The car in the Cu Lan Village jeep tour tilted and almost overturned, but the female tourist got out in time before the water flooded in.
The experience that makes Ms. Thanh Thuy (living in Da Nang) still haunts her even though 5 years have passed. Ms. Thuy said that on the day she and her family went on a “jeep tour” at the Cu Lan tourist area, Lac Duong district, about 22 km from the center of Da Lat, it was raining heavily but the organizer announced that the vehicle was still run normally. When halfway through the road, a large stream of water rushed in, causing the car to seem like it was about to overturn.
“The drivers were very steady, I thought it was over, but they were still able to control it,” Ms. Thuy said.
Then, the water rose higher, causing the car to tilt. Ms. Thuy promptly got out of the car before the water was more than half submerged. The driver and her sister then walked a short distance and then got on another car to go home. Ms. Thuy said she was very scared, but the driver smiled and said “nothing happened”, so the female tourist then guessed this was “normal”. Ms. Thuy shared after the case of 4 Korean tourists who died due to being swept away by floodwaters in Cu Lan Village on October 24.
Cu Lan Village, located at the foot of Lang Biang Mountain, began welcoming visitors in 2011 and was honored by UNESCO as a “cultural tourist destination worth visiting, contributing to changing the face of tourism in Lam Dong province”. Here, visitors can experience a number of activities such as team building, camping in the forest, and off-road jeep tours.
Minh Anh, Ms. Thuy’s daughter, remembers being “horrified” when she saw her mother’s car overturned, half submerged in water. She commented that the terrain on the tour is quite dangerous, especially when the weather is bad.
Also experiencing this jeep tour in 2020, Huynh Minh Hoang (living in Ho Chi Minh City) commented that this is “an interesting type of tourism”. He made the trip when the weather was sunny and said he had been to many tourist destinations in the country and the world but “had never seen anything as unique” as here.
“The feeling of going through streams and splashing water is very enjoyable. Of course, the car goes through some sections with slightly deep water and bumpy rocks, but I don’t think there’s anything scary,” he said.
Jeep tour at Cu Lan Village costs 150,000 VND per person, each vehicle carries a minimum of four people. Tourists who buy the tour will be transported on UAZ (U Watt) vehicles over a distance of more than 8 km, passing through forests, streams and over difficult terrain. The cars departed one after another after a few minutes, each car carrying 4 passengers.
Responding to VnBooking, an official from the Lam Dong Department of Transport said that in 2017, an interdisciplinary inspection team inspected internal tourist vehicles in tourist areas in the area. In Cu Lan Village tourist area, many passenger cars do not meet technical standards.
“Checking is not easy. We need to coordinate with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism because they only drive on internal roads, not in traffic,” this person said. The reporter contacted the Traffic Safety Department of Lam Dong province to ask about the current status of passenger vehicles in Cu Lan Village but has not received an answer.
Cu Lan Village tourist area has suspended business and service activities after 4 Koreans died.