With its wild beauty created entirely by nature, without human impact, Nguom Ngao Cave (Cao Bang) becomes even more attractive, with a majestic and magnificent beauty.
Geographical location and origin of the cave’s name
Nguom Ngao Cave is also known by another name, Ngao Cave. The cave was discovered in 1921, put into tourism exploitation in 1996 and recognized as a national scenic spot in 1998. This majestic cave is hidden in the heart of a mountain in Gun village, Dam Thuy commune, Trung Khanh district, Cao Bang province.
The cave has a very strange name, Nguom Ngao, but hidden under this name is a fascinating legend. Nguom Ngao in the Tay language means “Tiger Cave”. Legend has it that in the past, there were many fierce tigers living in the cave, they often entered the surrounding villages to catch livestock of the local people. The local people set traps to catch all the tigers and have been living in peace ever since. Therefore, the Tay people named the cave Nguom Ngao.
However, there is another story about the name Nguom Ngao, which is due to an underground stream with a meter-high accumulation of pebbles flowing into the Quay Son River, murmuring day and night, emitting a sound that echoes into the cave walls like a tiger’s roar, hence the name of the cave.
Unique landscape inside Nguom Ngao Cave
The part of the cave surveyed by the British Royal Cave Association in 1995 is 2,144m long with 3 main entrances: Nguom Ngao, Nguom Lom and Ban Thuon. According to scientists, this cave is a limestone cave containing many fossils of corals and sea lilies, formed in an ancient sea about 400 million years ago. In the summer, the temperature in the cave makes visitors feel cool, in the winter it is very warm.
According to the 2016 survey results of the Institute of Geology and Minerals, Nguom Ngao Cave is 2,769.6m long, 61.1m deep, with 2 active cave floors (at stream level) and fossil floors (about 50m higher than the stream). The cave has 5 doors at altitudes of 420-507m above sea level.
Currently, the Cave Management Board has only exploited tourism for a section of the cave 945.8m long with 2 doors.
Entering the cave, the natural landscape with many strange stalactites will overwhelm visitors.
In the cave there are many chambers, floors, stairs, corridors of all sizes; many stalactites, stalagmites, columns, stone borders… of all shapes, associated with coral trees, ships, golden falls, silver falls, upside-down lotuses, lonely stone pillars, terraced fields. All are created by nature with a magnificent and magical landscape that is “one of a kind.”
In particular, the stalactites in the cave have a different color from other local caves because of the amount of calcium mixed with many impurities, reflecting shimmering, magical light.
Not only impressing with the beauty of the stalactites, inside the cave there are also many small streams. The water flows murmuring, making a pleasant sound. Because of the stream, the air here is always cool. And when come in here between May and September, visitors can travel by boat in the cave, which is very interesting.
Source: collected by An
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