Ban Vat Waterfall is known for its pristine natural beauty and as the historical home of the Thai ethnic minority of Muong Sang Commune in Moc Chau District of the northwestern province of Son La.
Ban Vat Waterfall is located north of Hanoi across many mountain passes covered with fog, near the road leading to Son La town.
The Kinh ethnic group calls the waterfall Dai Yem (an ancient Vietnamese undergarment) or Nang (She). These names signify that the waterfall is so beautiful that it resembles the beauty of a 16-year-old girl.
Local residents call the waterfall Thai Hung or Ban Vat, meaning the home of the Thai ethnic minority.
Amidst green forests, chirping birds and gibbon calls, the 100-meter high waterfall gushes down day and night.
The Ban Vat Waterfall flows from the two rivulets of Bo Co Lam and Bo Ta Chau, originating from a cave in Vat mountain village that has long been the home of the Thai ethnic minority.
Water seeps out of the limestone mountain to create the Vat spring, which stretches for five kilometers before merging with Bo Sap spring in the Bo Sap mountain village on the borders of Laos, to transform eventually into the magnificent Ban Vat Waterfall.
The waterfall comprises of two levels of falls with the second one located 150 meters at an angle below the first one. Above the second waterfall is a floral stretch of land from where visitors can view the surrounding mountainous view.
The Ban Vat Waterfall looks most stunning during the rainy season from April to September every year, when the 70-metre wide fall gushes water down its slope, looking a dazzling white and imposingly dramatic and poetic.
