Son Doong Cave – one of the most famous caves in Vietnam. With many undiscovered mysteries and mysteries, Son Doong Cave is a challenging place for individuals with an adventurous spirit and a love of discovery. Images of Son Doong Cave appear in many articles, travel magazines, and television channels in Vietnam and around the world. Here are some interesting things about Son Doong cave that Netin Travel introduces to tourists.
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In which province is Son Doong Cave located?
Son Doong Cave has coordinates 17°27’N and 106°17’E, located in Son Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province. This is the largest natural cave in the world, adjacent to the Vietnam – Laos border. The cave belongs to the cave complex of Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park, which was twice recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage.
History of Son Doong cave formation
How was Son Doong Cave formed?
Son Doong Cave was formed about 2 to 5 million years ago, when river water flowed through buried limestone along a fault line. The water eroded and created a giant underground tunnel under the mountains. In places where the rock is soft, the ceiling collapses to form sinkholes, which undergo erosion to form giant cave domes.
The cave has a width of 150 meters, the highest arch of the cave is more than 200 meters high, and a length of up to nearly 9km can accommodate a 40-storey skyscraper. The estimated capacity of Hang Son Doong is 38.5 million cubic meters, equivalent to 15,000 Olympic swimming pools. That’s why Son Doong Cave officially surpasses Deer Cave in Gunung Mul National Park in Malaysia, to become the largest and most majestic natural cave in the world.
There is a hypothesis that Son Doong cave can be connected to Thung cave with a volume of about 1.6 million m3 and thus this place will be even more overwhelming with its vastness and many mysteries that have not yet been discovered by humans. discover it all.
Who discovered Son Doong cave?
Son Doong Cave was first discovered in 1991 by Ho Khanh, a local farmer. According to Mr. Khanh, one time he went into the forest to look for agarwood, and accidentally encountered a heavy forest rain. Because he was afraid of flash floods or landslides, he decided to find a cave to take shelter. However, because the cave was so large and full of dense green trees, Mr. Khanh only dared to stand on the cliff outside the cave entrance and did not dare to go deep inside. And that was the first time Son Doong cave was admired by humans.
Then, when the British Cave Research Association expedition arrived and opened research on new caves in the Phong Nha – Ke Bang ecological garden, Howard and Deb accidentally learned about the huge stone arch from Mr. Ho Khanh. located deep in the jungle. So the journey to find Son Doong cave begins here. However, Mr. Khanh forgot the exact location of the cave, so the expedition was very difficult with many failures. Everything seemed hopeless when Howard and Deb had to return to England. Before returning, the two explorers did not forget to instruct Mr. Khanh to continue the search.
After a long period of 15 years, in 2008, during a hunting trip, Mr. Khanh found the old cave and carefully recorded its location. It was with great difficulty that he found the cave entrance, which was located deep in the jungle with quite dangerous terrain, far from the main road of Son Doong cave. In 2009, the British expedition returned to this area to explore and Ho Khanh informed them. He led Howard, Deb and a number of other experts to the cave entrance, opening the way for future survey trips that would bring many achievements.
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Origin of the name Son Doong
Initially, the explorers wanted Mr. Khanh to be the one to name the cave. After much thought, he used his own name to name the cave that had many memories for him. From then on, the name Hang Son Doong was named after the person who discovered it, Ho Khanh. After that, the experts asked Mr. Khanh for permission to change the name to Hang Son Doong because Hang Son Doong is located in the Ha Doong region, in the land of Doong. Near this area, there is an ethnic village called Ban Doong, and Son in Chinese means mountain. Therefore, the name of a cave that is considered the pride of the Vietnamese people was born from there.
Interesting discoveries of Son Doong cave
Son Doong Cave is considered a new land, currently people have not been able to completely discover all the mysteries that lie deep in the dark cave bottom. However, with the enthusiasm of explorers and the help of modern technological equipment, many fascinating discoveries were discovered and became extremely famous.
Garden of Eden in Son Doong cave
Part of the dome of Son Doong cave collapsed many years ago, creating conditions for light to rush in, creating mysterious rays of light that shine down into the cave, luxuriant trees grow, creating a fresh forest in the heart of the cave. . Explorers named this place the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden has a very large area, many rich vegetation grows, clear water veins are surrounded by dense forest trees. This place has all the characteristics of a diverse tropical ecosystem, especially the vines crisscrossing the rocks.
This is an ideal habitat for many natural creatures. You will hear the sounds of birds chirping under the trees, and the sound of gurgling water flowing in the ravine is impressive and magical. Everything is like a concert of wild nature welcoming each and every tourist who comes to visit. In the forest, there are nearly 400 species of plants, including diverse and unique species of birds migrating to live.
Wherever the sun and wind shine, there is the green color of life growing in Son Doong cave, a completely different world from the nakedness and darkness of other caves.
