Entering the U Minh Ha forest in Ca Mau, I was shocked to see a giant wild animal, suspected to be a king cobra.

While fishing in U Minh Ha National Park (Ca Mau province), Mr. Le Thanh Binh, an officer of VNPT Ca Mau, saw a large log blocking the asphalt road. He shifted gears, increased the speed to overcome the obstacle, but unexpectedly the “log” moved…

The Amazing Story of the Giant Snake

That morning, Mr. Binh and three close friends rode their motorbikes to the area of ​​Checkpoint 23-100 in the National Park to fish. When they reached a familiar area with lots of fish, the group split up to cast their lines.

Around 10 o'clock, Mr. Binh's fishing spot was buzzing with birds. Suspecting something was wrong, he turned back to the meeting point with his fishing friends and was surprised to see a huge "tree log" lying across the road.

Mr. Binh told us that he had passed by that road before but there was no log, but now there was one.

It was almost twice as big as a banana tree, and had a slightly moldy color. He drove slowly closer, intending to pass it, but unexpectedly it moved. About three minutes later, the big tree was only blocking half of the road.

He panicked, turned the car around and ran away.

After escaping the walking obstacle, Mr. Binh immediately called his teammates to warn them. His group returned home safely, but for several months did not dare to go fishing in the area again.

The incident happened on the weekend, not long after the Lunar New Year of Quy Mao 2023, but until now, Mr. Binh is still curious because it was the first time he saw a giant snake.

Remembering and combining with the stories he had heard from the group of forest workers, it was most likely the legendary king cobra of the U Minh Ha land.

Around 10 o'clock, Mr. Binh's fishing spot was buzzing with birds. Suspecting something was wrong, he turned back to the meeting point with his fishing friends and was surprised to see a huge "tree log" lying across the road. It was almost twice as big as a banana tree and had a slightly moldy color.

He drove slowly closer, changed gears and intended to pass it, but unexpectedly it moved. About three minutes later, the big tree was only blocking half of the road. He panicked and turned around and ran away.

On this journey to find the ancient forest of U Minh Ha, many officials at U Minh Ha National Park confirmed that Mr. Binh reported seeing a large tree moving to the forest management and protection officers.

The primeval forest area in U Minh Ha National Park, Ca Mau province, where there are still stories about giant snakes, suspected to be the legendary king cobra of this forest land.

However, this is not an uncommon story. In the dry season of early 2014, Mr. Ngo Van Khang, a forest management and protection officer of U Minh Ha, drove back to the headquarters with a pale face.

He told Mr. Nguyen Tan Truyen, currently Head of the Department of Ecotourism and EnvironmentalEducation (National Park) and his colleagues that he had just encountered a giant king cobra as big as a lamppost.

The group immediately followed Mr. Khang on motorbikes to the exact location where they saw the king cobra, deep in a specially protected cajuput forest area, but the snake had already left.

The only remains were the tracks of a huge trunk. The reeds were broken and spread out on both sides, still very fresh.

“At around 12 noon, my brothers and I were patrolling on motorbikes when we suddenly saw an obstacle lying across the road. It was about 10m away from me, moving slowly, moldy, and as big as a lamppost. At that moment, I was stunned, I pressed the brake and stopped the motorbike, my heart was pounding, and I was sweating profusely,” Khang recounted.

Nearly ten years after witnessing the giant snake with his own eyes, he still feels a shiver down his spine because the distance was quite close, and the animal he saw was as big as in movies about giant snakes in the Amazon jungle.

He said: “I am not exaggerating, but the road is 10m wide, it crawled its head across the road for quite a while but its tail was still on this side of the road. Just the joint of its tail alone is as big as my shin.”

According to Mr. Khang’s description, the snake he saw was no less than 12m long and weighed hundreds of kilograms. However, some people wonder why they didn’t take out smartphones to record the image at that time…?

Explaining this, Mr. Khang honestly said that he had brought two smartphones with him, but at that time he felt like someone had hit his acupoints, he didn't even dare to breathe heavily, trying to keep his body still so the snake wouldn't detect him.

Before Mr. Khang, many officials at U Minh Ha National Park saw giant snakes with their own eyes while performing their duties.

Taking us to the area of ​​the ancient Banyan tree with lush foliage located about 4 km from the administrative area of ​​the National Park, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, the park's forest management and protection officer, said that across from that tall Banyan tree used to be the Monkey Hut because many monkeys lived there.

During the dry season of 2001-2002, Mr. Tuan and three colleagues were assigned to set up a “fire watch” post in the middle of the U Minh Ha forest, across from a large Gua tree. After nearly two months of the dry season, Mr. Tuan’s group discovered a strange event: That night, as everyone was getting ready to sleep, they heard the loud cries of wild animals from the other side of the canal.

Tuan asked his colleague Vo Van Ten to shine a flashlight to take a look. A few minutes later, this officer returned, his lips trembling, whispering: "What a strange thing, Tuan, two red eyes, as big as a big toe, about a hand span apart. It's holding a civet in its mouth."

The group quickly closed the door, comforted each other, huddled together to try to fall asleep quickly but couldn't sleep...

Efforts to find the "Forest God"

That was what happened, but about 20 days later, Ten was fishing for snakehead fish right behind the post when he suddenly heard the sound of falling reeds like a storm was coming...

