Monster Exploration

We've done a couple of trips recently to explore new caves.

Tan Hoa valley

Both trips were to the Oxalis Tan Hoa centre, the first was a day trip to explore a cave called Hang Monster.

Second valley on walk in

This had already been looked at by the Vietnamese, but they hadn't surveyed it so it wasn't known how much they had explored.

Jungle bashing

The walk to the cave took about an hour, along a valley, up a small hill into another valley, followed by another short hill to a col where we turned off the path for fifteen minutes of jungle bashing to get to the entrance.

Stop monkeying around

The cave itself was big, but predominately large breakdown (boulders) which made for tricky going at times.

Hang Dinh Mot exit, Hang Dinh Hai in the background

There were a couple of side passages which ended after a few hundred meters, one of these had a calcited monkey skull at the very end.

First rickety bridge

At the far end of the cave we could see daylight and emerged into sunlight. Ten metres to the right was another entrance so we surveyed this cave to an exit. Fortunately it was short as we were running out of time at this point and had to turn around, even though another cave was visible 100m away.

The new caves were named Hang Dinh Mot (1) and Hang Dinh Hai (2), Hang Dinh Hai had to be left for our next trip. In total, we surveyed about 1.2 Km of cave.

Rickety bridge number two

The next trip was planned as a two day affair, staying overnight at the Tan Hoa centre.

Busy surveying, do not disturb

On arrival at Tan Hoa for our two day trip, we were pleased to see we had the same guide, Dinh, who is probably the best jungle man in Tan Hoa, no English spoken but a good chance for me to practice my limited Vietnamese.

He knew a direct route to Hang Dinh Mot so we were able to get there without going through Monster which saved us an hour. In Dinh Mot we found another passage which led to another exit n then we moved on to our main event, Hang Dinh Hai.

Formations in Hang Dinh Hai

The cave was large with breakdown and some very well decorated sections, we surveyed to an end at an incredibly beautiful grotto which felt like it was close to the surface. Lunch was served here before we carried on with our exploration.

Aid climbing, push harder!

We continued until we were nearly out of time (we had to get back before dark) but fortunately we came to an exit where daylight was seen. Unfortunately it was a boulder choke and we couldn't get out.

How does it get so muddy?

A hasty retreat got us back to the road end as it began to turn dark, walking through the village and past buffaloes was pleasant, even if it did seem to drag on forever.

Ah, that's how!

Ruth managed to blag a lift back to Tan Hoa on the back of a motorbike, running over a dog on the way. Back at Tan Hoa we were served a six course meal, which we washed down with plenty of beers from the fridge, hard jungle camping indeed. Adding up the stats later showed we had surveyed another 1.1 Km of new cave.

Roughing it in the jungle

The next day Dinh had another cave for us to explore, in a different area of Tan Hoa. We started the day with a bike ride over the fields (see video above), then through Rat cave, along the La Ken Valley and up and over into Hung Dung.

Valley walking, very pleasant

In Hung Dung we were shown a cave which was large but was very loose, and although we could hear a river we could not get to it. When we had finished, the porters had found another entrance 200m away. This was more stable, but again, no way on could be found, even though it was vary complex with at least four entrances. In total, another 500m or more surveyed.

Rickety bridge number three, will it take my weight?

By now it was time to go, even though the porters had found another two caves, one of which was a large and promising entrance with a big stream issuing from it. Oh well, next time!