Vietnam Wall
The highest stalactite wall is located at the end of Son Doong, where the cave ceiling is about 200 meters high. To reach this wall, you need to go through a muddy cave. If you are lucky enough to come when the water is full in this part of the cave, a very beautiful and magical clear blue lake will appear.
Visitors will be able to ride a raft through this cave to reach the foot of the wall, start climbing a metal ladder, then climb to the top of the wall using ropes and safety belts. The entire process of climbing the 90m high Vietnam Wall requires the use of protective equipment and is guaranteed by a professional safety team.
The cave’s overnight campsite
When conquering Son Doong cave, if you stay overnight in Son Doong cave, it will be a great experience for you. Son Doong camping ground is very beautiful and majestic, a very attractive experience that cannot be found anywhere else. The two campsites 1 and 2 in the cave have sinkhole views and are located on the cave floor covered with white sand. This is also considered the campsite with the most beautiful view in the world, tourists always express their love for the impressive scenery of this campsite.
Stalactite block “Dog’s paw”
This is a stalactite sculpted by the hands of mother nature shaped like a strange dog’s paw in the towering Son Doong cave, a magnificent scene of the largest cave in the world. From this position, you can almost admire the panoramic view of Son Doong cave.
Pearl Cave
The giant “pearl” cave stalactite system in Son Doong cave is an extremely special and interesting place. People discovered that “pearls” are stalactites that, through the impact of external forces, are eroded and deformed into countless round stones like pearls under the sea. They are the world’s largest “pearl” stones in Son Doong.
Around the world, people have discovered “pearl” stones that are only about 1cm in diameter and as big as regular marbles. But in Son Doong alone, they are as big as baseballs.
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Son Doong cave tour
Son Doong expedition tour – the world’s largest cave – is a type of world-class adventure tourism with tour design requirements or standards that must be guaranteed to be safe according to European standards. Currently, every year Son Doong Cave welcomes more than 1,000 domestic and foreign tourists to visit.
Each tour has only 10 guests but must have up to 30 support staff including: cave experts, tour guides, safety assistants, chefs,… to ensure safety and hygiene needs. Personal activities of tourists on long expeditions. Ticket price for the 4-day, 3-night Hang Son Doong tour is $3,000 for 1 person.
Currently, Son Doong Cave in particular and Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in general are considered one of the proudest symbols of Vietnam Tourism.
Things to keep in mind when conquering Son Doong cave
- Health: Before joining the expedition, medical experts will conduct a health check to ensure you meet the conditions for participating in the trip.
- Clothing: Because the exploration time is quite long, you need to prepare good clothes and accessories such as gloves, socks, helmets, gloves to protect elbows, knees, etc. You should use specialized shoes for exploration that are breathable, soft and have a firm grip. Clothing fabric should be stretchy, comfortable, airy and convenient for regular exercise, as well as warm clothing in case the temperature in the cave at night drops.
- Personal items: Sunscreen, insect repellent, personal toiletries or maybe your favorite snacks.
The records that Son Doong cave has brought
On April 30, 2013, Guinness announced the world record book, in which Hang Son Doong was recognized as the largest cave in the world.
In June 2016, the World Records Association sent a document confirming the record for Son Doong Cave, Quang Binh province as the largest natural cave in the world.
On July 24, 2016, the World Records Union Council – WorldKings also officially confirmed the record for Son Doong cave.
Some questions about Son Doong cave
Should you choose Son Doong cave for tourism?
Son Doong Cave is an adventurous and dramatic tourist destination that stimulates human exploration abilities. For those who love nature, challenges, and exploration, this is the most meaningful journey. If you want to experience lighter feelings than Son Doong, you can refer to Cha Loi Cave Tour 2 days 1 night, En Cave Tour, Tu Lan..
Hang Son Doong has been missing for 15 years?
When farmer Ho Khanh accidentally witnessed the majestic scenery of Son Doong cave, he forgot its location and the detection technology devices were still unsuccessful, everything seemed to be lost hope, a landscape Such grandeur will not exist, everything is just human imagination.
Then 15 years later, after many attempts to search, Mr. Khanh also found the cave that year and led the expedition to start the expedition.
How large is the capacity of Hang Son Doong?
The size of Son Doong cave is very large with a length of at least 5km, a volume of up to 38.5 million m3 that can accommodate about 68 Boeing 777 aircraft. This number may be larger when the true length of the cave is discovered.
Come to Quang Binh to conquer Son Doong cave
Son Doong Cave is a place extremely worth experiencing. It not only satisfies the passion for discovery of many people but is also the pride of Vietnam when nature has blessed it with such a magnificent scene. This article on Netin Travel hopes to help people gain more knowledge about Son Doong cave.