Largest Cave in the World Discovered in Vietnam

Largest Cave in the World Discovered in Vietnam

 The world’s largest cave passage was discovered deep within a remote Vietnamese jungle. The Son Doong cave measures 262 feet by 262 feet (80 meters by 80 meters) and at least 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) deep, making it the largest single cave passage ever discovered, according to National Geographic News, where the discovery was announced. The previous record holder, Deer Cave in Malaysia, is 300 feet by 300 feet (91 m by 91 m) in parts, but is only about a mile (1.6 km) long.

The Underground Tunnels of Cu Chi, Vietnam

During the war in Vietnam, thousands of people in the Vietnamese province of Cu Chi lived in an elaborate network of underground tunnels. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and played a major role in North Vietnam winning the war.

The Cu Chi tunnels were built over a period of 25 years that began sometime in the late 1940s during the war against the French. The excavations were used mostly for communication between villages and to evade French army sweeps of the area. When the National Liberation Front (NLF) insurgency began around 1960, the old tunnels were repaired and new extensions were excavated. Within a few years the tunnel system assumed enormous strategic importance, and most of Cu Chi district and the nearby area came under firm Viet Cong control.

Vietnam’s Colossal Cave

Located in central Vietnam’s rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Hang Son Doong might be the world’s largest subterranean cavern. Expedition members enter through Hang En, a mile-long portal that tunnels into the lost world, hidden beneath a ring of mountains. The cave was carved out by the Rao Thuong River, which dwindles to a series of ponds during the dry months of April, May and October. At 2.5 miles long and 300ft wide, much of Hang Son Doong’s colossal caverns are still being explored.