Garden of Eden in the world’s largest cave

National Geographic magazine continues to publish stunning photos of the world’s largest cave – Son Doong Cave (Ke Bang, Quang Binh, Vietnam), provided by British explorers in conjunction with Vietnamese experts during an expedition conducted in the second half of 2010.

Son Doong Cave was first discovered in April 2009 and officially announced in July of the same year. The cave is 200 meters wide, over 150 meters high, and at least 6.5 kilometers long. The cave may be even longer, but due to technical conditions, explorers from the British Cave Research Association have not been able to go through the entire length of the cave to conclude how long it is.

The enormous size of this cave as well as its rare beauty quickly attracted many major news agencies in the world. Many famous magazines have repeatedly published articles and photos praising Son Doong Cave such as: National Geographic, Telegraph…

Son Doong Cave attracts researchers because of the primeval forests growing right inside the cave, a section of the cave that can contain a skyscraper, magical stalactites…

A large cave section with giant stalactites. Below, an explorer swims in a deep pool inside Hang Ken – one of 20 new caves discovered in Vietnam in 2010.

A climber climbs up to the Heaven’s Gate in Loong Con, where the humidity is quite high and the air is cool, creating mist in the cave.

The cave section is about 90m wide and 250m high, and can accommodate a 40-story building in Son Doong Cave.

A forest grows inside the collapsed section of Son Doong Cave. Explorers have named it the Garden of Eden.

Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park. Bomb craters are used as fish ponds.

En cave – an underground cave created by the Rao Thuong River. In the dry season, the riverbed shrinks into small lakes, but in the rainy season, it rises several dozen meters.

A low-ceilinged section of the cave inside En cave. The underground river carries shells that have accumulated in layers on the riverbed. The river lies bare on the ground for a while and then flows into Son Doong Cave for several kilometers.

The wall resembles a petrified waterfall located near the exit of En Cave. It is made of deformed limestone and is covered with green moss.

“Even though the caves are huge, they are almost invisible until you get very close,” said expedition member Mark Jenkins. Local hunters found the caves by wind blowing up from underground.

Wherever there is light, there is a forest. Ferns and many other plants compete to grow in the lighted sections of Son Doong Cave. In addition to plants, researchers have also found monkeys, snakes, and birds living in the forests inside the cave.

Over tens of thousands of years, calcium crystals have encased tiny grains of sand to form giant “pearls.” This priceless “pearl collection” is located not far from the Garden of Eden in the heart of the cave.

Explorers pass by moss-covered, magnificent sculptures created by nature. A recent storm has filled the underground rivers and lakes of Son Doong Cave, signaling the end of the expedition season.

The biggest challenge for the explorers was to find a way to overcome the “Great Wall of Vietnam” deep inside the cave. After overcoming this slippery and porous wall, they found a second path to enter Son Doong Cave.

Dubbed the “Great Wall of Vietnam”, this towering rock is 70m high and more than 6km deep. It was an obstacle that forced the explorers to pause their expedition in 2009 and return in 2010 with special tools to overcome it. The white line below the opposite wall marks the water level that rises during the rainy season.

A large waterfall in Son Doong Cave. According to explorers, during the dry season, there is little rain but its sound is like thunder.

During the dry season, from November to April, explorers can safely explore Ken Cave when the lake in the cave dries up. During the rainy season, most of the cave sections are flooded and impassable.

The only way to access Loong Con Cave is by climbing a rope. It was discovered in 2010 and researchers are hoping it could be connected to Son Doong Cave. One section of the cave is blocked by a large rock, which they think is a fairly large cave on the other side.

The light shining into Loong Con Cave clearly shows the strange rocks that the explorers named Cactus Garden.

Netin Travel