Son Doong Cave

From an early age, local man Ho Khanh used to spend weeks on end trekking and maneuvering his way through the jungles of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, searching for food and timber to earn a living.

In 1990, while out on a hunting mission, Ho Khanh stumbled upon an opening in a limestone cliff and moved forward to investigate. As he approached he noticed clouds billowing out of the entrance, and could hear the sounds of a river raging from somewhere inside the cave.

When he could also feel a strong wind blowing out from the cave, he decided to move on without further inspection. By the time he had returned to his home a few days later, he had forgotten its exact location and thought no more of it.

At the same time two members of the British Cave Research Association (BCRA), Howard and Deb Limbert, were basing themselves in Phong Nha to conduct exploratory cave expeditions in the area. While chatting with Ho Khanh one day, he mentioned to the caving experts that he had found a cave with clouds and a river inside. Howard and Deb were intrigued instantaneously and urged Ho Khanh to try and rediscover the cave. After many failed attempts, they began to think this elusive cavern might remain lost in the jungle forever.

In 2008, while out on another food gathering trip, Ho Khanh found the mysterious opening again and studiously took note of the path on how to get there. In 2009 he led Howard, Deb and a team of professionals back to the cave for the first expedition to enter what would later become known as Hang Son Doong, or the ‘Mountain River Cave’.

Ho Khanh is still an integral part of every Son Doong Expedition, if he is not guiding groups, he is back in town organizing porters and leading our safety response group.

The volume of Son Doong Cave is 38.5 cubic million with 9km in length in present. The average passage size for Hang Son Doong is 67.2m; with the average height of the cave is 200m and the average width is about 150m. Hang Son Doong is big enough to fit an entire block of New York City with 40-storey skyscrapers. Stalagmites up to 80m high have also been surveyed, the tallest ever encountered.

Son Doong Cave has the largest cave passage in the world located in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh, Vietnam. While Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is one of the oldest system of limestone mountain in Asia with around 400 million years old, Hang Son Doong was only explored in 2009 and is less than 3 million years old.

Two large rivers, Khe Ry and Rao Thuong, joined together to form Son Doong Cave  millions of years ago, creating a huge passage beneath the limestone mountains. Breakages in the cave ceiling are corroded and subsided, forming large holes – called dolines. This enables the unusual formations like Phytokarst to develop, and also plants and trees to grow inside the cave.

Son Doong Cave has the largest cave passage in the world, and was only explored in 2009.Two large rivers, Khe Ry and Rao Thuong, join together to form Son Doong Cave. The cave follows a large fault line that’s 100m wide, which contributes to the huge size of the passages. The Phong Nha Ke Bang limestone is around 400 million years old, but Hang Son Doong is less than 3 million years old.

The cave has two skylights, which allow daylight into the cave. This enables the unusual formations like Phytokarst to develop, and also plants and trees to grow inside the cave. Spectacular sunbeams are often seen at the first doline. Mist and clouds usually form in the large cave passages and rise up to the dolines.

sondoongcave