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Tham Khen cave, natural masterpiece in Dien Bien

Located nearly 1,000m above sea level, Tham Khen cave in Na Xa Village, Muong Dun Commune, Tua Chua District, Dien Bien Province contains many historical, cultural, and scientific values.

Tham Khen cave, natural masterpiece in Dien Bien
Tham Khen cave contains many historical, cultural, and scientific values. — Photo vov.vn

Coming here, visitors are immersed in wild nature and feel the insignificance of humans amid the magical hand of creation.

Ca Van Phien, chairman of Muong Dun Commune People’s Committee, said according to the Thai ethnic language, “Tham” is a cave while “Khen” is a kind of vegetable with a bitter and sweet taste. This vegetable grows a lot in front of the cave entrance, so “Thẳm Khến” means a cave with many “Khen” vegetables.

Although the cave is quite close to the commune center, there aren’t many people living around this area. As a result, mountains, forests, and many rugged rocky hills are deserted, so the cave almost remains intact.

Tham Khen cave, a natural masterpiece in Dien Bien Province. — Photo vov.vn

The cave was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism as ‘national heritage.’

According to Nguyen Hoang Hiep, deputy director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Tua Chua District has many advantages to develop tourism, with the strength of ecology and traditional ethnic culture.

Along with preserving and promoting the value of relics of Vang Long Citadel and rugged mountain landscape, Tham Khen Cave can help promote the local economy.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has recently recognized Tham Khen cave as a national relic. — Photo vov.vn

To get to Tham Khen Cave, visitors travel to Muong Dun Commune People’s Committee, turn right 1.5km to Na Xa Village and follow the trail about 600m to reach the cave.

Tham Khen is a complex of two caves.

The first cave has an S-shape, approximately 160m in length, divided into three main compartments. At the same time, the second cave is shaped W, with a length of about 280m, divided into two compartments and two small nooks.

The first cave is located halfway up the hill; its entrance faces to the east. In the first compartment of the cave, the foundation has many slabs of stone, stalagmites, and stone pillars. The deeper you go inside, the more vivid and splendid the cave is. The stalactites have the shapes of animals such as elephants, dragons, phoenixes, turtles, and birds.

On the ceiling of the second compartment, there are yellow, grey, sharp, large stalactites that crash straight down the cave foundation. The tiny drops of water dripping from the tip of the stalactites make the whole compartment cool.

In the third compartment, the dome is flat, smooth, and has fewer stalactites. The cave walls and floor are yellow with strange shapes.

There is a big stone pillar in the center, surrounded by stone slabs that run from high to low like terraced rice fields. There is a two-meter space at the end of this compartment, and the natural light shining into the cave makes the landscape sparkle.

The second cave is located about 60m northeast of the first cave.

In the first compartment, with a depth of about 160m, there are stalactites like ribbons stretching and falling to the cave floor; the contours are soft and smooth like the coral ranges under the sea; sometimes, they are sharp with glittering crystals.

Its floor has stalactites with strange and various shapes. It looks like a giant oil painting of the wild natural landscape. The stalactites here are in the shape of rivers, streams, lakes, and terraced fields. The two sides of the cave wall are long stone pillars.

Locals cultivate at the cat ear-shaped rocky mountains. — Photo vov.vn

In the next compartment, the ceiling and cave walls are stalactites like sharp claws. The floor features large long rocks heaped up into layers or appearing one after another with shapes of big bamboo shoots and mushrooms.

According to Dang Trong Ha, director of Dien Bien Provincial Museum, Tham Khen cave has two types of ecosystems: a limestone mountain ecosystem and a cave ecosystem.

The cave contains many values ​​in terms of history, culture, science, and tourism to become a place for scientific and historical research, geography, and ecosystem diversity.

In addition to admiring the beauty of the cave, visitors can also experience the cultivation of crops of locals at the rocky hills and enjoy dishes of people in Tua Chua District such as home-brewed wine, mountain goat, Da river fish, and black-boned chicken.  VNS

Xuan Chi 

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/travel/tham-khen-cave-natural-masterpiece-in-dien-bien-703144.html

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