River · Vietnam
Đồng Nai
The Đồng Nai is the longest river that flows only inside Vietnam. It begins on the cool Central Highlands and ends in the South China Sea in the mangrove district of Cần Giờ.
Picture credit: Lam Tr Th (CC BY-SA 3.0) · chieutimviet (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Đồng Nai?
The river starts here: Central Highlands of Vietnam.
It ends in the South China Sea in Cần Giờ district.
Countries on the river: Vietnam.
The story behind it
High on the Central Highlands the Đồng Nai gathers water from pine forests and coffee farms. It thunders over waterfalls, fills big reservoirs behind dams and then slows down as it reaches the warm lowlands. Elephants and gibbons live in the protected forest of Cát Tiên along its banks, and rangers watch over rare birds there. Further down the river becomes a busy waterway: ferries cross it, factories stand on its shore, and barges bring sand and building material towards Ho Chi Minh City. Near the sea it splits among the mangroves of Cần Giờ, where crabs climb the roots and monkeys steal fruit from the trees. The tide pushes salt water far upstream, so people carefully choose when to pump river water onto their rice fields.
Questions children ask
How long is the Đồng Nai?
The Đồng Nai is 586 km long. That makes it the longest river whose whole course stays inside Vietnam. Bigger rivers touch the country, but they begin in other lands.
Which country does the Đồng Nai flow through?
The Đồng Nai flows entirely through Vietnam. It links the highlands in the interior with the busy south of the country. On the way it passes several provinces and the region around Ho Chi Minh City.
Where does the Đồng Nai flow into?
The river ends in the South China Sea in the district of Cần Giờ. Before that it winds through a huge mangrove forest that protects the coast from storms. Salt water and fresh water mix there with every tide.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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