Thien Duong is 30km long and 60m high and its width ranges from 30m to over 150m, and is at a height of 360m above sea level. According to scientists at the British Royal Cave Society, it is the longest dry cave in Asia. Its highlights are unique stalactites in shapes of Bodhisattva Buddha, kylin (unicorn) and phoenix. The cave also has the longest wooden stairway in Vietnam which is over one kilometer long with local authorities expected to extend some more kilometers onto the stairway.

Being attracted by the limestone karst mountains were, so they decided to go to Asia in 1990. The couple patiently sought the cooperation of regional agencies and organizations. Finally, they got some help from Hanoi General University, now named Hanoi National University, to make their trip to Vietnam possible. After that, they focused on exploring destinations in Vietnam. Being a member of the British Cave Research Association, Howard has led an expedition team on trips to Vietnam since 1990. The team has cooperated with Hanoi National University to conduct 14 journeys to different localities in Vietnam, including Quang Binh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Ha Giang. It has discovered nearly 300km of caves in Vietnam.

The team of this couple found Khe Ry in Quang Binh Province in 1997, the world’s longest underground cave. In 2009, it discovered Son Doong, the world’s biggest cave, also in Quang Binh. Their reports have contributed to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park being recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.

According to Dr Howard,Vietnamhas one of the world’s most impressive limestone areas. Clearly, many caves situated in Ke Bang Mountain have yet to be found, Howard and his team hope to continue their search with the cooperation of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Besides, the couple has helped call on the international community to pay attention to the protection ofVietnam’s nature and environment. They have also shown a number of well-known film crews aroundVietnam. Through the films, the world has become more aware of Vietnam’s beauty and the world’s biggest cave, Son Doong, in Quang Binh

Their most recent visit to Vietnam is from March 3 to April 26, 2012, along with their team and some film crews to make documentaries about caves in Quang Binh. In 2010, the British expedition team took the film crews and reporters from Kyodo, NHK, BBC, and National Geographic among others, to Vietnam to shoot films about Son Doong Cave. In 2011, they invited representatives from the BBC to Quang Binh to make another film about Son Doong Cave.

Before we’d even set foot in the country, my boyfriend and I had very clear expectations about what we would see. Naive as we were, our preconceptions could not have been more wrong …..until we went to Phong Nha-Ke Bang, the national park which borders Laos.

It was there that much of the hand to hand jungle combat made famous in films such as Platoon actually took place. For the first time, the scenery we passed corresponded with all the movies we knew – rivers and jungles and dense vegetation, as well as rice paddies, villages and traditional rural life. There is much in the area for those that are interested in finding out about the American War and local tour operators run trips to many sites in which key battles took place. Significant sections of the famous Ho Chi Minh trail are located in the park, and it is possible to visit the nearby Vinh Moc tunnels, the Ben Hai River Museum, and the Hien Luong Riverbank where the former demilitarized zone was officially set.

But Phong Nha is more than the sum of its war connections. Due to its biodiversity, unique beauty and geodiversity, the national park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Hidden in the depths of the mountains is the spectacular Son Doong (the world’s largest cave, discovered in 2005). If that doesn’t satisfy your caveman instincts, pop into Phong Nha cave which contains hundreds of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites as well as the world’s longest underground river.

The trickiest thing about the area is getting there. Be warned:  it is remote, but worth the journey, and the cheapest option is a six hour haul by local bus from Danang. Our bus ride entailed an ongoing game of musical chairs while passengers and their luggage (including a motorbike) were shuffled around the available space. We slept at the Phong Nha farmstay, a little utopia with a swimming pool at the end of a rice paddy, and spent happy evenings there meeting other travelers and trying local dishes.

My favorite day was actually the least activity packed – I simply went for a walk with some new friends along the local roads. I’ll forever chuckle over the excitement we caused when we walked past a school – all the children burst through the gate and surrounded us, laughing and demanding to have their photos taken. Their enthusiasm and warm welcome, in the midst of the beautiful national park, is one of my happiest memories from our travels in Vietnam.

The travel agents have prepared a lot of tours to bothVietnamand other international destinations to attract visitors with the same price as normal days. According to the travel agents, the trend of this year’sIndependencevacation is in some areas of central regions ofVietnamlike Hoi An, My Son (QuangNamprovince),Hue, Phong Nha – Ke Bang (Quang Binh province) which are the world cultural heritages.

