Imagine, in the 21st century, discovering a wonder equal to Mount Everest or the Grand Canyon. It happened, in 2009, with the discovery of the largest cave in the world. It’s in Vietnam and they call it Hang Son Doong, “Mountain River Cave.” Intrepid British explorer, Peter MacNab, led the first team through this amazing world of caves and skyscrapers. MacNab is to cheat what Armstrong is to the moon, the first explorer. Recently, we asked MacNab to show us this wonder of the world. But before we begin our journey, we must show you a preview of where we are going.
Just fine.
This was the moment when Son Doong caught us: the rays of the sun streamed 120 stories from the break in the ceiling, the water underground, above us, flowed in the light like rain – and the stone reflected what seemed to be the only sound in the world. Not many stand in this place over time. It was the reward for our journey that started days ago.
The only way to get to Son Doong is on foot – a day and a half journey. We had a party of 53 people – traveling in groups – mostly rangers who had set up camp and TV equipment, as well as safety and climbing experts. There were 20 river channels – water flowing through the limestone, two important for building caves.
This is the thin center of Vietnam, the Truong Son Range between Laos and the South China Sea.
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We were following the path of the Vietnam War of Ho Chi Minh in the jungle where tigers are unknown and where whites abound.
Those leading us were explorers Howard Limbert, whose work in Vietnam for more than 30 years discovered 500 caves. And Peter MacNab, whom Limbert sent to be the first to Son Doong.
Peter MacNab: I find it a game of self-discovery but not knowing what’s around the corner and finding your way. And things show themselves, such as large rooms, large corridors or narrow pieces, beautiful shapes.
Scott Pelley: And there aren’t many places on Earth that you can experience for the first time.
Peter MacNab: No. You have to look hard for them.
You have to look hard for the Son Doong entrance. You will not recognize the writing on the wall that proclaims the wonder of Ho Khanh. In 1990, a resident of the village of Ho Khanh, discovered this door after he was sheltered here from a storm. He said:
Ho Khanh (Vietnamese English translation): I was collecting firewood. I saw a hole and felt something strange.
The strangest feeling was the wind blowing down. the cavemen know that it is the breath of the great caveman. In 2000, British cavers asked Young Ho Khanh to show them, but it took eight years, lost in the pathless forest.
Ho Khanh (Vietnamese English translation): In 2008, I finally found it. In 2009, they started studying.
That search started here. We are just inside looking back towards the upper door. The first obstacle is an impressive 30-story wall that our climbing group showed us how to climb down. The darkness may be complete, but we have illuminated it for you to see. Peter MacNab was the first to do this. In 2009, he and four others in his group were falling into obscurity.
Peter MacNab: There’s a big black hole where you’re headed, and you’re just looking for a coat around it and you look around and you find, oh, this way is great, this way works. Usually, you wait, you can’t go down here. You actually feel like you’re going through the cave by trial and error.
Scott Pelley: You didn’t know.
Peter MacNab: Nothing.
Scott Pelley: What was outside of the light on your helmet.
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Peter MacNab: Yes. No. We didn’t do that at all. Every corner you turned was completely new, completely delicious. And it kept getting better and better as you entered the cave. It was absolutely amazing.
It’s interesting, like the door we just mentioned. Look at the two men, in the middle, holding lamps. at the very top is the entrance and the last sunlight we would see for a while.
At the bottom of the climb, we met the architect of Son Doong, Rao Thuong river. Its water is so acidic that it is actually good for dissolving lime.
Scott Pelley: Well, this is a good place for discussion.
Darryl Granger: Yes.
At the campsite, we spoke with Purdue University geologist Darryl Granger, who came here in 2010 to find out when the river began its project.
Darryl Granger: We found a nice sediment package, far from the cave. And that happened about 2.5 million years ago.
It was at that time that the river began to find a small gap in the limestone bedrock.
Darryl Granger: A hair’s breadth, maybe, right? That’s all it takes to make a cave. Water began to flow through it and it melted more and more. We still have water running through it today. So, it continues to grow, as we speak.
