Early this year, we made an interesting adventure into C7 Cave of the Chu B’luk vocanic cave system in Krong No District in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong.
A group of Japanese and Vietnamese scientists discovered the astonishing cave, which was formed hundreds of years ago and winds more than 1,000 meters long in the Chu B’luk volcanic cave system considered as the longest of its kind in Southeast Asia.
An eight-kilometer small path in Dray Sap Forest leads to the cave that looks like the mouth of a volcano. To go inside the 18-meter-deep cave, we had to use a rope ladder and spent thrilling moments on the swaying ladder before stepping on a basalt rock deep in the cave. With flashlights and a 1,000-watt lamp lighted by an electricity generator at the entrance of the cave, we started our thrilling journey in C7.
The passage in the cave is wide enough for us to stroll but it is quite dark. Sometimes, we had to nervously climb on and walk by rocks which fell from the roof of the cave but the reward for us was the fanciful light beams shinning down through a hole from the roof. The cave is split into two small caves deep inside with the 20-meter-wide, 15-meter-high part in the west featuring sinuous patterns and colorful stalactites.
Walking 200 meters further into the cave, we met dark red lava layers and stones. There, we had to bend down to get through to continue our journey until we saw a large number of bats. This is the reason why C7 Cave is commonly known among locals as “bat cave”.
SGT