Tourism On Track In The World's Largest Cave

Tourism on track in the world's largest cave

Phong Nha, Vietnam, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2021 ) :Vast rock formations the size of multi-storey buildings loom above Ho Minh Phuc, as he picks a path through the gloom inside the world's largest cave.

Phuc, who once earned a living through illegal logging, is a porter for the small tour groups that explore Vietnam's Son Doong -- a cave so large it has its own ecosystem and weather patterns.

Home to flying foxes and a 70-metre rock formation resembling a dog's paw, the cave is an otherworldly wonder that has reshaped the lives of the surrounding community since it opened for boutique tourism in 2013.

Trapped in poverty, young men like Phuc once had little choice but to forage in the depths of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park -- the World Heritage site where Son Doong lies.

There they searched for precious agarwood, a hugely sought-after material known as "the wood of the gods" and widely used for incense.

Others eked out a living from hunting endangered civets and porcupines in the forest.

"We had to do all we could to avoid the forest rangers," 35-year-old Phuc told AFP. "We did nothing good for nature."