Our Founder's Story
When people ask about TVPalm, I often pause for a moment…
TVPalm is not just a lodge or a tour company. It is the quiet result of many difficult choices I have made over the years — choices that sometimes made me feel I was walking this road mostly alone.
Since 2019, long before the first foundation stone was laid, I began planting small trees on the slopes of Tây Côn Lĩnh. At that time, many around me thought I was being stubborn or unrealistic. While Hà Giang was becoming famous for motorbike loop tours and quick returns, I chose the opposite direction. I turned down opportunities that could have brought faster success, because I knew in my heart they would come at the cost of the forest and the future of the people living here.
There were long, silent years. There were failures that no one saw. There were cold mountain nights when I wondered whether it was all worth it. But I never complained, and I never blamed the land, the weather, or anyone else. I simply could not accept building something on the suffering of the forest or the hardship of the local families.
That quiet persistence slowly became the soul of our small team.
Tay Con Linh Sustainable Tourism Cooperative
Today, our team at TVPalm Ecolodge and TVPalm Adventure is still modest in number, but our heart reaches far beyond these walls. The real team is the Tây Côn Lĩnh Sustainable Tourism Cooperative, which began with about 50 members mostly Dao and Tày families from Na Thác, Khuổi My, and Lũng Vài. My deepest wish is that this cooperative will continue to grow into hundreds, even thousands of people from all the ethnic communities living around Tây Côn Lĩnh: Dao, Tày, Mông, La Chí, and others.
Our Vision
I dream of the day when Nà Thác, Khuổi My, Lũng Vài, Xà Phìn, Mậu Phìn, Nậm Tẹ, Mào Phìn, Cao Bành, Cao Bồ… and all the villages surrounding this sacred mountain become one living ecosystem of sustainability. Where people from different ethnic groups stand together, not competing, but supporting one another to protect the forest, preserve their beautiful cultural identities, and build dignified, long-term livelihoods.
We want to create a true circle of life: responsible farming that feeds both people and soil, mindful tourism that brings income without destruction, zero plastic waste, and a way of thinking that looks far beyond our own generation. We want the forest to rest, to heal, and to continue protecting all of us for hundreds of years to come. We want the children of these villages to inherit not only green mountains, but also pride in their heritage and the ability to thrive without harming the land their ancestors left them.
This is not a grand vision. It is a very simple, humble one: To live gently on this mountain. To take only what we need. To give back more than we take. To think not just about today or even our own lifetime, but about the generations who will walk these same trails long after we are gone.
Small Team,
A Shared Commitment
Our team is small, but every member carries this same quiet determination. We still make mistakes. We still learn every day. But every morning, we wake up and choose again to walk this path with patience, with respect, and with all our heart.
We grow our own organic vegetables so that every meal comes straight from the garden we tend together. We make our own natural soap nut bio-enzyme cleaner about 300 liters each year because we refuse to let chemical waste touch this land. We eliminated single-use plastics and offered free mountain water to every guest, because we see water as a sacred gift from Tây Côn Lĩnh that we should only receive and pass on with gratitude.
If you come to TVPalm, you will not meet perfection. You will meet a small group of people who have chosen the harder road because we believe this land and all the communities around Tây Côn Lĩnh deserve our very best, most patient effort.
We do not ask you to be perfect. We only hope that while you are here, you will feel the sincerity behind every small action we take and perhaps carry a little of that sincerity home with you.
