Escaping the Heat in Phong Nha - Ke Bang: Soak in the Spectacular Mountain and Forest Scenery

Phong Nha - Ke Bang is so much more than just its spectacular caves. It also draws travelers in with its pristine forests, refreshing waterfalls, and a host of exciting nature exploration adventures.
Summer in Phong Nha - Ke Bang
Beyond its famous caves, Phong Nha - Ke Bang offers dozens of other attractions and routes perfect for adventurous travelers seeking unique experiences during the hot summer months. These include the Botanical Garden, Gio Waterfall, Ozo Park, Survival Valley, and the ancient cypress forest.
In addition to the nearly 450 large and small caves already discovered and explored, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh) boasts many other equally captivating attractions and routes.
If you love exploring primeval forests, admiring limestone mountain landscapes, or wading through crystal-clear streams and powerful waterfalls, often connected to various caves, then the forest region of Doong Village, En Cave, and Khe Ri is a must-visit. Here, you'll find truly unique experiences, as this route offers the most diverse scenery, featuring low to medium-height mountains on rock formations, dense forest vegetation, a small ethnic minority village, and stunning karst landscapes with caves.

Mooc Spring scenery
Following the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Western branch) from kilometer 39, travelers will embark on a roughly two-hour trek deep into the forest to Doong Village, a secluded settlement nestled within the core zone of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Along the way, visitors may feel a mix of awe and apprehension as they navigate treacherous, landslide-prone sections with sheer cliffs dropping hundreds of meters on either side, creating a truly spectacular landscape.
On the way to Doong Village, visitors might spot various animals like the red-shanked douc langur, civets, pig-tailed macaques, and red-faced monkeys frolicking beneath the dense canopy. You'll also encounter ancient trees so massive that it would take several people to encircle their trunks. This area is home to a unique collection of fruit trees, including mangosteen, rambutan, star apple, black canarium, white canarium, and nang.
During fruit season, after hours of trekking over steep rocky slopes and wading through deep streams, visitors can enjoy freshly picked wild fruits right on the spot. The Doong forest region is a flat valley, home to pristine primary forests and numerous rare species of flora and fauna. Doong Village, with its nearly 20 households, is also the only settlement of the Bru - Van Kieu ethnic minority living within the strictly protected core zone of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Stopping here, travelers can experience the rustic, wild lifestyle of the local people amidst the mountains and forests.

This Doong forest area was once home to gaurs (wild oxen), hence its former name, Hung Bo Tot (Gaur Valley). It boasts ancient gùa trees with trunks so wide that it would take 12 people to embrace them, some over 1,000 years old. The elevation of this region is over 1,000m, with an average annual temperature below 25°C. Many sections of the multi-terrain, winding roads are spectacular and could be developed for international-level mountain biking. In many flat areas of the forest, on the karst (limestone) fields, impressive, oddly shaped solitary rock formations emerge. The sheer limestone cliffs, narrow gorge-like valleys, and small caves all add to the allure for adventurous explorers.

As travelers traverse this region, the flat sections winding beneath the primary forest canopy in Rao Thuong Valley offer a truly relaxing experience after hours of mountain trekking. Here, numerous flat alluvial plains have been formed by rivers and streams. Rock terraces stretch along the mountain slopes and stream banks. You'll also find small caves with entrances right at the water's edge, tucked under rock overhangs, or submerged beneath the water amidst lush vegetation.
Mr. Cao Xuan Chinh, former Deputy Director of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, once exclaimed: “It's so beautiful here, it takes your breath away. If I had a tent and a bag of rice, I'd stay forever.”
This area is also home to En Cave, which serves as the gateway to Son Doong Cave – currently the world's largest cave. In autumn, tens of thousands of swifts flock here to roost. The cave is located in the 'diving water' section of Rao Thuong Stream. It's called 'diving water' because when the river water reaches this point, it abruptly plunges and disappears underground, as if swallowed by the earth.

En Cave was first surveyed in 1996 by British cave explorers. The cave stretches over 1.6km, with ceilings reaching 100m high in some sections and a maximum width of 170m. Reaching this cave from the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Western branch) requires a challenging 12-hour trek and 4 hours of stream wading. Therefore, visitors must camp overnight in the forest before returning to their starting point.
After exploring the forest region and En Cave, travelers will proceed to Khe Ri Water Cave, situated along a stream in the southern strictly protected zone within the core of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The cave extends for over 19km in total, with its highest ceiling reaching 120m. Khe Ri Stream originates from limestone peaks soaring thousands of meters high and flows powerfully into the cave entrance. Water from various sources enters different cave mouths in the mountain face, converging into the main Khe Ri system, then connecting to En Cave, before diving underground to flow into the Phong Nha River system.

