Hang Son Doong 48, the photography tour

That's a bit brown is that river

This is my penultimate tour, three days off after this one and then the final tour of the year. The river in Phong Nha was brown and in flood, but not too bad.

Jungle fruits, not edible

As this is a photography tour we carried in the big filming lights to light up the cave instead of the normal Hope R8's, we also carried a generator to charge the customers batteries etc.

Son Doong Entrance

Strangely, there were not many photographers on the tour, only five out of the ten, we also had two drones although one only made it as fay as the exit to Hang En, where it crashed into the water and drowned!

Second river crossing

Having the filming lights did add another dimension to the tour as it was good to see the cave well lit up.

Camp One, Hang Son Doong

Although the river crossings in the cave were not too bad, we used the bridges because more rain was forcast, this proved to be a good decision as when we came back, the rivers had risen to the point where the ropes were just in the water, it would have been at least chest deep.

Photographer in Doline One

Conditions were generally clear in the cave, making for good photography for those that were interested, those that weren't were fortunately patient.

Photographers beyond Camp Two

Despite the rain there was no lake at the end of the cave, in fact, conditions at the end were as dry as I've ever seen them.

Return to Hang En

We decided to return to Hang En via the high level path, a good choice as even the Hang En water was up by half a metre (and suitably brown in colour). On my return to Phong Nha, I did my washing as usual and hung it out to dry overnight. At three a.m. I woke just as a thunderstorm was starting and rushed out to get the washing, on the towel was a dragonfly, too good to miss!

Dragonfly