Vietnam – Hang Son Doong, the Largest Cave in the World

March 14th, 2016 | Published in FEATURE, TRAVEL

| For 2.5 million years, the largest cave in the world was nature’s secret. In 1991, while performing logging work, a local man, now cave guide, by the name of Hồ Khanh discovered Hang Son Doong in central Vietnam near the border of Laos.

Numerous attempts to rediscover the cave failed until in 2009 Khanh’s persistence and good fortune brought the cave back to him. He immediately contacted the British Cave Research Association team that had earlier reached out to him about documenting the cave and they returned to survey the enormous space to find that it is 9 kilometres long, has its own rivers and jungles, and boasts caverns large enough that you could fit the Empire State Building on its side!

Hang Son Doong was formed by a river that eroded limestone underneath a mountain 2.5 million years ago. The ceiling collapsed hundreds of years ago giving way to large skylights and lush green that blankets entire sections.

Since 2013, tourist groups have been able to visit the cave through Oxalis Adventure Tours for 3000 USD (as of 2015), but it’s an adventure in itself just getting to the entrance — a day and a half trudging through dense, uninhabited jungle plus an 80 metre rappel down.

A permit is required for each tourist and only 500 were issued for the 2015 season running February to August. Outside of that, the cave is inaccessible due to heavy rains that cause river levels to rise.

Despite all our modern, fancy technology, it is possible that other amazing stories like Han Son Doong continue to fly under the radar. We can only hope to unlock more of the beauty this world has in store. Check out the two videos below and the photos. For anyone who has ever wanted to live out a Goonies fantasy of sorts, this would be the ticket!

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