The path into the cave involves numerous winding sections with deep pools and many small, dangerous rock chambers. After extensive trekking and climbing, visitors will need to swim through several parts of the cave and squeeze through narrow rock passages. Some deep water channels within the cave offer an exhilarating experience for adventurers.
The terrain in this forest region is ideal for adventure tourism, combining landscape exploration with unique experiences. According to a survey by the University of Natural Sciences (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), the Doong Village, En Cave, and Khe Ri area offers all levels of adventure tourism, from the lowest to the highest. The section from the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Western branch) to En Cave is rated as Level 1 difficulty, primarily testing visitors' endurance. The section from the back entrance of Khe Ri Cave, extending 1km deep, is Level 2. The remaining sections are rated Level 3 and 4, with the final part requiring travelers to navigate tens of kilometers of treacherous paths across rocky mountains, rivers, streams, and deep inside caves.
Here, visitors' courage and stamina will be tested as they face darkness, slippery steep rock walls and stalactites, or precarious rocky slopes of collapsed rockfalls, with deep, dark gorges yawning below. Travelers will also need to swim through nearly one-third of the route in icy mountain water, beneath roaring waterfalls churning with white foam.

During the hot summer, visitors to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park will fully enjoy the cool, refreshing air of the mountains, rivers, streams, and lush greenery. Alongside this, they'll gain unforgettable 'conquests' of exploration and experience that will last a lifetime.
In Quang Binh, visitors can also explore many other famous historical sites, such as:
1. Hoang Phuc Pagoda
Hoang Phuc Pagoda, originally known as Tri Kien Hermitage and Kinh Thien Pagoda, and commonly referred to by locals as Tram Pagoda or Quan Pagoda, is located in Thuan Trach ward (now My Thuy commune), Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province. With over 700 years of history, Hoang Phuc Pagoda has endured and flourished through numerous renovations and reconstructions. In 1609, Lord Nguyen Hoang rebuilt the pagoda on its original foundation and named it Kinh Thien. In 1716, Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu visited the pagoda, ordered its renovation, and bestowed two horizontal plaques inscribed with “Kinh Thien Tu” (Kinh Thien Pagoda) and “Vo Song Phuc Dia” (Unparalleled Blessed Land), along with five pairs of couplets to be hung in the pagoda.See details

2. Da Deo Pass
Da Deo Pass is located on the legendary Eastern branch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, deeply intertwined with Vietnamese history. This 17km-long pass lies within Thuong Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district, Quang Binh province. It's named Da Deo Pass because it stretches across the summit of a limestone mountain range that is over 10 km long.See details

3. Nguyen Huu Canh Mausoleum
The mausoleum of Nguyen Huu Canh is situated on a high, airy, tree-covered hill within the An Ma mountain range, in Truong Thuy commune, Le Thuy district. Nguyen Huu Canh was a high-ranking mandarin who rendered great service during the Nguyen Lords' era, fighting invaders, expanding the territory, and shaping Vietnam's borders into a unified nation.See details

4. Dong Hoi Ancient Citadel
Dong Hoi Ancient Citadel is part of the overall military historical relics of Dong Hoi from the Trinh-Nguyen civil war period. It was strategically built on a crucial land route connecting north to south Vietnam. Its advantageous geographical location, bordering the Nhat Le River and estuary to the east, served both as a military supply point and a defense against enemy naval attacks. This site has witnessed many significant historical events, marking the triumph of the nine Nguyen Lords' northward expansion and bringing an end to 200 years of civil war.See details

5. Trung Thuan War Zone
The Trung Thuan War Zone is located in a semi-mountainous area within the communes of Quang Luu and Quang Thach, Quang Trach district, approximately 5 km west of Ba Don town. Once a crucial revolutionary base for the military and people of Quang Trach during the resistance wars against French colonialists and American imperialists, the Trung Thuan War Zone has become a heroic historical testament and a source of pride for the local residents.See details

Quang Tri 5592 view
Update day : 14/04/2024
Source : Du lịch TP Hồ Chí Minh .vn Affiliate links
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