Quang Binh province in central Vietnam, home to world-famous Son Doong Cave, on Wednesday launched its first ever campsite in the buffer zone of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.
The brand-new tourism site, run by leading adventure tour operator Oxalis, will span a five-hectare area of Blue Diamond Valley in Khe Gat, Xuan Trach commune, Bo Trach district. The campsite will offer eco-friendly facilities and tents suited to the forest environment.
The campgrounds at Blue Diamond are cooled by air cycling underground via a natural method similar to wind in the cave system of Phong Nha-Ke Bang’s limestone mountains, dropping the actual temperature from eight to ten degrees Celsius.
Tourists will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a lush green forest surrounded by limestone mountains and jade green rivers and streams.
Visitors may also kayak, wander through the trees via boardwalks, or swim in the cave-like subterranean pool. Alternatively, take a stroll along one of the 770-meter-long tree pathways.
"Known as the “Adventure Capital of Asia”, tours in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park have set a benchmark for supreme quality, not just in Vietnam and Asia, but on a global level," Oxalis, which also runs tours to Son Doong Cave exclusively, stated on its website.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2003. It features great geological diversity and offers spectacular phenomena while harboring a high level of biodiversity and many endemic species.
Phong Nha is home to Son Doong, the biggest natural cave on the planet, as well as the third largest Hang En. The Blue Diamond camping site is near the historical Khe Gat field military airport, now part of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
With a historic past and gorgeous unspoilt natural beauty, Khe Gat is seen as a prospective tourism development hotspot in Quang Binh.