<figcaption>Domain area map</figcaption>

By 1952, all of French Indochi­na was com­plete­ly explored, mapped, all resist­ing trib­al strong­holds was sub­mit­ted, author­i­ta­tive­ly con­trolled and admin­is­trat­ed. All, except the heart of Cau Maa’ con­fed­er­a­tion, a rugged ter­ri­to­ry locat­ed inside the bound­less loop formed by Dong Nai riv­er (Daa’ Dööng). Only two hun­dred fifty kilo­me­ters north of Saigon and, para­dox­i­cal­ly, impen­e­tra­ble, impal­pa­ble and uncon­trol­lable, the region is local­ly known as Nggar Maa’, Nggar Yaang, lit­er­al­ly means the Domain of the Maa’, Domain of the genies. Since immemo­r­i­al times, the Domain is sacred for the south­ern Pro­to-Indochi­nese groups and prob­a­bly for the Pro­to-Chams. The jun­gle is con­sid­ered as a gen­e­sis to the ancient gods, as a celes­tial res­i­dence, thus out­lawed to unini­ti­at­ed souls and for­eign­ers. The land is wor­shiped for its excep­tion­al forestry for­ma­tions on mid-alti­tude basaltic soil, for its own pecu­liar, for some, spec­tac­u­lar nat­ur­al won­ders for­mer­ly believed to be inhab­it­ed by wood denizens and oth­er intrigu­ing divini­ties. The Maa’ Huong, a stern, impres­sive and unpre­dictable group of com­bat­ants are the con­se­crat­ed guardians, devot­ed to pro­tect the holy for­est heart. The for­est is also the res­i­dence to ele­phant herds, Java and Suma­tra rhi­noc­er­os, abun­dant tigers, pan­thers, gaurs, bears, pythons, croc­o­diles and var­i­ous bird species.

<img alt="Inside the Domain" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-domainthe-domain/domain-4-1578317771.jpg" />
<figcaption>Inside the Domain</figcaption>

Since 1882 and Doc­tor Alexan­dre Yersin’s mis­sion at the east­ern Domain edge, all French offi­cials’ explo­rations were doomed to fail­ure, unfor­tu­nate colo­nial per­son­als and their dubi­ous com­pan­ions wan­dered through gloomy forests, nav­i­gat­ed on errat­ic waters, deep­ened inside end­less wilder­ness, ambigu­ous soli­tudes secre­tive­ly allied with the feared guardians, specters of ambush and slaugh­ter. The region became a myth, named explorer’s tomb, reversed-jun­gle, back-jun­gle and rebel hin­ter­land. In 1910, Hen­ri Maitre orga­nized a clan­des­tine explo­ration mis­sion, with a small escort, in a few febrile days tra­vers­ing the region on a north – south axis, canoe­ing along Dong Nai Riv­er, thus un-allow­ing the guardians to have time to react. Since, all oth­er pen­e­tra­tion mis­sions fail, notably the one from the Japanese’s Impe­r­i­al Army. Final­ly, in 1952, ethno­g­ra­ph­er Jean Boul­bet man­aged to set­tle a fine alliance with the Coop’s, a Cau Maa’ sub-group. He was the first for­eign­er allowed to enter, explore, and study the enti­ty until 1967.

Between 1955 and 1964, the region was admin­is­trat­ed by the South Viet­namese gov­ern­ment, clas­si­fied as Zone D. The plan was to assim­i­late the minori­ties, to dis­solve local cul­tures and eth­nic groups, to re-locate the Maa’ and oth­er pop­u­la­tions in strate­gic hamlets.

<img alt="The Cau Maa' - Souther Domain area" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-domainthe-domain/Cau-maa-1578318260.jpg" />
<figcaption>The Cau Maa’ — Souther Domain area</figcaption>

Dur­ing the Viet­nam War, from 1964 to 1975, the NVA and Viet Cong used the Domain’s inac­ces­si­ble woods as ​“maquis”, the U.S Army built an air­port, a base and some sub-bases. Cau Maa’ vil­lages, slash-and-burn fields, forests and sacred groves were instinc­tive­ly bom­bard­ed by the USAF and the South Viet­namese Air Force. After 1975, the Domain was re-closed and van­ished from the col­lec­tive mem­o­ry, as in ancient times and remained enig­mat­ic, restrict­ed and inac­ces­si­ble until 2018.

<figcaption>Inside the Domain</figcaption>

<img alt="Inside the Domain" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-domainthe-domain/domain-5-1578318299.jpg" />
<figcaption>Inside the Domain</figcaption>

In 1997, Nico­las Vidal, vice-pres­i­dent of Secret Indochi­na, decid­ed to re-dis­cov­er the myth­i­cal for­bid­den jun­gle. After bib­li­o­graph­ic research, prin­ci­pal­ly through Hen­ri Maitre and Jean Boulbet’s books, pub­li­ca­tions, let­ters, notes and maps, between 2007 and 2014 he com­plet­ed sev­er­al pre-sur­veys in order to study the region, to local­ize the Domain’s cen­ter and to iden­ti­fy pos­si­ble access. 

Since the end of the Viet­nam War, the Domain has expe­ri­enced var­i­ous degrees of degra­da­tion, more than 60% of the orig­i­nal sur­face, land and forests have been defor­est­ed, dev­as­tat­ed, replaced by cafés, cashew and rub­ber plan­ta­tions or rice fields; savan­nas, swamps and rhi­noc­er­os have dis­ap­peared, as well as most of the local fau­na, some Cau Maa’ clans, vil­lages and ham­lets have van­ished or been re-locat­ed. For­tu­nate­ly, two areas remain mirac­u­lous­ly untouched in the south-west of Thon 5A (Dang Pör – Haut Inté­gral) and around the two cen­tral mead­ows (Ddang Yaang – the Spir­it Ridge), form­ing an ensem­ble con­sti­tut­ed by sin­u­ous ridges, high mead­ows, shad­ow­ing nar­row vales, ances­tral groves, primeval forests shreds, seas of bam­boo forests, soli­tary ponds, dark ravines and mean­der­ing streams.

<img alt="Southern Domain edge" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/the-domainthe-domain/southern-domain-edge-1578317834.jpg" />
<figcaption>South­ern Domain edge</figcaption>

Between 2015 and 2018, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Fran­cois Bou­very Olivi­er Roy, the local and the Cat Tien Nation­al Park, four offi­cial mis­sions were orga­nized in the two cen­tral mead­ows area. In May 2015, the first mis­sion approached the Daa Lai riv­er, the Amer­i­can air­port, Thon 5A, the two cen­tral mead­ows and the Drag­on swamp (Rdu­uny). In April 2016, a sec­ond mis­sion sur­veyed the west­ern part of the cen­tral mead­ow, towards the Tiger mount (Ddang Klaa). In Feb­ru­ary 2017, a third mis­sion sur­veyed the east­ern part of the cen­tral mead­ow, then along Daa Koo riv­er ravines. In April 2018, a fourth mis­sion sur­veyed the upper Daa Nggar riv­er and the Tiger mead­ow, northeasternwards.