Moi Chau cave, Hon Chong, south Vietnam

This is Part 2 of my south Vietnam caving trip. See Part 1 on Hon Chong area.

Hang Moi Chau (hang = cave) is the longest cave in the area, and is a show cave. It is in Mo So Lon (Bai Voi) hill.

Several of the limestone hills are being quarried for cement, and there are 3 or 4 companies operating in the area.

The limestone hills rise steeply above the plain, which is mostly an area of mangroves. I was constantly aware of an acrid smell due to the high acid sulphate content of the mud.

The area is proposed as a nature reserve and is important for large wading birds, although we didn't see any. Much of the area is being cleared for fish ponds.

Moi Chau was used as a hospital during the Vietnam war. The rocks outside show lots of bullet and blast damage.

There is a small entry fee to the cave. There are guides although we didn't have one as we were surveying the cave and had an official letter.

A boardwalk leads over the entrance lake, and further in this is replaced by sandbags.

We surveyed the cave. Throughout the cave people have left incense sticks and offerings, and sadly also lots of rubbish. There are some nice roots coming into the cave.

There is also some cave fauna, the most interesting being the large shrimps.

One passage is used as a short cut by the locals on motorbikes.

It leads to a wang, or enclosed valley.

Another part of the cave is used as a restaurant.

Other passages have shrines and there are two long stalactites

Expedition results are published in Karst and Caves of South Vietnam, Part 1: Provinces of Kien Giang, An Giang and Da Nang. Michael Laumanns (editor). Published by Berliner Höhlenkundliche Berichte (BHB), Volume 43 , 2011 . To order, contact me or see BHB 2011.

© Liz Price
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