Story / 01 Dec 2016 / 0 COMMENTS

Descending into the darkness of Lod Cave (Tham Lod)

We followed our two ‘lantern guides’ into the opening of the ‘Lod Cave’. As we waited for them to power up their gas lanterns, Sam threw some of the fish food into the water.

“Holy s**t, look at the size of that cat fish” Sam called out.

“We better not fall into the water then” I replied.

That conversation passed my mind, when we boarded the little bamboo rafts and slowly drifted into the darkness of the Lod cave.

The light from the entrance slowly faded away leaving only the flame of the gas lamps to illuminate the cavity within the cave.

“You live close by?” I asked our guide.

“Yes in the village up the road.” She replied with a smile.

“How long ago was this cave discovered?” I asked.

“I’m not sure but we (local villagers) knew about it at least for two generations, however it was only thirty years ago that it was developed for tourism.”

“You must get a lot of people coming here?” I followed up.

“Yes, especially in the winter and dry season, then you can go further inside and visit two other caverns. Now (in the rainy season) it’s too dangerous.”

“I will need to come back again!” I told her.

“Please do!”

She smiled and turned around while holding up her lantern towards a rock formation and started describing them in the little English she knew to the rest of our group:

“E-le-phant”

And off we went…