Preparation and Background
One of the craziest adventures you can probably pay money for. Sure there is paid trips on top of the K2, cage diving with white sharks or you can be carried to the top of Mount Everest, but listen to this: There have been more explorers on the top of the Mount Everest than inside this cave. Let me repeat that: There were more people on the highest and most dangerous mountain of the world than in this remote cave in the middle of Vietnam!
Now, this adventure is obviously a new challenge for me and my travel buddy. I am not even 100% sure how we got the idea to book this trip… I think that I saw some pictures from the National Geographic documentation. Later that day I watched the youtube video more than five times. It just looked so incredible and so fascinating! So if you have the time, have a look here (disclaimer: it is addictive): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news-features/son-doong-cave/2/
I did some research, which took actually not long and I figured out that it is actually possible to book a guided tour there. Check out Oxalis: https://oxalis.com.vn/ After that it went all pretty fast. We booked the last two seats for a May trip and then we actually recognized the magnitude of the decision. We had to fly to Ho Chi Min firstly and then transfer to get to the national park in the middle of Vietnam. Secondly we now recognized, we need to prepare a bit. Both of us are fit and have done one or the other hike around the globe, but both of us had zero experience hiking in the jungle, or a cave. In consequence we got a bit excited in the preparation. Gear wise we have done a lot of research to get the right kind of clothes and photography material. Of course we immediately started a bit of a training schedule to get also physically prepared. Long story short: Get the right shoes. The rest is a bit debatable, but you cannot really make a big mistake. Wrong shoes however have the potential to ruin your trip.
DAY I: Start of an adventure, the Ban Doong Village and the Hang En Cave
Let’s cut to the meat. I spare you the whole how we got to Dong hoi and to the Oxalis hostel right next to the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. All no problem and well organized by the guides. The hostel was the last comfortable mattress we are going to see before we will spent the next days in the tents under the roof of the world’s biggest cave. We were all set up and got a last briefing by the competent guide of the tour. A great English lad, with probably the best experience in cave exploration you can find. Before the tour really started I did not sleep well at all. Not because I was too excited, no… At the right time my body decided to now start the full range of diarrhea. I am only telling you this, so you can also prepare for those occasions. This trip will definitely challenge you both physically and mentally. And sometimes it is the most annoying way possible… The alarm pushed me out without any mercy. The bus took us right into the middle of the jungle and that is where it begun. Only notable that the boarder to the national park is highly guarded. Understandably if you understand the history of this country, it is still highly militarized in many areas. Now back to the jungle hike. Well, it is everything you will have to expect. It is hot, wet, muddy, slippery, tricky, dangerous, merciless etc. Every step is hardly earned. The hike itself is not even long, but the terrain will challenge every bit of you. Despite this hostile environment, it is beautiful as well. Those butterflies and other fascinating insects, those many colors of green and this unbelievable noise this place is producing! Now comes also the time of the shoes. You basically are crossing the river every now and then. So your foot are constantly soaked. The packers have open sandals… Open plastic sandals?! They cost only 3 EUR. However I would not really recommend you are following the locals example. One mistake and your travel is over. That rule remains, with or without proper shoes, only your chances are increasing slightly that you might survive. I am not kidding, there are plenty of nasty things in this jungle that are going to try to spoil your travel. For instance, there is a plant. Its leafs are a bit toxic. So if you touch these with your bare skin you will have an excruciating pain and unpleasant time for quite some days. All this will be forgotten once you see the entrance to the third biggest cave in the world, Hang En. Before we reached that we had a stopover in a native village to have a rest and fuel up with some home cooked Vietnam food.
Later in the afternoon it was finally time to enter the impressive Hang En Cave. It often gets confused with Son Doong Cave. However it is not the same, nevertheless super impressive itself. You look down the huge rock pile and can see your tiny tents already set up in the middle of the huge dome. After a strenuous first day, you will lay with awe inside your tent and listen to the thousands of birds and bats that are either hanging on the top of the cave or flying in and out of the cave entrance. By the way all the birds and bats do have to take a dump, and guess where it will land? Yes indeed. These tents are luckily waterproof. Not because you need to be scared of a sudden rain shower, but a constant sh*** pouring down from the top (and yes you can smell it). Hang En is also one of the few places you are allowed to have a brief cleanse of yourself. Take it! Don’t forget to dry your feet. They have been wet all day and for sure you want to limit the risk of foot rot or jungle rot. To do so, apply some baby powder or magnesium powder and keep your feet as long as possible without any socks. Due to the high humidity nothing will properly dry, even in the cool cave wind. Completely spent and after another photo shooting of this magnificent place the first dinner was served. Even though you are completely remote and without any modern kitchen etc the chefs have done great work and put together a delicious dinner. In the evening you get the chance to rest, however without electricity it does get easily a bit boring. Alcohol is also limited, so you have a early sleep instead.
