“There is only one path leading to the caves. I have made a metal door and locked it to protect the entrance from strangers.”
If you think that the Halong Bay has already unveiled all of its secrets, well, think twice! Next to the most famous caves that are viewed and stomped on by thousands of tourists on daily basis stand natural gems that long to be uncovered.
That is exactly what happened to two brand new caves recently discovered by a Vietnamese local not a long time ago near the worldwide-famous UNESCO-listed Halong Bay. As a goatherd, he was wandering in the middle of nature with his animals when he encountered the entrance of two caves. Nguyen Si Binh (that’s his name) understood right away the value of those natural excavations, and he decided to prevent anyone from getting in. In order to protect them from any kind of damage, he made a metal door that he put there and locked, keeping the key and the secret to himself.
The goatherd keeps his mouth shut about it quite a long time: he discovered the caves three years ago. But it was only three weeks ago that a group of Vietnamese official figures got to be the first to explore them. Journalists from Tuoi Tre News who wrote the source article, form the second group. They brought back gorgeous pictures, showing the natural heritage hidden in the two caves. Inside one may find stalactites, stalagmites, fossil shells and small plants that managed to grow despite the darkness of the place.
The Halong Bay management department never spotted the two caves, and never conducted any survey in that area before. Even though they don’t properly belong to the Halong Bay, those caves show that the region still has treasures to be unveiled.