Hang Son Doong – The World’s Largest Cave
Written by Aniketh Kumar on April 6, 2024
The Son Doong Cave has a total length of nearly 9 km long and the volume is up to 38.5 million cubic metres, which makes this cave the largest natural cave on the planet. With this volume, Hang Son Doong is 5 times larger than Deer cave in Malaysia, which was said to be the largest natural cave ( before Hang Son Doong was discovered) with 9.5 million cubic metres of volume. However, what makes Son Doong special, recognized and well-known by the world is the unique hidden underground world inside the cave itself. It has many complex and giant stalactites (over 80m high), primaeval rain forests growing inside the cave, its own ecosystem, weather or a mysterious underground river that no explorer has yet discovered to the end of it. Many visitors admitted that the Hang Son Doong Cave is like another world, Ginger Zee from ABC News’s – Good Morning America exclaimed that the sceneries in Son Doong were like those in the Avatar movie.
This amazing cave also houses an impressive ecosystem, inside the largest cave passage in the world. This huge and intricate cave system was created by the underground river, and filled with formations from the water that percolated down from a rainforest above. More of the highlights only found in this cave are:
There is one of the largest sections of Son Doong; from the beginning of this passage, you can see the light from Doline 1, 1.5km away. Estimated by cave experts that a 40-storey skyscraper can easily fit in this passage and it is large enough for a Boeing 747 to fly through. Moreover, the world’s tallest stalagmite, about 80m tall, is also located in this passage.
There is an underground river inside Hang Son Doong Cave which is a combination of the water coming from En Cave and Khe Ry Cave (the longest underground river cave where the water comes from the Vietnam/Laos border area). From Son Doong entrance, you have to cross knee–deep rivers twice to reach the Hope and Vision Passage. There are emergency bridges in case of high water levels. The small waterfalls along the way create loud rumbles. Sometimes, the cave is filled with mist. This underground river disappears near Doline 1, about 4.5km away from the cave entrance. You can learn more about the underground river inside Hang Son Doong Cave here. [source: https://oxalisadventure.com/]
