Kong Lor Cave

Kong Lor Cave (Tham Kong Lo) is a 7.5-kilometre river cave about 130 kilometres north of Thakhek, set in the Phu Hin Boun National Protected Area. The Nam Hin Bun River flows through it, and visitors traverse the cave in long wooden boats poled by local guides. The dimensions are extraordinary: passages up to 90 metres wide and 100 metres high, with stalactite and stalagmite formations visible by headlamp, and in places a beach-like river bank where visitors can disembark and walk.

The experience is unlike any other cave in Southeast Asia — the darkness, the scale, the river, and the complete absence of artificial lighting except what visitors bring themselves. The cave is accessed from Ban Kong Lor village on one side; the boat comes out in a valley village on the other side, from which you return back through the cave. The journey takes about two hours in total. Staying overnight in the area adds the dawn light on the karst towers, which are spectacular.

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A story
The boat journey through Kong Lor takes about an hour each way in near-total darkness. The boat driver uses a torch to navigate, and passengers are given headlamps. At two points the boat must stop to allow passengers to walk around low rock formations; these stops reveal chambers so tall and wide that the headlamp beam cannot reach the ceiling or the opposite wall. The river emerges into a valley on the other side where a small community of perhaps 200 people lives entirely surrounded by karst mountains, accessible only through the cave.