Meanwhile, it is quite quiet in this 2 September in Danang city when most of the travel agents have not received the full booking.

According to them, since the decision of shorten the summer vacation and lengthen the New Year vacation for pupils, the occasion of 2 September is not the high season for domestic traveling because the families are preparing for their children to be back to school at that time.

On the other hand, the visitors to Da Nang are mainly small groups and favor the leisure tour than sightseeing, therefore, the type of Danang – Hoi An – Ba Na is most favored. Visitors to the central region in the occasion of 2 September often use one or two days for their vacation, so the near destinations like Ba Na, Thien Duong cave (Quang Binh province), etc are most chosen.

Implementing the tourism activities of cave discovering:

• Discovering the route Rao Thuong – Hang En.
• Discovering the route Phong Nha cave in the depth of 1,500m.
• Discovering the route Hang E and Sinh Ton valley (E cave and existing valley)

Location: Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park

Processing the festival activities tourism:

• Organizing the festival of Flower dancing – dry oaring
• Organizing the festival of praying for fish
• Boat racing competition in Nhat Le River
• The celebration night, performing in most areas of province
• Organizing the introducing kiosks to broadcast the tourism services (International expo of 3 countries –Vietnam–Laos–Thailand)
• Organizing the commercial and tourism expo of three countries in Dong Hoi city.
• Organizing the food week to introduce the nice food of Quang Binh province.

Location: Dong Hoi city.

Dr Howard and his wife Dr Deb spend most of their time on cave expeditions. Howard has been exploring caves in the UK and Europe since he was 15.
The limestone karst mountains were so attractive that they decided to go to Asia in 1990. The couple patiently sought the cooperation of regional agencies and organizations. Finally, they got some help from Hanoi General University, now named Hanoi National University, to make their trip to Vietnam possible.
After that, they focused on exploring destinations in Vietnam. Being a member of the British Cave Research Association, Howard has led an expedition team on trips to Vietnam since 1990.
The team has cooperated with Hanoi National University to conduct 14 journeys to different localities in Vietnam, including Quang Binh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Ha Giang. It has discovered nearly 300km of caves in Vietnam.
In 1997, the team found Khe Ry in Quang Binh Province, the world’s longest underground cave. In 2009, it discovered Son Doong, the world’s biggest cave, also in Quang Binh.
Their reports have contributed to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park being recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.
According to Dr Howard, Vietnam has one of the world’s most impressive limestone areas. Clearly, many caves situated in Ke Bang Mountain have yet to be found, Howard and his team hope to continue their search with the cooperation of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Appealing for natural preservation

The couple has helped call on the international community to pay attention to the protection of Vietnam’s nature and environment. They have also shown a number of well-known film crews around Vietnam.
Through the films, the world has become more aware of Vietnam’s beauty and the world’s biggest cave, Son Doong, in Quang Binh
The couple plan to visit Vietnam again from March 3 to April 26, 2012, along with their team and some film crews to make documentaries about caves in Quang Binh.
In 2010, the British expedition team took the film crews and reporters from Kyodo, NHK, BBC, and National Geographic among others, to Vietnam to shoot films about Son Doong Cave. In 2011, they invited representatives from the BBC to Quang Binh to make another film about Son Doong Cave.

Source: VOV

Mr Ho Khanh said the two caves are located in the Doong area, which is home to Son Doong, the world’s largest cave discovered in 2009 also by Ho Khanh and a team of British cave explorers from the British Caving Association.

Before the discovery of Son Doong Cave, Phong Nha-Ke Bang held several world cave records such as the longest underground river and the largest caverns and passageways.

The “98″ cave

Khanh, who found the caves and named them “97” and “98,” which are the years he got lost in the deep forest of the national park in an exploration trip and had a chance to explore the geological formations there, said “97” is 765 m long and “98” is 750 m long and both are at least 60 m high.

Different from most caves of the park that have rough floors, the floors of these newly found caves are flat like a man-made structure.

Source: Saigon Tiep Thi

Phong Nha-Ke Bang area is noted for its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos with a total length of about 70 km, of which only 20 have been surveyed by Vietnamese and British scientists; 17 of these are in located in the Phong Nha area and three in the Ke Bang area. After April 2009, total length of caves and grottoes are 126 km.Before discovery of Son Doong Cave, Phong Nha held several world cave records, as it has the longest underground river, as well as the largest caverns and passageways.

