Konglor Cave is, without a doubt, one of Laos's greatest natural attractions — though it often goes under the radar for travellers who sleep their way through a sleeper bus from Vientiane down to the south of the country.
It's an immense river cave, carved through by the Hin Phou river and stretching almost eight kilometres in length. Boats are the only way through, and knowing the right forks prevents you from getting permanently lost inside.
Stalactites, scorpions, rapids, stalagmites, spiders, darkness, beaches, trees growing in the depths of the cave… The experience is unique and unforgettable, and worth every kip it costs — specifically 100,000 kip for a two-person boat and 5,000 kip per person for the entry fee.
Reminder: 1 euro equals 10,400 kip, so 100,000 kip works out to around €10.
The entrance to Konglor Cave lies beneath the mountain
Since we had no intention of doing the standard tourist trip — in and straight back out the same day — but rather wanted to spend the night on the far side of the cave, in a village called Ban Natane, we asked a Lao lad to write down an explanation of our plan on paper, so there'd be no confusion at the cave entrance.
Written instructions on how and when to cross and return from Konglor
Arriving at the cave after the gruelling days of the Loop was a genuine pleasure — we'd finally reached the place we'd been aiming for. The outside of the cave is paradise: calm waters and a quiet beach that practically invites you in. Once inside we found another beach that serves as a jetty, and that's where the adventure begins.
Entering Konglor
If you have any footwear you don't mind getting wet and that's comfortable to walk in underwater, I'd strongly recommend wearing it — inside the cave you're going to end up with your feet in the riverbed sooner or later. Don't be surprised if the water comes up to your knees, because you'll frequently have to hop out while the boatmen manoeuvre through shallow sections.
Going barefoot would be a bad idea too, since you could easily cut yourself on the sharp edges of the rocks. In our case the only thing we had were flip-flops, so we had to make do.
Add a good torch to that list and you'd have everything essential covered — the cave is vast, and lighting is limited to a couple of lit-up display sections plus whatever the rowers use to steer the boat.
Darkness surrounds you for most of the journey
Lit sections inside the cave
The interior of Konglor is spectacular
During the trip through the cave we watched one of the rowers discover, to his surprise, a scorpion on his trousers. Without losing his smile he batted it off and shook his leg, leaving a sticky red smear on the fabric.
At the end of the passage through Konglor I discovered I'd also ended a scorpion's life — there was the same sticky smear at the base of my backpack. In my case, the scorpion died by accident.
Light at the end of the tunnel
The river had carried us out into a valley at the heart of the mountain formation known as Phou Him Boun NBCA, where we found the path to a tiny village cut off from the outside world called Ban Natane.
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