Shondong Cave in Vietnam: description, location, interesting facts and reviews

Most recently in Vietnam, the largest and most beautiful cave in the world was discovered. It is so large that a swift underground river flows inside it . Impressive with its giant size natural landmark consists of 150 rooms, many of which have not yet been studied.

An Amazing Find

Amazing cave Sonondong Cave (Son Doong Cave) was opened in 1991. It was discovered by a local resident and reported about his discovery to fellow villagers who were afraid to enter it because of the terrible rush of water and frightening wind in the pitch darkness of the labyrinths.

After 18 years, the underground kingdom was explored by English speleologists. After about four kilometers, they stopped because of an obstacle in the form of a high wall of solid calcite. In 2010, prepared for the hindrance, the expedition continued its study, having spent two weeks in entangled caves. Specialists familiar with the huge number of caves, noted the uniqueness of the Vietnamese miracle.

Underground city

And the detailed information compiled by the group leader shocked the entire speleological world. According to him, in the halls of the giant could fit modern skyscrapers. However, not only the gigantic sizes have amazed scientists: in a vault deep chasms and unusual stone columns of surprising beauty disappear.

Now I can not believe that for thousands of years no one knew about the existence of a giant natural miracle, reminiscent of a lost underground city.

Giant sizes

Located on the territory of the National Park Shondong Cave (Vietnam) is impressive for its size not only ordinary tourists, but also many seeing speleologists. The 150-meter high and the length of almost nine kilometers made it the largest in the world. Prior to this, the title of the largest grotto on the globe was worn by the Deer Cave in Malaysia, the length of which is much inferior to the Son Doong Cave.

Hard descent down

To get inside the underground mine, all brave travelers will have to overcome the descent along the rope with the help of special mountaineering equipment, which will be useful also in the march through dark labyrinths with carved rock paintings.

Inside the natural miracle, a swift river rumbles, creating for a long time wonderful tunnels of various shapes in rocks, and in some places it comes to the surface. During strong floods, the entrance to the caves is physically impossible.

Unusual phenomena

Near monstrously tall stalagmites, under 70 meters in height, resembling huge cacti from a stone, enthusiastic tourists always gather, imprinting fantastic views on a long memory.

Unbelievable, but Shondong Cave is a unique place where you can observe the formation of clouds under the ground after mixing air masses of different temperatures. Tourists who have visited the underground say that a fascinating sight is worth going through a long and physically difficult journey.

Jungle inside the cave

Through the formed ground failures, not only sunlight but also plants with animals get into the cave. To habitual cave inhabitants - snakes, insects, rodents - rhino birds and small monkeys, feeling themselves in thickets as at home were added.

Here and there the ledges are entirely covered with emerald grass, and a piece of the most real jungle will stop to believe in the reality of what is happening. The speleologists called this green oasis of the cave "Garden of Eden", in which some representatives of the flora, who got inside millions of years ago, turned out to be unknown to science.

Cave Pearl

Shondong Cave in Vietnam was famous for its unique discovery, unexpectedly made by specialists, - an unusual pearl belonging to very rare natural phenomena. The thing is that the dripping water for a long time created layers of calcite, which seemed to envelop every stone.

Comparing the find found in the cave with the pearls produced by mollusks, the researchers established that the composition of the mineral is identical. "Pearl Hall" becomes a kind of revelation for travelers who have never seen anything like it.

Where is Shondong Cave?

A natural landmark, formed a few million years ago, is located on the border of Vietnam and Laos, in the local national park Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the province of Quangbin.

To get to it, it is necessary to overcome a long way - more than a day to walk through the impenetrable jungle. As tourists who visited the cave tell, an exciting adventure with overcoming themselves and exhausting physical loads became the most memorable event in life.

Not far from the giant dungeon is the village of Ban Dong with friendly residents, the number of which does not exceed forty people. Being in total isolation from all the blessings of the outside world, the population grows crops and leads a way of life that has not changed for several hundred years, to which children of modern megacities are watching with great curiosity.

Expensive excursions

However, not everyone who wants to admire the stunning views of the caves takes Shondong Cave. An excursion for the guests of Vietnam is a very expensive, though safe, exercise, requiring good physical form, as it will have to descend the rope to a depth of 80 meters and walk a lot through the labyrinths.

Groups of eight people are accompanied all the way by trained guides along with speleologists. Inside the cave, a tent camp is broken , a bonfire is being built, on which the chef prepares food, and tourists go on a fascinating journey through the fantastically beautiful multi-kilometer rooms and go through a full-flowing river with the appropriate equipment.

In the period from September to the end of March, when the river floods during the rainy season, Shondong cave tourists do not accept. True, many fans of extreme sports, dreaming to get inside the secrets of a natural monument, do this with local guides, risking their own lives.

Plans to attract tourists

In 2015, a local attraction, not yet ready to receive a large number of visitors, was officially lucky to get to a very small number of guests of the country, who paid about three thousand dollars for a week-long tour.

The Ministry of Tourism of the country believes that Shondong Cave is able to bring decent dividends to the treasury. It is planned to organize large tours for everyone who wants to get into the underground city, but the total number of visitors will not exceed 500 people, so as not to break the fragile ecosystem of the Vietnamese landmark.

Shondong is the largest cave in the whole world, inside of which lies a completely new and unknown world for all cave explorers. Hidden from the people's views, its depths are not yet fully understood, and no one knows how many secrets will be solved in the process of studying a small underground universe.