According to the article published in the January issue of National Geography, British cavers have found a massive and probably one of the world’s largest single cave systems. It is found in the extreme jungle of Vietnam. The cave is named as Hang Son Doong. For many decades scientists have known that Vietnam has some of the most spectacular cave systems of the world. The British cavers named Howard and Deb Limbert started their first expedition to enter in the Hang Son Doong cave in the year 2009, however they have stopped after couple of miles because of the blockage by a huge calcite wall. They returned recently to climb that wall and take measurements and also try to find the end of the cavern.
It is being believed that the cave is so large that it can hold a New York City skyscrapers. You can find more pictures of the caves in the January 2011 National Geographic magazine.
As of now it is measured to be 262 ft. by 262 ft. in most part. As per Adam Spillane, who is a member of a British Cave Research Association expedition, the Son Doong cave is measured 460 ft. by 460 ft. in quite a few places. It is believed to beat all previous world record of the largest cave. The cave explorers have walked 2.8 miles in to the Son Doong cave; it was then blocked by the seasonal flood water. It is supposed to be longer than 2.8 miles. The cavers also found an underground river flowing up to the first 1.6 miles of this limestone cavern. There are huge stalagmites formation inside the cave which measures around 230 feet high which was basically prohibiting cavers to go any further during their first expedition. Believe it or not but there is a full grown jungle inside this mammoth cavern.
It was the Vietnamese local farmer who first saw the entrance of the Son Doong cave many years back. He then led the British-Vietnamese joint expedition team to the cavern in the month of April.Hope the cavers will find the end of this massive cave sooner or later.
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