Oxalis Adventure Tours works closely with the experts of the British Royal Caving Research Association (BCRA), who deserve credit for discovering the largest cave in the world. It has trained 250 former illegal loggers and turned them into professional tour guides who work in the forests and caves of the UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park.

In childhood, Anh became familiar with the forests and mountains in the area. Later, he was induced by evildoers to illegally chop down trees to get timber for sale. But when seeing the big rains and floods devastating his home village, Anh became aware of the serious consequences of deforestation and the climate crisis. From that moment, he vowed to devote himself to the protection of the natural environment.

“In the past, whenever I saw a big tree, I would calculate how tall the trees were and how I should cut the tree. But now, as I am a true guide, when I see big trees like this, I talk about their value. There are not many big trees still existing,” he said.

From 2001 to 2020, Vietnam lost 3 million hectares of cover trees, or 20 percent. However, since 2007, thanks to serious measures taken by the Government, illegal logging has reduced significantly. Vietnam is one of the signatories of a global pact on stopping deforestation by 2030.

Howard Limbert of BCRA said that in most cases, tourism development causes negative impacts on conservation. But it has been different in this case, because the people who made mistakes in the past have been recruited and given stable jobs. Thanks to tourism development, the forests are safer and the wildlife has a better living environment.

Limbert said the policy is bringing positive effects. Tour guides now earn half of the amount they could earn when they were illegal loggers, but they hope they will earn more when local tourism develops.

Prior to that, in 2009, one of the famous illegal loggers of the area, Ho Khanh, cooperated with experts from BCRA to discover Son Doong, the largest cave in the world.

In 2013, when the adventure tour to Son Doong was put into operation by Oxalis, Khanh became a tour guide who led groups of travelers, cameramen and news agencies to explore the magnificent cave in his hometown.

Do An