Da Lat: Canyoning and abseiling down waterfalls

Canyoning and abseiling down waterfalls in the cool town of Da Lat

We arrived in Da Lat in the late afternoon and checked into what is my favourite hostel so far on this trip, Cosy Nook. It is run by a local family and  only 23 people can stay. Every night, including our first night, most of the people staying in the hostel gather round the table to eat together. I haven’t seen so much food on one table in a long time. And the food was delicious. We ate dinner like this both nights we stayed at Cozy Nook. I cannot recommend the hostel highly enough. The family go out of their way to help you in any way that they can – including cleaning and repairing shoes after you return from canyoning.

On our first and only full day in Da Lat we went canyoning with Groovy Gecko Tours. Our guides were fantastic – extremely entertaining and reassuring. We had an early start and were picked up at 7.30am. After 30 mins in a van where we had to introduce ourselves to the rest of the group we were transferred to an Army Jeep. So began a 40-minute off-road drive through pine forests and coffee plantations.

When we arrived at the hut we changed into wetsuits and were geared up with harnesses, helmets and gloves. We were then shown how to abseil by attaching ourselves to a tree and ‘abesiling’ down a slope. When the guides were satisfied that we knew what we were doing we headed to the waterfalls. We abseiled down six in total with heights of 8m, 25m, 30m, 32m, 36m (dry abseil) and finally, after a break for lunch and some yoga stretches on the rocks, the biggest waterfall which was 65m.

After completing all of our abseils we had the opportunity to jump off a 10m platform into the pool below. Being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I ended up doing this about 6 or 7 times. Each time I tried to make a bigger splash as I ‘bombed’ into the water – apparently my splashing abilities are quite impressive!

I’ve loved my adventure filled time in Da Lat. It was lovely to be in cooler temperatures and wander around night markets without dripping with sweat. I’m looking forward to my next stop in Hoi An (although not so much looking forward to the much warmer temperatures).

Lots of love to all,

Em xxx

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