Shining the flashlight in the direction of the strange sound, Ten saw the head and neck of a giant snake crawling very quickly, as if chasing its prey.

“Ten ran in, muttering to me and the brothers in the checkpoint, “It's coming again, bro. It's a snake, very big, the size of a house pillar, not a small one.”

The group risked their lives to escape at night and then told the story to Mr. Muoi The - at that time the Chief of the Vo Doi Special-Use Forest Ranger Station (under the Ca Mau Provincial Forest Ranger Department), asking to move the post to ensure safety, but the leaders at that time said we were making up stories" - Mr. Tuan said, pointing to the ancient Gua tree.

According to him, about half a month after telling the story of seeing the snake to the leader, Uncle Chin Cua (Nguyen Quang Cua, then the Chief of Ca Mau Forestry Department), and forest ranger Do Thanh Hoa rode a motorbike to patrol the fire watch posts during the dry season.

When we reached the middle of Vo Doi special-use forest, Uncle Chin suddenly shouted as if slapping us in the face: "Who is playing this trick, pulling a tree to block the road?"

After looking closely, Uncle Chin shouted: “It has smooth scales, it’s crawling across the road. Snake, snake… Hoa!” Immediately, Mr. Hoa braked hard, turned the car around and ran away without daring to look back.

Mr. Tuan laughed out loud when recounting the old story: "That time I saw a real snake. If it had been a tree that fell across the road, we would have been scolded for being lazy in clearing the obstacle."

After witnessing the "big tree" moving across the road, the leader of the Ca Mau forest rangers at that time no longer said that Mr. Tuan's forest rangers group made up the story.

However, the leaders also advised the fire-guard force at the Monkey Hut to try to stay in the area until the end of the dry season for the common mission; reminded the brothers to reinforce the B40 net around the post to increase safety, and did not forget to remind them to always keep knives and spears close to the bed while sleeping.

After harsh fire seasons in the past, rangers in Vo Doi special-use forest, now U Minh Ha National Park, no longer saw giant snakes with their own eyes.

However, stringing together events from the past until now, Mr. Nguyen Tan Truyen himself has great faith that there is a "forest god" (the way he calls the giant king cobra) in the great U Minh Ha forest.

It is likely that there is a pair, not just one, because this species usually lives in pairs and in fact, someone has captured the "forest god's" child. Moreover, the wild animals of U Minh Ha are recovering very quickly, providing enough food for the "forest god", engineer Truyen speculated.

In 2009, silvicultural engineer Nguyen Tan Truyen came to work at the garden as an officer of the Technical Department, specializing in biodiversity research.

For nearly 10 years now, although he has not been assigned any tasks, he has "given" himself a new task, which is to collect and hunt for documents and images of giant king cobras.

During that process, he went there and heard many stories about the giant snakes that lived deep in the cajuput forest. Without having to flip through his notebook, Mr. Truyen recounted in detail a series of characters who had witnessed or entered the lair of this still legendary python, such as: Hai Tay (Nguyen Van Da), Hai Sanh, Ba Hoang, Muoi Nhot, Tu Nhot, Ba Vinh, Muoi Ngoc...

“Most of these characters are good at martial arts, are snake catchers and snakebite curers, or are experienced forest workers who have spent most of their lives in the U Minh Ha forest. They have a treasure trove of stories about giant snakes in the U Minh land, but unfortunately they are too old, some of them are no longer in this world,” Mr. Truyen shared.

The funniest case in his notes is the case of Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Van Hoang. The couple lived in the buffer zone of U Minh Ha forest and went into the forest to cut reeds to make a fence. While they were working, the wife suddenly saw a huge snake's tail, jumped in and hugged it, shouting: "Help me, my husband, the python is so big."

Hearing his wife's scream, Mr. Hoang ran to block the way and grabbed the python's neck. But when they got closer, they saw that it was a king cobra raising its head above the reeds. Both of them panicked and ran for their lives.

Unfortunately, despite his efforts, Mr. Truyen still has not had the chance to meet the "forest god".

He said: “I have four infrared cameras that record black and white clearly at night, plus two high-end cameras that can take nearly ten photos at a time.

If we are lucky, my colleagues and I will definitely get photos or clips of the "forest god" to prove to the world that the story of the giant snake in U Minh Ha is real and not just a story.

The clouded cobra is a local name, actually the king cobra. This species is very large, recorded in books and notebooks and lives commonly in the U Minh Ha forest.

This can be considered their “territory”. Many years ago, residents of the U Minh forest caught a king cobra weighing nearly ten kilograms, and forest workers, forest managers and rangers have seen large snakes weighing nearly a hundred kilograms many times, but they did not dare to approach them because they were too dangerous.

Therefore, recently, the National Park has installed specialized equipment in the forest, hoping to record real images of king cobras hunting to have enough evidence to prove this giant snake species.

Dr. QUACH VAN AN - Deputy Director of Department of Science and Technology of Ca Mau province

Source: https://danviet.vn/vo-khu-rung-u-minh-ha-o-ca-mau-het-hon-gap-con-dong-vat-hoang-da-khong-lo-nghi-la-ran-ho-may-20241106195100857.htm