We arrived to Phong Nha from Hue in the evening with the bus. We had booked two bunks in a dorm room in a local hostel, Easy Tiger, which also arranges treks and tours to the national park. The hostel is popular with backpackers and it served free beer and bicycles, had a swimming pool, outdoor gym and lots of hammocs to lie in. On the same evening when we arrived we booked a day tour to explore the jungle and a couple of the karst caves of the area called the Abandoned valley.

So, early in the morning we set off to the jungle with two guides, porters and with 11 other people. The weather was hot and humid and our trek started with climbing up the hill. After walking for half an hour I was already soaked with sweat. Felt like I had gone for a swim with all my clothes on. We trekked about 5 km in the jungle on narrow paths after we reached to our first cave, which they called Dark cave (the name is pretty despriptive). It’s a dry cave, which means in dry season the surface inside is rock and sand but in the rainy season it fills up with water. In total it’s 5 km long but we only went about 700m deep.

After the Dark cave we continued our trek about 3 km to another cave called E cave. On the way there was a lot of poison ivy, and because of that we were wearing long pants and shirts with long sleeves. It was really hot, so when sometimes we crossed rivers by just walking through the cold water and it felt heavenly. Before the trek we were given Vietnamese military boots (more like military sneakers), which were perfect for jungle trekking – they were light even after walking in the water, and you could feel well the ground underneath.

When we reached E cave, it was time for jungle BBQ. The porters had brought pork that they grilled on spot, tofu, rice, local peanuts, cucumber and rice paper to wrap it all. Some leaves were collected from the jungle for the meal as well.

After lunch, it was time for a swim! The water from the cave was pretty cold (around 18°C) but beautifully turquoise and the place itself was like a paradise after the hot walk. We were issued helmets and lifejackets, and then we started to swim inside the cave. We swimmed about 200m into the cave before we stopped and switched our headlights off. It was scary but lot of fun to float in a cave in total darkness. After the cold swim we had some tea and coffee and headed back to where we started our trek from ( 4 km walk ). And there for us was waiting a cold beer and a Coke.

The jungle trek was a higlight of our journey so far. And for me one of the best experieces that I have had. Expecially swimming in the cave.
-Ville