community there says the name of the waterfall is derived from a folk story about a beautiful young woman with an excellent voice. She was the daughter of the headman of a tribe in Joi Bieng mountainous area who had promised to become wife of a brave and strong young man. But one day, the young man had to say good-bye to his lover to join the war and then died in the battlefield. With her deep sorrow, the girl returned to the mountain where she and her fiancee used to meet and sang sad and heart-breaking songs. She kept singing and singing until getting exhausted and falling down and could never get up. The flock of elephants that had lied prostrate to listen to her songs turned into stone. And all of a sudden, there was a big bang and an earthquake which broke the mountain, giving birth to a waterfall right after that. That waterfall then was named by local people “Lieng Rowoa Joi Bieng”, which means the waterfall of elephants that lied prostrate and turned into stone before the ardent and faithful love.
These days, around the foot of the waterfall stay many big stones which look like lying elephants. But before reaching the waterfall foot, you have to pass 145 staircase steps which are twisty and quite dangerous. The path leading to the waterfall foot is created by stone steps that are naturally attached to the craggy cliff. At some sections, we almost had to crawl on the stone steps to stay safe, not to mention the wooden planks of the bridge crossing an abyss, which requires us to be very careful.
But the reward after the thrilling journey made us all feel comfortable again. The flow of transparent water through the granite slopes before falling down from the height of 30 meters to create a waterfall of 15 meters wide looked so impressive, especially when the sun cast its rays through the water and created the seven-color rainbow. Watching the rainbow from the foot of a magnificent waterfall was such an once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Behind the splendid waterfall streaming strongly and leaving thousands of white bubbles around are mysterious deep caves. They include a bat cave which goes 50 meters deep into the ground. Inside are cliffs in strange shapes and colors. The cave is full of roots and liana, and the deeper we went inside, the darker and colder the atmosphere became. The other cave is Wind Cave, which has a narrow entrance, but the further we went in, the wider the cave became and finally, we reached the waterfall at the exit and enjoyed the strong wind.
Becoming a tourist destination for just a few years, Voi Waterfall has recently been recognized as a cultural and historical relic.
