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On April 3rd, Howard Limbert, a cave expert from the Royal British Cave Association, announced that his organization's cave exploration team had discovered 12 new, untouched caves in Quang Binh province, with a total measured length of over 10 km.
The Quang Binh expedition by these cave experts took place from March 3rd to 20th, with 11 experts divided into two smaller groups, visiting different locations to survey new caves. The locations surveyed by the groups this time were in the limestone mountainous areas of the districts of Bo Trach, Quang Ninh, and Minh Hoa. The expert group discovered 12 new caves, including three in Bo Trach district: Doc Co Cave (554.6 m long), End Cave (51.5 m long), and Dry Vom (413 m long).
Quang Ninh district currently has four newly discovered caves: Nuoc Ngam cave (3,872 m long), Nuoc Lan 3 cave (1,919 m long), Hung Thoai cave (460 m long), and Coincidental Cave (100 m long).
In Minh Hoa district alone, the team of experts discovered five caves: Horned Viper Cave 3 (194.8 m long), Phu Nhieu Cave 4 (2,012 m long), Cha Ra Cave (314 m long), Thoang Lip Cave (137 m long), and Ma Lon Cave (463 m long). The total length of the newly discovered and surveyed caves is nearly 10.5 km.
According to observations by the team of experts, the newly discovered caves include underground river systems and are completely pristine, untouched by human footprints. The cave experts assess that these caves will be very valuable in the future to promote the development of tourism in Quang Binh.
Howard Limbert, the expedition leader, shared: "One person in the group was on the same flight as a Covid-19 patient, so when the expedition returned after 5 days in the jungle, all members and porters were forced to quarantine for 14 days in a house in Phong Nha." Howard also stated that due to the impact of Covid-19, the team was unable to dive in Hang Thung cave as planned. They will carry out the plan on next year's trip.
