World’s Largest Cave Is So Big It Has Its Own Weather System — Even Skyscrapers Can Fit Into It

Elated to unfurl the mysterious giant, tour instructor Liana (@seekingthenow) led other tourists in the caving group into a wondrous work of nature. Liana shambled down a rope ladder and plunged into Son Doong Cave, hailed as the “largest national cave in the world” by Guinness World Records. Fanning out over 38.5 million cubic metres in the heart of Vietnam, the cave is an adventure story book whose trails and corridors play out dramatic episodes one after the other. But the most wondrous feature perhaps of this cave is its own weather system, a miniature version of Earth’s atmosphere trapped inside gigantic lime walls.

World within a world

Located inside the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in the Quang Binh Province, the leviathan cave cradles a whole universe within it; as they say, it’s a “world within a world.” As the rolling fog escapes through the window-like dolines, it flits through the darkness to hover above the vast network of underground rivers, subglacial lakes, rimstone pools, and lemongrass sauna. The cave is spacious enough to house multiple 40-storey skyscrapers. 

Unlike anything on the planet

When travellers like Liana begin their exploratory adventure in the cave, they start with an arduous hike through the muddy, slippery trails snaking through a forest. Collapsed ceilings cradle full-grown foliage that outspreads to form jungles and rainforests within the cavern. In a documentary-style video log, photographer Christopher Balladarez (@ChristopherBalladarez), described the cave as “unlike anything in the world” he had ever seen before. Balladarez had booked a four-day tour inside the cave. His Canon C80 captured the surrealistic beauty that emerged all around him. The cave, he said, is a place “where time itself feels lost.”

A massive ecosystem

“It’s really hard to tell, or show, how freaking huge this place is,” he said. “This place is massive. I totally see why there is its own ecosystem out here. I feel like I am in another world, honestly,” he exclaimed. Meanwhile, Liana reached in front of a towering, scraggy wall with a giant hole gashed into it. Describing the vibe, she said, “It seems like we have walked into this amazing jungle like Jurassic Park and we are surrounded by cliff walls and it’s just absolutely unreal.”

Discovered in 1991  

According to Outlook Traveller Magazine, the cave was discovered in 1991 by a jungle man named Hồ Khanh. Khanh was wandering through the area in search of a valuable timber called agarwood. A fierce storm erupted, and howling winds forced him to take shelter inside the cave. As he stood, he noticed clouds billowing through an opening. His ears were pounding with the sounds of roaring waters. He fled away, and the entire episode was forgotten. Years later, two members of the British Cave Research Association (BCRA) exploring the local area came across him, and he blurted out the memory. 

Nature's masterpiece 

Today, the cave is an invitation into an otherworldly portal of gaping darkness brimming with a mosaic of nature’s masterpieces. As both Balladarez and Liana showed, one of the cave’s most romantic spots is its “Wedding Cake,” a stalagmite shaped like a multi-tiered wedding cake. The Great Wall of Vietnam, a 295-foot-tall calcite wall, is another gem hidden in the mysterious innards of Son Doong’s darkness. The gour pools are patterned with accumulated “cave pearls” that shimmer in the headlamps. “I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to,” said Balladerez.

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