DAY II: Leaving Hang En Cave and finding Son Doong Cave. Then having a peak at the Hand of God, or Hand of Dog I should say.
Next morning after a early rise you get the chance to take some more pictures of the lighten up Hang En Cave before you pack your stuff and without any hesitation you are back in line for a whole day of hike. The first impressive sight was the exit of the Hang En Cave. The packers were ahead of us, so we saw them leaving the cave from the distance. They seemed tiny compared to this absolute impressive Cave construction.
Once you have left Hang En you have a full day hike along the river that has caved this massive landscapes. Often you will find yourself in hip high waters. You get used to the hiking speed and the environment. Still a strenuous day full of action. Highlight is the arrival at the Son Doong Cave. Son Doong is the biggest cave of the world, yet the entrance is unexpectingly small and narrow. That might explain why it was so hidden and was only detected in the late 1990s and fully explored and measured in 2009. The last mile to the cave was already a steep up and down. For the decline to the cave you have to then even put on safety harness. Now it is getting real. One by one was guided down into the darkness. Standing on the edge got a bit cold. The most fascinating was that this cave was literally breathing! Cold air from the cave shot through the relatively small exit. The decline into the cave itself was technically challenging but doable after all. All of the sudden and finally you are standing in the biggest cave of the world. It is first of all quite fresh and loud. The small river from above is down here a fast and strong river. You do have to cross it once again, this time in complete darkness. This place is intimidating. In the rainy season you can imagine that the river will rise to a powerful stream. Luckily it was calm enough to cross for us. Son Doong cave does not have its name for nothing though: „Mountain River Cave“
One of the most iconic pictures is the Hand of Dog. The cave is continuing in a straight line. In the far end you can see some dim light. Hiking along the river you are getting closer to this light, which is the first doline. A doline is basically a huge hole in the roof. The cave simply collapsed and the whole jungle just fell down with it. That means you have now a jungle within the cave! Before you reach the doline you will hike a mile or two. Which is just amazing, since you are within a cave that is enormous and you are hiking during the day, but besides the doline you have no light. So on the way to the doline there is this one big stalagmite peaking out. It is most likely the biggest stalagmite you will ever see. One of the carriers went ahead and was standing on it. I had to zoom in! to get a closer picture of Hand of God, which they later re-named to Hand of Dog, just to be more humble.
We have not even reached the campsite and you get the last chance to get a decent wash for the day, yet soap etc cannot be used (might damage the sensitive fauna etc.). Slowly but sure you are getting closer to the second campsite. The campsite was already set up, since the packers are much faster than us. Imagine, they are carrying all this stuff through the jungle and the cave, yet they have arrived hours before us. We definitely a bit slower since we are taking pictures, watching them hiking through the jingle and the cave effortless is another story. I was definitely exhausted and was looking forward for some sleep. It was not necessarily the hike that was causing the exhaustion, and also not the hot and humid weather… it was more that somehow I was suffering one of the more common issues here: Diarrhea. Not nice, but there you go. Luckily I had some medicine with me, however the guide gave me a real blocker since it did not get much better after day one. You should not only prepare physically for this endeavor but also be prepared for the things you cannot train for: Bacteria and Viruses. Do your best to only drink prepared water and in general watch out what you get on your hands in your mouth.
Day 3: Watch Out for Dinosaurs and the Garden of Edam
One of the most exciting days (almost everyday was a highlight). finally you get to see the two dolines and experience this unique feeling, of being in a jungle, yet being in a cave.
In this jungle you did get the feeling you are watched by the dinosaurs. That it is why it is called „Watch out for the dinosaurs“. The highlight here is one of the biggest stalagmites you can imagine. It was pouring down relative cold water from a shower above. A welcomed shower indeed. This doline is already roundabout 500 thousands years old. Almost nothing compared to the age of the Mountain River Cave, which is definitely a few million years old. After that doline you pass a relatively short section of the cave, which did not collapse, but also is not prone to be flooded every rainy season. It is not necessarily dry, yet there is no stream running through. So nature kind of developed some kind funny creations. It looks a little bit like someone has covered the whole place with melting chocolate.
