Description

Phong Nha Cave

Therina Groenewald: Phong Nha Cave – professional photographer

The cave is in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. It is 7,729 metres long and contains 14 grottoes, as well as a 13,969 metre underground river. Wikipedia

In the center of Vietnam, on the border of Laos and in the midst of the Annamite mountain range, sits one of the most pristine pieces of jungle left in Southeast Asia — Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng. The national park and UNESCO World Heritage site is home to some of largest caves in the world, hollowed, eroded and split open over millions of years.

It would be difficult to find anywhere in the entire nation of Vietnam an area more well-preserved and wild than Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. There’s no litter, no gaudy construction projects and no sense of rapid development that’s prevalent throughout much of the rest of the country. Instead, there’s nature. Vast and uninterrupted limestone peaks soar to the horizon. Dense jungle canopy clings to rock walls, climbing thousands of feet into the sky. The roar of motorbikes succumbs to the cacophony of birds, monkeys and langurs singing in the safe confines of the forest. Cave systems run for hundreds of miles through and beneath the limestone giants overhead. Some are more expensive and difficult to reach, others are cheaper and easier to find. The Cave is perhaps the easiest to access and one of the most stunning.

Sam Roth