Early spring of At Ty, heart pounding, legs shaking, hearing and seeing the king cobra in U Minh Ha, mystery about the forest god

The story of the “giant” king cobra that once appeared in the U Minh Ha forest ( Ca Mau ) is still deeply imprinted in the minds of many people, including the officers and forest rangers who witnessed it. Many details told are enough to make the listener’s “heart pounding, legs shaking”.

Encountering the "king" king cobra

During the dry season of 2001-2002, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, who was then a manager and protection officer of Vo Doi special-use forest (now U Minh Ha National Park), was on duty at a guard post in the middle of the U Minh forest core. The post was built across a large banyan tree, where many monkeys lived. Mr. Tuan's working group stayed in the area for nearly 2 months of the dry season. Suddenly one night, the group was preparing to sleep when they were startled to hear the loud cries of wild animals on the other side of the canal. Hearing the strange noise, the group sent someone out to check with a flashlight.

A few minutes later, Mr. Vo Van Teng, a member of the forest guard team, returned after checking, his hands shaking, his lips quivering: "What a strange creature, brother, two red eyes rolling back and forth in the air, each eye as big as a thumb, two red dots about a hand's span apart, I was so scared that I ran back to report to you guys."

Anh Tuan recounts the moment he met the 'giant' snake

Realizing that something was wrong, the group quickly closed the door, reassured each other, and quickly crawled into bed, but no one could sleep. Not stopping there, about 20 days later, when Mr. Teng was fishing for snakehead fish right behind the guardhouse at night, he suddenly heard the rustling sound of falling reeds like an approaching storm. He shined his flashlight in the direction of the strange sound, and was shocked to see the head and neck of a giant snake slithering quickly as if chasing prey. “When he saw the snake, Mr. Teng dropped his fishing line and ran into the guardhouse, muttering to me and the brothers in the guardhouse: “It’s coming again, bro, it’s a snake, very big, the size of a big banana tree or a house pillar, not a small one,” Mr. Tuan recalled, then he pointed to the ancient banyan tree and added: “Back then, the banyan tree was about 3-4m high, but the head of the snake was as high as the banyan tree, looking up and sideways.”

After that, the group risked their lives to leave the guard post on the second night they encountered the “giant” snake, then told the whole story to Mr. Muoi The, who was then the Chief of the Vo Doi Special-Use Forestry Department (under the Ca Mau Provincial Forestry Department) and proposed to move the guard post to another location to ensure safety. The unit’s leaders at that time said the group was making up stories, because there were no snakes that big in this day and age, so they did not agree to let the group move the post.

However, about half a month after the above incident, Mr. Chin Cua (real name Nguyen Quang Cua), who was then the Chief of the Ca Mau Forest Protection Department, and forest ranger Do Thanh Hoa were riding a motorbike to patrol the dry season fire watch posts located in the core of the U Minh Ha forest. When the car approached the middle of the Vo Doi special-use forest, Mr. Chin suddenly shouted: "Who pulled the tree across the road?". Looking closely, Mr. Chin discovered that the "blocking tree" was the body of a snake wriggling across the road. Seeing that, Mr. Hoa braked the car suddenly and turned around to run away, not daring to look back.

The ancient banyan tree - where the forest guard tower is located - is an area where large snakes once appeared.

Thanks to the time the forest management leader directly saw the “big tree that could run” lying across the road during the inspection, the unit leader no longer said that Mr. Tuan’s forest protection group was making up stories. However, the relocation of the post was still not agreed upon, but B40 nets were reinforced around the fire watch post for added safety, and the brothers were encouraged to try to stay at the post and the forest throughout the dry season, because “fighting fire is like fighting the enemy”.

Giant King Cobra and the Mysterious Story of the “Forest God”

During the journey to the U Minh Ha forest to listen to the forest workers talk about their encounters with giant snakes in the forest, many people leaned towards the conclusion that it was the legendary clouded king cobra.

Before entering the forest, you must burn incense for the forest god.

Mr. Ngo Van Khang, who was a forest ranger at that time, also saw with his own eyes a giant snake, as big as a lamppost, in the U Minh Ha forest.

“Back then, one afternoon in the dry season of 2014, my brothers and I were on patrol when we suddenly saw something lying across the road 20-30m ahead. I slowed down to get closer and was shocked, so I pressed the brake and stopped the car. Because at that time, in front of me was a big snake moving slowly to cross the road. At that time, I was using a crappy phone, but if I had a smartphone like today, I would have taken a few photos as evidence for my superiors,” Khang recounted.

Frightened by the giant king cobra he had just seen, Mr. Khang ran straight to report the incident to Mr. Nguyen Tan Truyen (currently Head of the Department of Ecotourism and Environmental Education , U Minh Ha National Park) and his colleagues in the unit. The group drove their motorbikes to the exact location Mr. Khang had indicated. Mr. Truyen checked and recorded the exact tracks of a large body left on the soft ground and grass by the roadside.

According to Mr. Khang, when he came to review the traces, it was very clear that the tracks were of a very large snake, the reeds were broken and spread to both sides, it crawled across the canal with its tail still lying more than half of the canal. Sitting next to him, Mr. Truyen also confirmed the incident and believed that it was a "forest god" (the way he called the giant cloud snake) in the U Minh forest. Because according to him, many old people in the past named this large snake species cloud tiger, because they moved quickly, like "going with the clouds and returning with the wind". What made Mr. Truyen most regretful until now, he still has not had the chance to meet the "forest god" once.

The legend of the king cobra through the story of Uncle Ba Phi is a large snake - Illustration photo

Since the first time he saw the “forest god’s mark”, more than 10 years have passed, Mr. Truyen has always collected and hunted for documents and images of giant clouded cobras in U Minh forest. According to him, the thrilling and fascinating stories about the flora and fauna of U Minh forest told by folk artist Nguyen Long Phi (Uncle Ba Phi) that are still circulating today have attracted him to the land and forests of this region.

“Uncle Ba Phi’s story about mosquitoes in U Minh forest chirping like flutes and fish gurgles like boiling rice, I witnessed it when I came here. About the U Minh forest king cobra, Uncle Ba Phi said the snake’s head was raised above the top of a cajuput tree, it sounds hard to believe, it may have been added or subtracted for satire, to attract listeners, but it may be partly true. To prove it, there must be a real image, but I think with the sacred U Minh forest, to do that, there must be fate. If I meet the giant king cobra exactly as told, and have a memorable image, I will say goodbye to my job and the U Minh forest land,” Mr. Truyen affirmed.

After the U Minh forest fires that occurred in the past (2002, 2015), the rangers of Vo Doi special-use forest (now U Minh Ha National Park) no longer saw giant snakes with their own eyes. Therefore, the story of the king cobra as a “walking log” only remains in stories.

Having spent most of his life in the U Minh Ha forest, Nguyen Tan Truyen shared his skills when encountering a king cobra in the middle of the forest. According to him, most of the time when encountering a giant snake, it is very difficult to escape, but there is still a chance if the forest worker has skills. Truyen said that when a snake wants to attack a person, it must raise its head, spread its hood, and determine the location of its prey before pouncing. When faced with this situation, the forest worker has no choice but to run, at the same time taking off his shirt and throwing it in another direction to lure the snake to follow the smell of sweat on the shirt. Because the characteristic of snakes is that their eyesight is poor during the day, the possibility of escaping will be very high.

Source: https://danviet.vn/dau-xuan-at-ty-tim-dap-chan-run-nghe-cham-mat-ran-ho-may-chua-ou-minh-ha-ky-bi-ve-than-rung-20250131231205937.htm