Cam (Forbidden) Mountain

Location: Cam Mountain is located in An Hao Commune, Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province.

Characteristics: Cam Mountain, or Thien Cam Son (heaven’s forbidden mountain) is the highest and largest one belonging to the superb Mountains (That Son) in An Giang.  

 The majestic mountain places itself imposingly in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta on the altitude of 710m. The panoramic view of Great Buddha Pagoda (in An Binh, An Hao Commune) from Vo Bo Hong Peak presents a great valley surrounded by rolling mountains in the Thien Cam Son chain such as Vo Dau, Vo Bo Hong, Vo Thien Tue, etc. Endowed with such spectacular mountainous terrain, Cam Mountain is considered as a Dalat (a famous highland resort) in the Mekong Delta. The mountain has a year-round cool climate, original natural spots associated with interesting, heart-warming legends and myths that lure increasing numbers of tourists and vacationers.

Why is it called Forbidden Mountain? According to a folk tale,Cam Mountain was once very rugged with many frightening beasts and invisible figures living there. As a result, the inhabitants in the area forbade themselves from coming there. However, another legend goes that Nguyen Anh sought refuge in the mountain from the chase of Tay Son insurgents and forbade anyone’s access to the mountain, hence its name “Forbidden Mountain”.

Downhill in the east is 100-ha Lam Vien Tourist Park on Cam Mountain which offers a wide range of recreational services including Kaolin Restaurant featuring specialties of the Seven Mountains Region.

Don’t miss the poetic Thanh Long (blue dragon) stream while following the trail from the park up the mountain. Resume your trip until you reach a fork, there you are in “Cam Mountain Highland”. Take the right-hand track for about 1km, you will see Vo Thien Tue peak. Then go back to your left hand up the sloping path to the Great Buddha Pagoda. On the way there, you can stop by Thuy Liem cavern, or admire Vo Bach Tuong (a grand white elephant-shaped rock on the side of the mountain) in O Cat. Then you can make a sightseeing tour of the Great Buddha Pagoda, Van Linh (holy) Pagoda, Vo Bo Lon (a grand bull-shaped rock), and finally Vo Bo Hong, the highest peak of Cam Mountain (and also of the Mekong Delta) from which you can see as far as Ha Tien sea waters if the weather is fine.   

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Seven mountains - An Giang - Viet Nam

Thất Sơn, also known as Bảy Núi ("seven mountains") is a range of small mountains located in the Tri Tôn and Tịnh Biên districts in Vietnam's An Giang Province, very close to the Cambodian border.

The 710-metre Thiên Cấm Sơn (the Cấm Mountains) is the highest among the mountainous region of Thất Sơn and it is the highest peak in the whole Mekong Delta region. Endowed with such spectacular mountainous terrain, Núi Cấm is known as the "Đà Lạt of the Mekong Delta".




Peaks

The common names of the seven mountains in the Thất Sơn range are:
Núi Cấm (Thiên Cẩm Sơn, "heaven's forbidden mountain")
Núi Dài Năm Giếng (Ngũ Hồ Sơn)
Núi Cô Tô (Phụng Hoàng Sơn)
Núi Dài (Ngọa Long Sơn)
Núi Tượng (Liên Hoa Sơn)
Núi Két (Anh Vũ Sơn)
Núi Nước (Thủy Đài Sơn)

History

The prince Nguyễn Ánh, who later proclaimed himself the first emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1945), sought refuge on the mountain from the Tây Sơn insurgents. Ánh forbade anyone to come to the mountain, hence its Vietnamese name meaning "forbidden mountain". Followers of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương tradition, founded in An Giang in 1849, refer to these mountains asBửu Sơn ("Precious Mountains"), since their founder, Đoàn Minh Huyên, is said to have spent time in meditation in these mountains.

Tourism
The mountain is commonly busy with tourists and pilgrims during the festival season, from the 4th to the 7th lunar month. About 3,000 people live on the mountain, with an average of 1,000 visitors per day.

Tourists can now visit Bà Chúa Xứ temple complex on Sam mountain, Great Buddha Pagoda and the Nui Cam Natural Reserve (Lam Vien Nui Cam), located nearby.

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