The road shown above, west of Đà Lạt City, contrasts poignantly with the marching lines of plantations (to be seen throughout the province) where large areas have had their natural vegetation cleared, and the land has been 'brought into production'
Sunset over Tà Đùng reservoir on Highway 28...
Large areas of Đà Lạt, and its neighbouring provinces, illustrate the change, over two generations, from a countryside of jungle and scrub, to one of neat plantation lines. The principle engine of this change was the policy of the government which encouraged people, by the offer of free land, to move south from the densely occupied areas of the north. Certainly those who took up the offer have gained a good return on their efforts. This page has photos of areas which are much as they have been for hundreds of years, together with areas that have been converted to production. The work of Georges Condominas, who documented so vividly the Sur Luk area before these changes, is inset into this page.
...and again in the morning with the mist clearing and serene feel of the place
- although it does not show the dams and construction works
Tending fixed nets at the lakeside
A lift net
similar to those seen
in Kerala
The area of Sur Luk which is some 50 kilometres north-west of Đà Lạt City. The picture was taken in 2008 - 60 years after Georges Condominas carried out his anthropological studies. The foreground hill has been entirely converted to cash crops
Three more views of the Sur Luk area...
...showing the way the country has been developed...
...to light scrub, plantations and fields
Village procession from Condominas book, denser scrub in background
Below Georges Condominas at a talk he gave in Ha Noi in 2007 when he was 86 years old, and to the right, as he appeared on the dust jacket of his book originally published fifty years earlier in 1957
The cover of the Engish version of Condonminas ' book
The River đăk Rong K'nó just near the village where Condominas lived
The location, as near as I could judge, of Condonminas' village
Coffee plantations in this area helping make Vietnam...
...the world's second biggest exporter of coffee beans
A dragon fruit plantation.
Dragon fruit and leaf
Coffee plantation
Pendent black pepper fruit. Below, the pepper shrubs growing in a plantation
Small holdings with their crops and houses now dot the landscape
Silkworms offer a traditional source of income (feeding in their hatchery)
Checking a river to see if it is shallow enough for the Jeep
A bridge with more more rustic elegance than health and safety features
Some pictures of water as a reminder that Vietnam is largely a very wet country.
Maybe an island pavilion - most likely a pumping station
Many new dams are radically changing the topography
New roads, like new water control, lead to a changed landscape
And in places, apart from a reduction in trees, the scene might be familiar to Condominas
Something of Đà Lạt, seen in passing over the province, which we can all hope will not change
Trailers...
The next page
of this section
has images from Laos: Forests, 'Jars' and Bombs.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'The Middle Voice'.
Or go to the contents of the Mosaic Section.
The last page had pictures of flowers from Đà Lạt
To a Tamil village - unchanged for generations
To some very untouched country in Iceland
...guide to this site