The park derives it name from Phong Nha cave, the most beautiful of all, containing many fascinating rock formations, and Ke Bang forest.

The plateau on which the park is situated is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia.

Tien Son Grotto is more than 980m long. Going into the cave for about 400m, visitors will see an abyss, about 10m deep. Then comes another part of the cave, about 500m long is rather dangerous for walking. At present, nearly 400m of the cave have been installed with lighting system to make it safe for visitors.

Some look like a man or an animal, and there is one that looks like the Learning Tower of Pisa in Italy. On the cave ceiling, there are glittering gold and silver-like veins. Some stalagmites produce an echoing sound when slightly knocked.

Limber Howard, Chief of the British Royal Team of Cave Researchers, who visited and made studies of the site, said that Tien Son Grotto may have been formed tens of millions of years ago. A river ran through the limestone mountain and eroded it. Then huge rocks fell, separated the mountain and form the cave. An under ground river ran through the lower part of the mountain, creating Phong Nha Grotto. Thus, Tien Son Grotto is older than Phong Nha Grotto and they do not link with each other. Geographical tectonics in Tien Son Grotto is rather stable.

Preliminary faunal surveys have documented a total of 735 vertebrate species,including 127 threatened species,91 of them listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book 18 species listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In particular among of the total of 41 animal endemic species 30 species are endemic to Vietnam and 40 species are endemic to Annamite Mountain Range (Vietnam and Laos).

Vietnam has 224 mammal species within territory,132 mammal species have been recorded in Phong Nha –Ke Bang,of which 46 species listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book and 34 species listed in the IUCN Red List. In addition 9 mammal species are endemic to the Annamite Range,of which 2 species are endemic to Vietnam. Notable among mammal species are Hatinh Langur Trachypithecus laotum hatinhensis (EN),Pygathrix nemaeus (EN),White-cheeked Gibbon Nomascus leucogenys siki,Tiger Panthera tigris (EN),Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (CR),Particoloured Flying Squirrel Hylopetes alboniger (EN),and Dhole Cuon alpinus (EN).

Phong Nha and Ke Bang have been identified by BirdLife International (2005) as two of more than sixty Important Bird Area of Vietnam.. 338 species of birds have been recorded in the Park while Vietnam has 828 bird species. 20 species among them are listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam and 17 species listed in the IUCN Red List. In particular 7 bird species are endemic to the Annamite Mountain Range and 4 species are endemic to Vietnam. The Sooty Babbler Stachyris herberti occurs only in the karst area of the Phong Nha –Ke Bang NP and in an adjacent karst area in Laos. Notable recorded bird species are Vietnamese Pheasant Lophura hatinhensis (EN),Edward’s Pheasant Lophura edwardsi (EN),and Silver Pheasant Lophura nycthemera (EN).

Phong Nha –Ke Bang is home of 96 reptile species and 45 amphibian species while 458 reptile species and 162 amphibian species recorded for Vietnam. 22 reptile and amphibian species which occur in Phong Nha-Ke Bang are listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam and 18 species are listed in the IUCN Red List. Seven reptile species and 2 amphibian species are endemic to Vietnam. In the recent five years (from 2000 to 2005) 6u  reptiles have been described as new species to science:Triceratolepidophis sieversorum Ziegler et al. 2000,Cyrtodactylus phongnhakebangensis Ziegler et al. 2002,Gekko scientiadventura Rosler et al. 2004,Tropidophorus noggei,Camalaria thanhi Ziegler 2005,Trimeresurus truongsonensis Ziegler 2004,and 1 amphibian species:Rana megatymparum. These seven species are restricted range species to Phong Nha Ke Bang NP and most probably to a small area in Laos. Notable species among the reptiles are Cuora galbinifrons (CR),Cuora trifasciata (CR),Mauremys mutica (EN),Pyxidea mouhotii (EN),Ocadia sinensis (EN),Indotestudo elongata (EN),Palea steindachneri (EN).

The specific characteristics of rivers and stream in Phong Nha- Ke Bang cause the particular fish fauna. One hundred twenty four fish species have been recorded in the Park,of which 4 of them are listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam and 5 species are listed in the IUCN Red List. Thirteen fish species are restricted range species to the Phong Nha –Ke Bang NP,12 of them are recently described as new species (Thai Tu,2006).

Initiative surveys have recorded 369 insect species,of which 270 species of butterflies about one fifth of the number of butterflies in Vietnam