Thanks to Ta Lai waterfall, the water level in the dry season is always stable, even though the downstream part of the stream has dried up.
On the right side of the river is Con Tien, which divides two poetic streams of water, one from the waterfall in Lam Dong, one from Bau Sau in the forest.
Everything seems to have changed, the road from Tan Phu town (former Phuong Lam) is now like a silk strip running to Ta Lai waterfall, winding along the riverbank and then up to the intersection upstream. The road has a median line separating the two directions of traffic. Along both sides are borders of flowers showing off their colors and the apricot trees blooming brightly yellow, mixed with the scent of ripe grapefruit that permeates the consciousness of those who have been far away from the beloved and difficult land of the past, and now have the opportunity to return. Those moments seem to be deeply engraved in the heart.
Everything seems to have changed...
There were still flocks of wild butterflies dancing in the midday sun, a dreamy and wonderful scene. The sublime moment brought back the scene of the day we first arrived here, the bumpy road with potholes, in the rainy season it was flooded in puddles, in the dry season it was covered in dust every time a car passed by…
Across the river is our old unit, several regiments with companies spread out, designed in a U shape, made entirely of thatch, bamboo, reeds, leaves... and the entire Stieng and Ma ethnic groups have moved, now all we see is the vast green of the forest, with a concrete road running all the way to Nam Cat Tien forest. Only the kơ nia tree still stands close to the edge of the road, near the gate of Company 4, Regiment 6. The trail into the primeval forest on the right is the eucalyptus forest, with ancient eucalyptus trees that several people cannot hug around, on the left is the bamboo forest.
In those days, every time we took our guns into the forest to shoot fish in the stream, we would see groups of dozens of monkeys rushing down and disappearing. When they saw us carrying our shovels to weed, they still walked around as if nothing had happened. The Strychnos nux-vomica tree on the riverbank was still lush and green, and much taller. And the purple Lagerstroemia tree, located at the bend of the construction company, was still in full bloom, but it looked older than before.
More than 6 km back to K20 near the old Regiment 7, where there are bamboo forests where we used to pickle bamboo shoots to eat with cassava, now a tourist area divided into many areas: elephants, bears, tigers, and gaurs. It is known that the forest rangers and biosphere reserve conservation unit with 145 officers manages hundreds of hectares of forest.
The night safari tour that only exists in Cat Tien forest in Vietnam that day has been deeply imprinted in my mind and will stay with me forever, with natural, authentic, and vivid images of amazing nature. At 7:30 p.m., accompanying us was a VTV film crew on a 3.5-ton, open-top vehicle equipped with a specialized light that shines far. More than a kilometer from the departure point, we saw the natural and perfect scenes of young deer, with bright eyes but still unable to hide their innocent innocence, eating young leaves or gnawing on newly sprouted cogon grass. Then the bulky wild buffaloes "moved" wherever they went - through the leaning tree trunks, they treated us as if we didn't exist, just munching on grass and leaves naturally. Then the herd of pigs walked as if they were running... On the trees, the pink-eyed birds, gentle and poetic, were only an arm's reach away from us...
The memory of the trip back to visit the old war zone in spring lingers in my mind forever...
Through the light, I still imagine the place where I was stationed in the past and the high hills where the nurse used to dry the firewood, the days of floods, the commanders and soldiers wearing shorts and rowing rafts for a whole month, the water made their limbs rot. Then the cassava fields that were ready for harvest were flooded and rotten because of the flood in 1978, how heartbreaking...
But today, returning to a part of the D War Zone shows surprising changes and developments. On the other side of the river, the forest is a vast green. Cat Tien Forest has hills, riverbanks, and large fields with crabs, fish, snails... in abundance, an abundant source of food for our troops during the resistance years. On the shore is the sweet and fragrant water spinach with all kinds of animals, and colorful wild orchids hanging down on the mistletoe. The scent and color of the forest is cool and exciting, stirring the soul. But there was also a time when the forest cried and the animals cried...
That scene no longer exists. Instead, there are dedicated forest rangers and thousands of enlightened households who volunteer to protect the forest and wildlife.
The memory of the trip back to visit the old war zone in the spring of hundreds of flowers blooming and the strong development of the heroic land, where Ta Lai waterfall is like a gentle girl in the rustic countryside, not showing off but hiding diligently in the clear blue water, keeping a part of Dong Nai river always filled with clear blue fresh water, keeping the green color of Cat Tien forest forever and ever..., therefore lingers in me forever.
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