Funny enough the small section between the two dolines is called the Rat Run. It is basically sometimes sandy and the section is compared to other sections rather narrow, yet high ceilings. And even though it is between the two dolines it gets quite dark. Before you reach the next doline you got to climb up a quite steep hill. Super interesting to watch the others climb up like little ants. You do catch yourself being out of breath once you reach the top, but you got to take those pictures and enjoy that unique view.
We have reached the second doline, which is called the Garden of Edam. It is way bigger than the first one and hiking through it was quite challenging in many regards. It was steep and slippery. Sometimes you would slip on the mud and then have to fight against the vegetation at the same time. It was so big that you could not tell if you are actually in a cave. On top of the hill you then had a glimpse to the next camp site. However getting there was bit of a challenge. It was once again incredible slippery, so that the crew was crawling down on all fours. All muddy and once again soaked and exhausted we arrived the campsite, which was well covered by the cave, yet had decent light from the doline. It was nice to see that the chef already started the dinner preparation and the tent was already set up for the night. However we still had some business to do.
From the campsite we took a little hike to have a jump into the lake and on the way we got to take a picture of one of the giant Stalactite. This part of the cave is almost completely in the dark. The ceiling yet is high as a skyscraper. Super creepy feeling if you only can see what your torch is pointing at, but since it is sooo big, you basically do not see anything. Some creatures are flying above you, mostly bats and birds that are super comfortable in the dark. Some of the insects you have never seen before and are they actually only live down there and nowhere else in the world. In the water you expect also to be something lurking around, but luckily there is nothing. At least we did not see anything in the clear water. This part of the cave however is again so different than I would have imagined. A magnificent place to be. Creepy but magnificent.
Please have a look at this picture. Let it sink in. That is a cave! With all the lights that were available we tried to light up the cave. 12 people and big lights were not able to fully light up this huge chamber. Imagine walking miles and miles through this system. Son Doong’s chambers have almost every time this size.
Day IV: Climbing the Wall of Vietnam. Making the exit of Son Doong and return to civilization.
First in the morning you get some harness and everything gets well packed up. We will climb the Great Wall of Vietnam. Almost 100 m high it is a bit of a challenge to climb. But first you have to get there. If you are lucky you get there by boat. If you are unfortunate you are going to crawl through waist deep mud. I like the boat ride to be frank.
You basically go were you took a swim the day before. Once again we were completely emerged by the darkness of the cave. This time we did not go there to swim, but we jumped on a few floating boats and in the darkness we were paddling towards the Great Wall of Vietnam. Once we reached that monster, one by one was put into the ropes and was climbing up the almost 100 meters of wall were to be climbed. No biggie if you are rested. After few days in the cave and jungle this might be a bit more of a challenge. Safe to say every one made without any further complications. We had a quick bite and were approaching the end of the cave, but this was not the end of the hike.
The last kilometer was full of tricky jungle track. You have to earn your shower. This jungle will not let you go easily. Muddy paths, steep inclination, pointy thorns and rocks that cut like scissors are between you and the air conditioned bus that is picking you up. The last days have also wear you down, so you have to be extra careful not to get seriously hurt in the last stint of this exploration. We did see the first snake and we did have one more wounded warrior, but luckily the last chapter of the expedition ended with a cool beer at the pool. Somehow proud, somehow happy that it is over, yet you want it all back immediately. It was just too amazing to be over now.
A few words about the Camp Life
The toilets are portable. Mostly you share the toilette with some insects that are drawn there at night. You get used to that somehow. The temperature in the cave is mostly comfortable. Slightly less than outside, so at night it does get chilly and a dry T-Shirt and a light zipper will to the job just fine. Be smart and clever during packing. If something got wet, it will stay wet. No matter how long and often you are hanging it. The equipment Oxalis is using was always top notch and reliable. For breakfast and dinner you will have no reason to complain. It is plenty and delicious. The service is super and the packers have fun by playing cards in their tents. Sometime they will challenge you for a arm wrestling. And these guys are strong! If you like to stay at the dinner table you can listen to all the stories of the guides. They have plenty to talk about. Sooner than later the group will go into its tent and listen to music, read a book or have a look on the pictures they have shot. Electricity is scarce, so in the end you rest your lights and eyes early at night.
Lessonslearnt:
- Shoes, shoes, shoes: It is all about the right shoes and socks. This is probably one of the most important decisions to make before you start your adventure. But don’t worry, there is a lot you can do right and it is quite easy in the end once you have done your research.
- Drone flying is not possible in the national park, thus also not at or in the cave. Fair enough, it is to be protected. However, that would have been amazing pictures.
- This is a experience you want to share. I was lucky to have my travel buddy with me.
lessonslearnt 