Mighty Minh saves the day

Phong Nha river in flood

Having been fried alive for most of April, May and June and baked slowly but very surely in our house the weather took an about turn towards the end of June. Although it was, and still is, warm and humid (t.shirts and shorts temperature) it started to rain . This caused Dave and l to have a very interesting trip into Son Doong. Whenever flooding has been mentioned it has always been with regard to being trapped in Son Doong for a while, never being "trapped" out of the cave. In other words we were unable to get across the river in Son Doong, which is not very far into the cave at all.

On the way into the minority village. Muddy and wet!

On arrival at Hang En it was obvious that the river has risen a reasonable amount, but nothing to get too worried about and on leaving Hang En the following day we saw lots of waterfalls coming into the cave near the exit which are not normally flowing. We decided to walk to Son Doong by the jungle (high level) path due to the increased level of water in the river.

The first river crossing in Son Doong

At the entrance to Son Doong, Minh, our porter leader, informed us that the river in Son Doong was up to his armpits in depth and not safe to cross. Given that it is normally knee to mid thigh deep this was a significant increase. Dave and Minh went in to check and this was still the case. Much debate followed as we ate lunch in the shelter of the cliff just before the entrance to the cave. We considered camping at the entrance as no one really wanted to retreat, but this would have been a poor decision given that there is no room under the sheltered part, our tents are not waterproof and it showed no signs of stopping raining. A final check of the river by Dave and Binh, our guide, confirmed the water level was rising.

Working on the first bridge. We crossed further down river where it was narrower.

Back to Hang En, where there was a Hang En tour of sixteen people plus porters arriving. Good job it is a very large cave. The next morning we set off for Son Doong at six thirty. This time we decided that we should all go down to the river crossing regardless of whether we could cross it or not. At least that way our guests could see the problem and do a little bit of Son Doong.

The bridge is in, can we cross now?

Before we arrived at the river we could hear the roar of water, much louder than usual. There was evidence that the water level had been even higher since Dave and Binh had last checked it but was now back at the level it had been when Dave and Minh had been in to check. We estimated this to be at least three metres higher than normal.

Porters patiently sitting out the flood

Twenty four Vietnamese porters, one Vietnamese guide and two cave "experts" led to an interesting, lively and lengthy debate on what to do next. Basically Binh was piggy in the middle while he translated both sides of the debate. Summed up as : Minh "l'm going to go across the river by going into the water"; Cavers, "No one is going in the water"

Here we go

At one point Minh appeared to berate some of the porters and they immediately took off out of the cave. Half an hour or so later they arrived back carrying two logs of about six inches in diameter and of exactly the required length to span the river.

The first customers start to cross

A bridge was then constructed over the river by holding one end of the log and lowering the log into position with the rope tied to the other end. Once the log was balanced across the river the rope was tied off high at our side of the river using a natural belay.

It's a bit of a tricky traverse at first

One of the porters walked across the log, crouching lower and lower as he reached the other side as the rope at the far side was still tied to the log. Once across he tied the far side rope higher up and there it was - a bridge that guests could use while remaining safe.

Tired?

However, before we could complete the first crossing, we had to find a way of crossing the river a second time. Initial attempts to lasso a rope onto a spike of rock on the opposite bank failed to work so one of the logs from the first river crossing was borrowed and placed in the same way as before, with a porter able to cross and place a rope.

River crossing on our return

Back to the guests who had been waiting very patiently whilst all this drama unfolded over a period of five hours. They were successfully helped over both river crossings to great cheers and applause. We then had to pack two days of caving into one in order to get us back on track with tour times, finishing at nine pm. On the return journey we were able to cross the river actually in the water, though the levels were still greater than normal and very sporting!

River crossing on our return

All pictures by Ben Wong (except Phong Nha river in flood.