Thiên Đường cave is situated the forestry sub-region of
ecological recovery and the limestone core region of the World Natural
Heritage of Phong Nha - Kẻ Bàng, Bố Trạch district, Quảng Bình province.
This is among caves which do not have underground rivers and was
discovered by explorers of the British Cave Research Association (BCRA)
and geographical professors of the Hà Nội University in 2005.
Thiên Đường cave - Photo: Quang Huy
Thiên Đường cave is some 7km from the Western branch of Hồ Chí Minh
Road. Nature forms special features for the cave from the entrance gate
to holds inside. Lying in the middle of the mountain side, the cave is
surrounded by well-off old and wild forests. Despite being a 4km part of
the cave being discovered, Thiên Đường shows the value of a karst
structure which appeared millions of years ago, creating a mysterious
beauty of pillars of stalactites.
The gate is small and is enough for a person to come in. It lies under a
stone mountain of more than one hundreds of meters high. A 15m slope
running to the cave foundation has a sophisticated shape with a
countless number of big and round stalactites. The two sides of the
slope have many traces of collapse and pillars of stalactite lying in
disorder in different shapes. The cave ceiling is over 100m high and
over 200m wide.
The cave arch lies high hundreds of meters surprisingly with lots of
block and pillar stalactites. A plain of tens of stalactite heaps of
between 30 and 60cm high lies on the cave foundation looks like statues
of Buddha and shapes of tigers, elephants and fish. A number of
stalactite heaps look like gold lame if under the lamplight. The cave’s
temperature stands at 20 – 210C.
Stalactites inside the cave look very strange with the silver white
color and big and round pieces like tidily-arranged metal coins. The
ranges of stalactites are around 60cm high and at right angles to one
another, creating tanks with limpid water.
The tour to Thiên Đường cave is scheduled to open on occasion of April
30 and May 5, using bikes and horse-drawn carriages to mitigate
environmental impacts and also to help visitors to see Phong Nha – Kẻ
Bàng primeval forest.
Vietnam Tourism Review 5/2010
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