Tham Phay Cave

Located in the vast forest of the district of Ba Be - province of Bac Kan - the cave of Tham Phay reach up the village of Na Slai, commune of Hoang Tri. It is recently a destination with virgin and mysterious beauty for travelers in search of adventure.
 

 A name with uncertain origins

"Tham is a cave - Xay is fire," says the Tay language. That’s why Tham Phay is said to be the cave of fire, where there is fire. But where did this fire come from?

On the spot, the elders specify that there is another entrance, shallow, in the steep cliff that extends from the foot of the current cave of Tham Phay to the top of the mountain. At night, from inside the cave flicker the reflections of heaps of incandescent waste.

According to some theories, part of Chiang Kai-shek’s army ran south of the Tan Lap area and through the mountain forests of Ba Be to hide and conceal their wealth during the Chinese Civil War.

Anyway, a certain M. Duc, lumberjack of his state, discovered this cave in the 1970s, while he was tracking the traces of a bear who had come to beg for food in the field near the village. He fell on the entrance of the cave and noticed a heap of ash and burnt logs about fifty centimeters on his left. You should know that to reach the entrance of the cave from the path, you have to cross a cliff by swinging with a rope.

This is the cave we’re talking about when we talk about Tham Phay.

 

But before Mr. Duc, who and when first came here? It is simply known that before the 1970s, the local population used torches to light fires to access the entrance to the cave, then to sink into it for a dozen meters, the darkness being too dense.

Then our story sees Mr. Linh arrive on the scene in 2014. Naturally curious, our young man studied geology and among his many adventures passed (and to come) to Ba Be, there will be the discovery of the place where groundwater disappears at the foot of the cave. It did not take more to push him to explore the cave. The cave of Tham Phay...

From what could have been only a walk in a wild and superb setting averted a very great adventure: the discovery of a huge cave in the commune of Hoang Tri, district of Ba Be, North Vietnam. If the Centre of the Country is renamed for its incredible underground system, this discovery is of major importance for the North of the Country to the two Deltas.
 

And a great reason to come and explore the natural wonders of Ba Be National Park!

In this area carved by karst cliffs, adventurous visitors feel like true explorers because nothing in the cave has yet been documented by geologists. For now, what we know is that the cave extends over 3 to 5 km and rises to 40 meters. The stream comes from two different springs that meet at a crossroads. One stream is approximately 1.5 km and the other 2 to 4 km. Further exploration is required to obtain more precisions.

The entrance to the cave is hidden, which makes it difficult to find and the first 20 meters to penetrer there are quite slippery because floods. Just at the entrance of the cave, rocks in the shape of giant dinosaur teeth seem to stand guard while below is the underground stream mentioned above. At about 1 km from the entrance, there are two branches, one on the short left has mountainside, while the other on the right reaches the heart of the mountain with the deep water level.

Tham Phay is a mineral theatre with the most fascinating rock formations, with many stalagmites and stalactites, and huge stone columns playing with incredible shapes and colors.

Penetrating deep into the cave, many bats cling to the dome, while we guess other insects and also plants, a real paradise for the naturalist.

Moreover, the deeper one sinks into the cave, the cooler the air and the more the stream swells. It is sometimes necessary to dive underwater to continue the exploration… In this regard, it is good to know that during the rainy season, the stream near the mouth of the cave becomes very dangerous because the water can rise at any time until it reaches the ceiling of the cave.

With its beautiful rocky shoreline serving as a path, its well deployed bow, its watercourse, its lush vegetation and the company of bats, Tham Phay deserves his nickname of Son Doong of the Northern Vietnam! Check out Tham Phay cave expedition tour here.

All pictures © Mr Linh's Adventures