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Our exploration of the cave lasted three days and two nights. It is 5.6 kilometers long – 65 stories tall – and the width of a football field and a half. The Great Pyramid of Giza would easily fit. The 747 could fly the longest corridor and not have a wing sweep. Sometimes, the only way forward was the width of our shoulders, but we noticed, in the widest caves, you often lose the feeling of being underground. What you remember is isolation: no cell phone, no satellite, we were cut off from the world.
About halfway there was a light ahead. There are two skylights where the roof collapsed – for us, a break from total darkness and a chance to show you the scale. Geologists call these sinkholes “dolines.”
The word has European roots; means depression or depression. And this doline was formed because the roof of our heads, the limestone, is thinner here than it is in the rest of the cave. Now as the cave grew, expanded, and expanded over millions of years, it could not support the roof above. It all fell right here. The amazing thing about it is that it allows light into this cave that would otherwise be completely dark, and allows the forest to enter the cave. Like everything else in the cave, this doline is huge. It is 450 meters above my head. In other words, the height of the building is 45 floors.
We stopped here with Howard Limbert, who has been exploring Vietnam since the 90s.
Scott Pelley: When my producer, Nicole Young, proposed this story, I turned her down.
Howard Limbert: Hmmmmm.
Scott Pelley: I said, “Nic, it’s a hole in the ground.”
Howard Limbert: Yes.
Scott Pelley: What was I missing?
Howard Limbert: It’s the best game going on in the world.
Scott Pelley: There is something that no one has seen before.
Howard Limbert: That’s the beauty of those caves. If you climb a mountain, you can see where you are going, but in a cave, when you enter, you don’t know what it will do.
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Scott Pelley: Your father was a caveman?
Peter MacNab: It was, yes. So, it was a cave in Scotland.
Peter MacNab, Son Doong’s predecessor, has been crying since he was a boy.
Scott Pelley: You grew up in a cave.
Peter MacNab: Not really. But inside — a mile in it.
MacNab is a construction manager in New Zealand – big projects like hospitals – but he understands he’s doing it to pay for it.
Scott Pelley: Of all the climbs you’ve done, what’s the closest call you’ve had?
Peter MacNab: I’ve been stuck. I hit the rocks, and I got drenched.
He was stuck, a few years ago, when he went headfirst into a hole the cavemen call “the squeeze.” MacNab can’t go back. A colleague found him and used a knife to rip his coat to give him the remaining half inch he needed.
Scott Pelley: Did he knock you out?
Peter MacNab: Very well. Yes.
Scott Pelley: Are you checking this site out?
Peter MacNab: Yes, it is. We come back every two years, and we’re already scratching the surface of the caves in this area.
Scott Pelley: There may be another largest cave in the world.
Peter MacNab: There could be.
The truth is, MacNab’s first trip in 2009, has not yet reached the end of Son Doong. Beyond this underground lake, he found a 30-story wall and ran out of time before he could climb it.
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We climbed it on our trip and immediately understood why they call it the “Great Wall of Vietnam.”
It’s a 300-foot climb over slippery rock with no terrain.
Scott Pelley: It’s hard until you realize, of course, you’re doing it in the dark, and it’s actually raining. Ground water comes from the roof.
So, when everything is wet you find yourself sliding backwards as you climb. But our team pushed us even higher, wet and a little tired.
Scott Pelley: Well, we saved the best for last. We have covered almost all the kilometers of the cave in three days, and now we have only a little more to go. Well, I see from here.
We could see it, that light up there, but we still had no place to go. We learned, at the end of our trip, that Son Doong may be bigger than we know. Hundreds of meters below the lake behind us the water is flowing somewhere. There may be more caves than that.
It is the work of millions of years that may continue for millions more. Timeless – measured by the pendulum of light, which illuminates the splendor of one of the greatest wonders, or below the Earth.
Produced by Nicole Young. Assistant producer, Kristin Steve. Broadcast assistant, Michelle Karim. Edited by Michael Mongulla.
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