Conquering Vietnam’s Biggest Cave

The limestone mountain range on the Vietnam - Laos border has a lot of caves, in which there is Phong Nha - Ke Bang Cave. The surrounding area was recognized as a World natural heritage for its geologic and geomorphic features in 2003. Phong Nha - Ke Bang aims to be recognized the second time as a World natural heritage for its biological diversity. In the Phong Nha - Ke Bang cave complex, Son Doong cave was discovered in 1991 when Ho Khanh, a native found it by chance when he was sheltering from the rain in the entrance of the cave. But it was not until 2006 that a group of British Royal Caving Association first went to this area to explore, with the help of Ho Khanh, and discovered that it was the biggest natural cave in the world. This cave is a part of the underground system that links to more than 150 other caves in Vietnam, located near the Laos border. It was difficult for him to find his way back to the entrance of the cave, deep in the forest with rough terrain and far from the highway. Under his instruction, they went far into the cave, took pictures, measured and collected scientific data. The explorers gave the honour of naming Son Doong Cave to Ho Khanh.

 

On April 22, 2009, the delegation of British Royal Caving Association led by Howard Limbert announced the discovery of the cave and its massive size. “It took me 3 trips exploring to find this Son Doong cave. Mr Khanh found the entrance when he was young, but he forgot where it was. He just found it again back in 2009 and informed us,” said specialist Howard Limbert.

 

Limbert said: “We had 13 excursions in 20 years, cooperating with Hanoi University of Science, and just over 100 km of explored cave were discovered. It was only a small part of this huge limestone, as well as the area we set foot on was tiny compared to the whole mountain. The prospect of caves here is immense. And with the current pace of exploring, we won’t be able to know all the caves here.”

 

In January 2010, the explorers came back to Son Doong to learn more about this cave system. Son Doong cave was formed about 2-5 million years ago, when the river flowing across the limestone area was buried in a fault line. The eroding flow created a huge subway under the mountain range. In places where rocks were soft, the ceiling collapsed, making holes which eventually became giant arches.

 

Mark Jenkins, a member of the exploring group, said on Nat Geo: “On the way before my eyes a big ruin appeared, with stones the size of buildings that fell to the ground from the ceiling. I looked up to see, but the vast space of that cave seemed to devour the tiny light of the torch on my head, as if I was looking at a starless night sky. They said where I stood had enough space for a Boeing 747, but there was no way to be sure. The dark surrounded me like my head was covered by a sleeping bag. A big light flowed into the cave like a waterfall, fell through the hole on the ceiling which was at least 90m wide,” Jenkins continues. “Light leaked deep inside the space to reveal the hugeness of Son Doong Cave. The path there was approximately 90 metres wide and the ceiling just under 250 metres high, a space sufficient to contain a 40-story building in New York. Near the ceiling, there were soft clouds.”

 

With such a size, Son Doong cave surpassed Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National park of Malaysia (with the height of 100 metres, 90 metres wide and 2km long) to lay claim as the world’s biggest natural cave.

 

In that cave explorers also found a subterraneous river which was 2.5km long, and stalactite poles that reached the height of 70 metres.