About Nam Tra Waterfall (Thác Nặm Trá)
The Nam Tra Waterfall (Thác Nặm Trá) was an unexpected waterfall surprise because we came here seeking out the eccentric and popular (with both foreigners and Vietnamese visitors) God’s Eye Mountain (Núi Mắt Thần).
The so-called “God’s Eye” was basically a hole in the mountain (or a natural arch for all intents and purposes), and it reminded me of Moon Hill near Yangshuo Town in Guilin, China.
Anyways, it turned out that the waterfall was situated literally about 300m or so from the God’s Eye Mountain, and thus it became my waterfalling excuse to talk about this natural arch in the first place.
As for the waterfall, it was an unassuming sloping cascade that tumbled beneath one of the three glamping sites (more specifically, the Cao Bang Eco Camping as of our April 2025 visit).
Even though I think of it as a cascading waterfall that just so happens to be very close to the God’s Eye Mountain, the waterfall itself was unusual in that it’s pretty much a Dry Season Waterfall for all intents and purposes.
Why Is Thac Nam Tra A Dry Season Waterfall?
It may seem like an oxymoron because you typically tend to have waterfalls go dry in the Dry Season, which suggests that you’d want to seek them out in the Wet Season.
However, in this instance, the area fronting the Nui Mat Than (God’s Eye) Mountain can be a lake in the Wet Season.
So unless you have a boat, you may have a hard time getting across this lake to even get to the Nam Tra Waterfall on foot (let alone motorbike, which I guess is allowed in this landscape).
Now the waterfall sits on a stream that is actually in a ravine that’s even below the Wet Season lake’s basin.
While I believe that the waterfall and ravine can still exist in the wet season, this can only happen if the lake hasn’t overflowed its banks and filled in the ravine (a scenario that would submerge the Thac Nam Tra Waterfall).
Regardless of whether the waterfall is submerged or not, I’d imagine that the Dry Season would be the most reliable time to witness Thac Nam Tra due to the ease of access (hence why I consider it a Dry Season Waterfall).
How To Access The Thac Nam Tra Waterfall?
Upon reaching the trailhead or car park (really just a patch of dirt; see directions below), we then walked further uphill on the continuation of the unpaved road.
Initially, the trail went uphill, but shortly after it crested and started descending, we arrived at a lookout platform with a contextual view across a lake basin of the Nui Mat Than or God’s Eye Mountain.
During our April 2025 visit, the lake basin was mostly dry (except for a few small ponds) revealing tracks that people have been walking or motorbiking on.
After getting our fill of the lookout, we then continued with the steep descent down to the basin and ultimately got to a hill with a nice lower view of the God’s Eye Mountain.
From that hill, we then followed a path that went to the right (more northerly) towards one of the glamping sites (Cao Bang Eco Camping at the time of our visit).
Eventually, we got to the edge of the ravine in front of that glampsite, and we ultimately witnessed an angled look at the Nam Tra Waterfall.
Although it might be possible to do the sketchy steep scramble down to the base of the ravine for different perspectives of the cascading waterfall, we were content with the views from the top of the ravine.
This waterfall was roughly about 850m from the trailhead (or 1.7km round-trip; apparently 600m from God’s Eye Mountain), and our visit took us about an hour (including all the time spent taking pictures so it could be shorter than this).
Anyways, our Cao Bang guide said that the name of the waterfall was a Tay word, but she didn’t know what it meant (I couldn’t find its meaning in the literature either).
Authorities
The Nam Tra Waterfall resides in the Quoc Toan Commune within the Tra Linh District of the Cao Bang Province, Vietnam. It may be administered by the Tra Linh District Government. I didn’t find an authoritative government website for this local government agency (doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist), but I can’t recommend a website to inquire about current conditions.
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