Son Doong Cave
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam
As the biggest known cave in the world, Son Doong Cave is situated in the heart of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park. It will be actually an excellent experience when exploring the mysterious land.
Son Doong Cave, one of the most interesting attractions in the Central Vietnam belongs to the system of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh province. The cave hides such many mysterious secrets that it has been still very little known. Only a few locals knew about the cave, yet they had never dared to go deep inside because of strange and creepy sounds. The vast of Son Doong Cave thus has always been a mystery so far. Beside famous caves worldwide like Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA (the world's longest cave) or Krubera Cave in Georgia, USA (the world's deepest cave), Son Doong Cave in Phong Nha - Ke Bang, Quang Binh, Vietnam also joins in the list of world's largest caves.
However, only in 2009 the cave became internationally known after a group of scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert, conducted a survey in Phong Nha - Ke Bang. According to Limbert, the cave is five times larger than the Phong Nha Cave, which is previously considered the biggest cave in Vietnam. In the length of 7.3 km of the cave, it is measured the height of 150m and 200m in width. The length must be certainly deeper; however, due to technical limitations, explorers of the British Royal Cave Research Association could not go all the depth of the cave to determine the exact number. In particular, in some regions, Son Doong Cave owns a space of 140m x 140m, in which stone columns might be up to 14m high. Son Doong Cave is considered the world's largest cave with systems of magnificent rosins, collection of unique pearls, along with the pristine rainforest oner inside the cave. Son Doong deserves a treasure of all humankind.
Vietnam has been starting to operate first trial tours for tourists who preferred caving. In detail, each Son Doong Cave tour has been expected to last for 6 days in order that tourists are satisfied to discover this magnificent cave. Conquering Son Doong Cave, tourists must be required a good health, a strong spirit and specified expedition skills. During the sightseeing tour, skills such as climbing, wire swinging...will actually take effect.
The entrance to the cave is quite steep and slippery, making up of rocks with marvelous multi-shapes. Inside Son Doong Cave is a collection of countless stalagmites blocks with strange and unique features. At their first night inside the cave, tourists camp near Hand of Dog, a humongous stalagmite that looks like a dog's paw. In particular, thanks to the collapse of the ceiling part from last few centuries, the rainwater and sunlight can easily fall into; thereby, there is a fairly wide area overgrowing trees, creating a small verdant forests. Here, apart from the smallest insect species, there is also the appearance of monkeys and bats. British explorers named the forest "Garden of Adam". In addition, inside wet cave is home to the algae field, which has been formed by ancient lakes.
Huffington Post once compared Son Doong Cave as a gem which is unexpectedly found. It not only makes sense for Vietnam in particular, but also is an important finding for the geologists, explorers, and biologists...over the world. Son Doong Cave has still hidden the great number of precious "pearls". There are very few caves owning "pearls" of this type in the world. It took hundreds of years for tiny water droplets falling down to form such excellent gems. Each tiny crystal of calcium contained in each water droplet fell down, deposited, fused together, dried and gradually formed extremely precious colored sand "pearls" as seen today. In addition, Son Doong Cave still hid many never-before-seen plant species, especially in areas around the foot of the waterfall in the cave.
Son Doong Cave deserves one of the most unique and interesting tourist attractions in Phong Nha - Ke Bang in particular, and in Vietnam in general. Exploring Phong Nha - Ke Bang tourism, tourists will actually get unforgettable memories.
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