People have been crawling around the cavernous mountains of Asia for centuries, but remarkably, the largest cave in the world remained hidden from discovery deep in the forests of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam until 1991.
As the story of the Sơn Đoòng Cave goes, “local farmer Ho Khanh was walking along a stretch of lush forest within the heart of the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park … It was an area that he had passed many times before and he was not paying any particular attention to his surroundings when suddenly the jungle floor opened up beneath him and Mr. Khanh only barely managed to hold on as the ground crumbled beneath him. When he was able to get his bearings, he peered into the gaping chasm that had suddenly appeared out of the thick foliage and saw that there was now a steep drop where he had stood that descended down into darkness. By pure chance and blind luck, this man had discovered an entrance that had remained hidden from man for millions of years into what would turn out to be the largest cave in the world, a behemoth five times larger than the largest known cave at the time.”
In a world with so few unbeaten paths left, it may be difficult to imagine a labyrinthe that large remaining unpenetrated by man until the 1990s. But known caves of any size in that part of the world usually have some kind of shrine inside. But Sơn Đoòng has no shrine, no statues, pre-historic cave paintings– nothing. That isn’t to say however that the cave isn’t a jaw-dropping work of art in itself…
As the story of the Sơn Đoòng Cave goes, “local farmer Ho Khanh was walking along a stretch of lush forest within the heart of the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park … It was an area that he had passed many times before and he was not paying any particular attention to his surroundings when suddenly the jungle floor opened up beneath him and Mr. Khanh only barely managed to hold on as the ground crumbled beneath him. When he was able to get his bearings, he peered into the gaping chasm that had suddenly appeared out of the thick foliage and saw that there was now a steep drop where he had stood that descended down into darkness. By pure chance and blind luck, this man had discovered an entrance that had remained hidden from man for millions of years into what would turn out to be the largest cave in the world, a behemoth five times larger than the largest known cave at the time.”
In a world with so few unbeaten paths left, it may be difficult to imagine a labyrinthe that large remaining unpenetrated by man until the 1990s. But known caves of any size in that part of the world usually have some kind of shrine inside. But Sơn Đoòng has no shrine, no statues, pre-historic cave paintings– nothing. That isn’t to say however that the cave isn’t a jaw-dropping work of art in itself…
Comments
Post a Comment