On March 15th 1991 Hà Đình Đức happened to be passing Hồ Gươm, the small lake at the center of Hanoi, when he saw its giant softshell turtle surface.
Đức went home and marked the date on his calendar. He was a zoologist, but the encounter created an “invisible bond” between himself and the turtle, almost “hypnotizing” him. He said it changed the course of his life.
A research project later gave him an official reason to study the animal. When the project ended, he carried on. For the next quarter-century he photographed it, recorded its appearances and worried about its health. Hanoians came to know him as “Professor Turtle” or simply “Đức Rùa”.
Very few of these enormous freshwater turtles survived and little was known about the individual in Hồ Gươm. But Đức also saw the turtle as inseparable from the lake and the legend associated with it.
According to the 15th-century story, Lê Lợi led a rebellion that drove Ming forces from Vietnam with the help of a magical sword. After his victory he was boating on the lake when a golden turtle surfaced and reclaimed the weapon for its divine owner. The lake became Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, the Lake of the Returned Sword.
For Đức, the survival of a giant turtle in the lake made the old story tangible. The animal was the lake’s “soul”, by his telling.
Đức traveled Vietnam looking for other turtles that might be related to the one in Hồ Gươm. He hoped descendants might keep the association between the turtle and the legend alive for another generation.
His work also brought him into conflict with officials in Hanoi. Proposals to dredge the lake or build around it could draw objections from Đức if he thought the turtle had not been considered. He argued that scientists had a responsibility to ask what might happen to the animal before work began. Pollution, too, was a worry.
In 2011, when the elderly turtle developed lesions and had to be captured for treatment, Đức was at the lake almost every day. The turtle died in 2016.
Đức continued to concern himself with Hồ Gươm after the loss. He spoke out about development around the lake and continued searching for other giant softshell turtles elsewhere in Vietnam.
Hà Đình Đức died in Hanoi on August 7th 2026. He was 86.
Banner image: Hà Đình Đức with the great softshell of Hồ Gươm. Photo by ZNews Vietnam
