VietNamNet Bridge – The Dan Lai people live in the Pu Mat National Park, in Con Cuong District, Nghe An Province. This is one of the tribes with the smallest population in Vietnam – over 3,000 people.

A Dan Lai woman and her children.

Calling them "foresters" is not an overstatement in some ways, although this tribe is now not completely isolated from the outside world.

This tribe is facing high risk from poverty and underdevelopment to extinction or race decline owning to inbreeding marriages.

The Giang River flowing from Laos is regarded as the mother river of Dan Lai people. In the legend, Giang River upstream was the place where the Dan Lai tribe hid themselves after failing to find 100 yellow bamboo trees and a special boat to submit to the king. The life of Dan Lai people is stick with the river because the river has sheltered and nurtured their hearts from the legend of this mysterious tribe.

Dan Lai people are still largely dependent on forests because their cultivating skills are obsolete. Some paddy, cassava and maize fields cannot feed the tribe. Dan Lai people also earn their living by hunting and collecting wild fruits and vegetables. In the between crop periods, the local authorities and border guards have to provide relief for them.

The Dan Lai people do not have their own language. Their culture is borrowed from the Thai people. The Thai is probably the closest ethnic group to Dan Lai tribe because they share the same living area.

The local government had implemented a project to conserve and develop the Dan Lai ethnic group. The government has taken a majority of Dan Lai people to new villages, where have schools, health stations and other facilities. However, a majority of Dan Lai people still hide themselves in the jungle.

Some images of the lives of Dan Lai tribe:

Houses of Dan Lai people.

Their main food is cassava, maize and a little of wet rice. In the between crop season, they still have to eat wild vegetables and fruits.

Cassava is the main food of this community because it is easy to grow and very productive.

As a community with a small population and being isolated from the outside world, the tribe is at risk of race decline due to inbreeding marriage.

This man is said to be the product of inbreeding marriage.

Daily food of Dan Lai people are fish, frogs, wild vegetables... Sometimes they catch tadpoles to eat when they cannot catch fish.

Two women are catching fish in a stream.

Dan Lai people exchange their bamboo and rattan products for other things with the outside, using the Giang River as the road.

Lao Dong