Son Doong – the world's largest natural cave: Son Doong Cave is located in the cave complex of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, in Tan Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province.
Son Doong was formed about 3 million years ago, when water from Rao Thuong stream flowed through Khe Ry river cave, causing erosion and collapse, creating holes, over time forming giant cave arches.
Son Doong Cave is 160m wide, the ceiling height is up to 200m, the length is nearly 9km, large enough for a Boeing-747 to fly through and can contain a 40-storey building.
To conquer the cave, visitors must climb the 90m high stalactite wall known as the "Vietnam Wall" with the help of protective equipment.
The cave has two “skylights”, which are traces of the cave ceiling collapsing hundreds of thousands of years ago, allowing light to shine in, creating conditions for trees to grow like a tropical forest inside the cave.
Son Doong was discovered by Ho Khanh by accident in 1991, but was only officially explored in 2009, with the help of a cave exploration team from the British Royal Caves Association.
Currently, tourists can explore Son Doong Cave through travel companies that specialize in organizing tours to Son Doong Cave and En Cave.
Hang Va
Compared to Son Doong, Va Cave is less known and was only discovered in 2012 by a group of British cave experts.
As part of the Phong Nha cave system, with a length of over 1.6km, Va Cave is highly appreciated by experts and tourists thanks to its cone-shaped stalactites system of fairly uniform size.
Hang Va is the habitat of the white blind fish, commonly known as cave fish, which is a small freshwater fish found in the dark environments of caves.
Near Va Cave is Nuoc Nut Cave, about 2.2 km long, believed to share the same water source as Son Doong Cave with a beautiful underwater system of stalactites and limestone towers.
After crossing the rugged mountainous terrain, visitors will arrive at a small valley where Hang Va is located and can camp there for the night.
Tu Lan Cave System: Stretching about 20 km, Tu Lan Cave System is located about 70 km from Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, next to Tan Hoa ethnic minority village in Minh Hoa district.
Composed of 20 caves, 10 of which have been opened for tourists to visit, including Chuot Cave, Kim Cave, Hung Ton Cave, Ken Cave, and Tu Lan Cave, of which the longest cave is Ken Cave, 3.7 km long.
Visitors can swim through the underground river with stalactite formations.
You may also recognize the area around the Tu Lan cave system from the Hollywood movie “Kong: Skull Island”, which starred Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L Jackson and was filmed there.
Fairy Cave
Tien Cave is 50m wide, the largest cave in the Tu Lan cave system and has a beautiful natural swimming pool.
According to legend, Tien Cave is where fairies from heaven descended to earth to admire the beautiful scenery and forget their way back.
Thanks to the stone blocks stacked on top of each other like terraced fields, the space inside is extremely large. These caves are known as the underground wonderland of Vietnam. Every year, they attract many scientists, graduate students, geological archaeologists and millions of international tourists to visit.
Lam Tue (TH)
Photos (Various authors)
