British Vietnam Caving Expedition Team:
30 years of cave exploration

The British cavers have been exploring caves throughout Vietnam since 1990. However on all expeditions which now total 19 we have always visited Quang Binh province. Quang Binh is the major karst region in Vietnam and probably the world and the quality and number of caves we have discovered so far show this to be so. The British cavers have so far explored 333 caves in Quang Binh province (as of March 2020).

All the British cavers come from many professions and they have saved their own money to come and explore the caves on expeditions. The team has worked all the time with Hanoi University of Science who have helped us in many ways exploring caves in this region. We were very lucky to have Professor Nguyen Quang My and Mr Phan Duy Nga who were originally born in Bo Trach district and knew of Phong Nha cave. Hence on our first visit in 1990 we were taken to this wonderful cave and others nearby. We realised straightaway we had discovered a very important caving region which still has more important caves to be discovered.

In this region we have explored the largest cave in the world- Hang Son Doong, the longest cave in Vietnam- Hang Khe Ry, Hang En -the worlds 3rd largest cave. We also were lucky to explore Hang Vom which includes Paradise cave and Phong Nha cave and Hang Toi which are now visited by many tourists each year and help Quang Binh to be a major tourist attraction to foreigner and local tourists.

The publicity from exploring the caves and many films in these caves has helped grow tourism in the region. Providing local people with jobs as guides and porters as well as many other jobs in tourism has helped the local economy. Quang Binh is the fastest growing tourist destination in Vietnam and very popular for tourism with all the adventure activities available.

The British cavers are all very proud that their efforts in exploring caves in this wonderful region has helped create jobs and improve the life of what was once the poorest area in Vietnam.

Howard Limbert