A short history of Lao speleology

In the mid 90s, Henri's tracks had been sought for in vain in the South of France. Long hours spent on the telephone, to contact the countless Cassan of Midi-Pyrénées, had come to  nothing. So much so that we ended up thinking that time had taken his tribe.

But fifty years after leaving Laos, Henri, still alive, publishes his memoirs in "Quand le riz sentait la poudre” (When rice smelled like gun powder), a chronicle of love and war, which mixes the story of a young French officer came to seek his destiny in Indochina and that of a young Vietnamese woman of the high society.

Thanks to this book a contact is established in 2006. Once the book located, a phone call to the publisher was enough to contact Henri, still fit even at 80 years of age. A long phone conversation was obviously not sufficient to share our experiences and our passions, and a meeting was decided. A few days later, I met the colonel Henri Cassan on the platform of Marne la Vallée’s train station. A strong fellow, who, until 75 years, had continued to practise climbing. Along a sumptuous meal in an Asian restaurant - of course - then in his country house on the Marne riverbanks, we exchanged souvenirs, news, projects, survey maps and pictures. Mary, our heroine of Lao underground adventures, was very weak and could not participate in this interview, but Angeline, her daughter and Philippa her granddaughter came to strengthen the construction of this true bridge through space and time.

Sadly, Mary passed away a few weeks later. Henri joined her peacefully three year later, in December, 2009, during the preparation of the Khammouane 2010 expedition, which had the continuation of the "Marie Cassan" river cave exploration as main target, and that his granddaughter Philippa was to attend...

The upstream sump which had stopped Henri in 1948 and 1952 will be crossed by our fellows of the diver’s team. And in the process, the various caves that make up the Cassan system will be interconnected and associated with the sinks of the Nam Koang, thirteen kilometers west, explored since 1998 by the team of "Pollo" Giovanni Poletti and Andrea Benassi, our Italian friends, forming the Sbardella-Cassan cave complex, which exploration is not finished yet.

Henri Cassan, in november 2006, in his country house of Marne la Vallée.

On the table, the familly archives and Spelunca of course ...