Hang Son Doong tourist attraction in Quang Binh is located in the Phong Nha – Ke Bang cave complex. Let’s discover what this place has that is of special interest to explorers, scientists and the “team” of discovery enthusiasts as a must-visit place at least once in a lifetime!
1. Introduction to Son Doong Cave in Quang Binh
1.1. Where is Son Doong Cave?
Son Doong Cave is a famous tourist destination in Quang Binh, belonging to Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Son Trach Commune, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province) and is also part of an underground system connecting more than 150 caves. another in Vietnam near the border with Laos.
1.2. Who was the first person to discover Son Doong cave?
Son Doong cave was discovered in 1991 by Ho Khanh – a local resident when he only happened to find it when he was hiding at the cave entrance to avoid the rain. Much later, until 2009 when the British Cave Royal Association (BCRA) expedition came to this place to explore, Mr. Ho Khanh had the opportunity to inform them about the existence of the cave.
It was very difficult for him and the expedition to find the cave entrance, which is located deep in the old forest with rugged, remote terrain and especially cannot be detected on Google Earth. Under his guidance, they went deep into the cave, measuring, photographing and collecting scientific data.
Son Doong Cave has been recognized as a world heritage site with outstanding features: The largest natural cave, the extremely unique interior environment with primeval forest, underground river and owning conditions. own weather.
1.3. When was Son Doong Cave formed?
The cave was formed about 2-5 million years ago, when river water flowed through the buried limestone area, this water eroded to create a giant tunnel in the ground under the mountain range. At the soft rock sections, the ceiling collapses to form holes, which is the arch of the cave.
1.4. The amazing parameters at Hang Son Doong
- Cave length: nearly 9km
- The highest cave arch: 200m, 150m wide (estimated to be able to “fit” a skyscraper of about 40 floors)
- Volume: approximately 36.8 million m3 (equivalent to 15,000 Olympic swimming pools)
With the above data, Son Doong has now officially surpassed the world record of Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National Park, Malaysia, becoming the largest, most majestic and splendid natural cave in the world.
1.5. What world records does Son Doong Cave own?
Unprecedented records of Hang Son Doong Quang Binh:
- Ranked 8 out of 52 places to visit by the New York Times in 2014.
- Son Doong Cave ranked first in the list of 15 most magnificent caves in the world according to Bored Panda’s poll.
- Son Doong Cave has officially become the first and only place in the world that all three record organizations in the world have jointly set a record up to now: Guinness World Records (based in the UK) ), the World Records Association (based in Hong Kong) and the World Records Union (based in the US and India).
As the world’s largest cave with its unique ecosystem, Son Doong cave since being put into operation for adventure tourism in 2013 has always proved attractive to the domestic tourism community. and international with majestic beauty, professionalism in operating organization, sustainable exploitation and many other great values.
2. Discover 5 natural wonders hidden in Son Doong cave
Since being discovered in 2009, Son Doong cave has still maintained the “throne” of the most magnificent, largest and most mysterious cave in the world. With tens of kilometers of caves deep in the heart of limestone mountains, underground rivers, cliffs and a whole ecosystem of its own.
All of that creates a diverse, rich and extremely attractive natural population from all directions. Also in Son Doong, you can find natural wonders first seen in the world.
2.1. Giant Son Doong Cave
Son Doong Quang Binh is the largest natural cave in the world with a height of 200m, enough to fit a 40-story building or dozens of the largest Boeings.
Just set foot at the entrance of the cave, each cold wind blowing in the cave will melt away the fatigue of the arduous journey of “crossing the forest and wading through streams” that you have had to go through. Not only marveling at the large space of the cave, you will also feel extremely excited by the magical mystery hidden behind the fanciful thick fog.
2.2. Garden of Eden in the ground
Not only famous for its huge size, the scenery inside Son Doong cave also creates an extremely spectacular scene with mountains, rivers and a forest with an extremely unique and diverse ecosystem.
Son Doong is home to many different species of flora and fauna, created by a fast-flowing underground river and illuminated by the sunlight of a collapsed cave.
2.3. “Great Wall” of Vietnam
Right in front of the cave is a 90m high stone wall, named by explorers as “Vietnam Wall”. This is one of the hardest challenges in the Son Doong cave expedition. You will have to conquer this wall with ladders, ropes and the help of technicians.
2.4. Giant stalactite system
Son Doong Cave attracts you by the diversity in geology in the special topography of underground rivers and large caves. If the stalactites in Phong Nha cave are magnificent, then in Son Doong, the stalactite system is like powerful giants with stalagmite columns over 70m high (even higher than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France) and with all shapes created millions of years ago.
2.5. The world’s largest cave pearl
In addition, people also discovered the world’s largest “pearls” cave (jewel enclosing a pearl-like seed under the sea, composed mainly of calcite) in the world in Son Doong. Normally, these “pearls” are only about 1cm in diameter, but in Son Doong, they are as big as a baseball.
If you are an adventure travel enthusiast and love to explore, you don’t need to go anywhere as far as climbing the snow mountain in Nepal, conquering Mount Everest… because even in Vietnam, there is also an interesting place for you to challenge. that itself is Hang Son Doong.
