- 4 months ago
Son Doong, the largest cave on our planet. This cave is so massive that it has a completely self-sustaining ecosystem with its own climate conditions. Hundreds of meters underground, the clouds you're used to seeing in the sky form inside this cave.
Son Doong even has an untouched prehistoric rainforest hidden far below the surface and a vast underground river. From transparent fish to colorful monkeys, over 250 endemic plant and animal species live in this underground world. Seven new animal species were recently discovered here and are unique to this place. Stretching 9 kilometers in length, this cave holds 38.5 million cubic meters of space. And its passages are so enormous that a 40-story skyscraper could fit inside and its giant stalagmites are rising like the towers of ancient cities. Walking inside, it’s impossible not to feel as small as a tiny bug. Son Doong even contains phytokarst rocks, which move towards the sun like semi-living organisms. Rare cave pearls and many other unique formations are also found here.
For 3 million years since its formation, the world had no idea about this cave's existence until it was fully explored in 2009 in Vietnam. Now, it’s time for you to see the largest cave on earth.
Individual access is forbidden to protect both visitors and the fragile environment. This expedition is operated by Oxalis, the only authorized agency.
Son Doong even has an untouched prehistoric rainforest hidden far below the surface and a vast underground river. From transparent fish to colorful monkeys, over 250 endemic plant and animal species live in this underground world. Seven new animal species were recently discovered here and are unique to this place. Stretching 9 kilometers in length, this cave holds 38.5 million cubic meters of space. And its passages are so enormous that a 40-story skyscraper could fit inside and its giant stalagmites are rising like the towers of ancient cities. Walking inside, it’s impossible not to feel as small as a tiny bug. Son Doong even contains phytokarst rocks, which move towards the sun like semi-living organisms. Rare cave pearls and many other unique formations are also found here.
For 3 million years since its formation, the world had no idea about this cave's existence until it was fully explored in 2009 in Vietnam. Now, it’s time for you to see the largest cave on earth.
Individual access is forbidden to protect both visitors and the fragile environment. This expedition is operated by Oxalis, the only authorized agency.
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00:00Sandan, the largest cave on our planet.
00:03This cave is so massive that it has a completely self-sustaining ecosystem with its own climate conditions.
00:10Hundreds of meters underground, the clouds you're used to seeing in the sky form inside this cave.
00:16Sandan even has an untouched prehistoric rainforest hidden far below the surface and a vast underground river.
00:23From transparent fish to colorful monkeys, over 250 endenic plant and animal species live in this underground world.
00:30Seven new animal species were recently discovered here and are unique to this place.
00:35Stretching 9 kilometers in length, this cave holds 38.5 million cubic meters of space.
00:41And its passages are so enormous that a 40-story skyscraper could fit inside, and its giant stalagmites are rising like towers of ancient cities.
00:51Walking inside, it's impossible not to feel as small as a tiny bug.
00:56Can a rock move on its own?
00:58Sandan even contains phytokarst rocks, which move towards the sun like semi-living organisms.
01:04Rare cave pearls and many other unique formations are also found here.
01:08For 3 million years since its formation, the world had no idea about this cave's existence until it was fully explored in 2009 in Vietnam.
01:17Now, it's time for you to see the largest cave on earth.
01:21Individual access is forbidden to protect both visitors and the fragile environment.
01:26This expedition is operated by Oxalis, the only authorized agency.
01:31To reach Song Dong, we've tracked through the jungle for 9 hours.
01:34And now, we must pass through N cave, the world's third largest cave.
01:38This cave serves as a gateway to the world's largest cave.
01:42It's crucial to be fully prepared for every possibility.
01:46So, before setting out on this journey, we did deep online research about Song Dong and its surrounding area to learn about everything that we would need to know.
01:54Now, we're heading towards the beach inside the cave.
01:57Over the centuries, water from nearby rivers gradually carved this place.
02:02The ceiling is 145 meters high and the cave is 200 meters wide.
02:07During the flooding season, much of this empty space is submerged underwater.
02:12You can understand from the basket over there, the water levels rise so much that it can carry objects up to that level.
02:19With a breathtaking lake in front of us, it was impossible not to take a quick dip.
02:26At dusk, the sound of swift birds echoes in the cave.
02:30Because of their short and weak legs, these birds can't take off from the ground and must jump from a high place to fly.
02:37If they are trapped on the ground, it means death is certain for these birds.
02:42This one was unlucky and waited to die.
02:45At sunrise, we're ready for the journey to Song Dong.
02:47If we call this cave a neighborhood, then Song Dong is a massive city in comparison.
02:56We will move to the darkness now.
02:58I can't help but wonder what awaits us in Song Dong.
03:01As we walk, dozens of crickets on the ground start jumping from side to side.
03:07The ground is covered with centuries of bat guano.
03:10Above us, countless bats hang in deep sleep.
03:13But some are awake and constantly defecating on us.
03:17So it's not a good idea to look up.
03:24That's how my arm loops.
03:26We pass by formations that look like travertine.
03:29The limestone steps take us to the path that leads to Song Dong.
03:33Wow.
03:34The view here is amazing.
03:35You can see some water coming down from both sides.
03:38End Cave welcomed us for a night deep in the jungle.
03:41Now, it's time to meet Song Dong Cave.
03:43It's trying to come to me, you know.
03:45It's moving towards me.
03:47It knows what to leach on.
03:51It got too big.
03:52Beneath the soil we walk on lies the 450 million year old limestone formation,
03:59which began forming long before the existence of humans or even dinosaurs.
04:04This calcium rich limestone is composed of shells and skeletons of ancient sea animals
04:09that sank to the ocean floor and gradually compressed over millions of years.
04:14However, since calcium dissolves easily in acid, acid rain slowly erodes limestone and forms caves over time.
04:22This is how the world's largest cave was formed by rain dissolving limestone.
04:27A challenging final climb brings us down to the grand entrance of Song Dong.
04:32As we move deeper, everyone's switching on their headlamps now.
04:35This path will lead us to the hope and vision passage.
04:38In this nine kilometer long cave, there is so much to explore.
04:42We might be the first to record newly discovered animals.
04:45This is the entrance of Song Dong Cave.
04:48You can see those people look tiny at the entrance.
04:51Even just a few steps in, we're surrounded by incredible cave formations.
04:55The water rich in minerals flows down from the ceilings or walls
04:59and builds these beautiful rimstone pools over time.
05:03The very first animal greeting us is a cricket.
05:06We are making our way through the rocks.
05:09Some stalagmites are sparkling in pure white because of the mineral type they're composed of.
05:14It looks like a diamond.
05:15Yes, it does.
05:16There's a huge stalactite in bronze color resembling frozen waterfalls.
05:21The orange-brown hues suggest the presence of iron or other minerals mixed within the limestone.
05:27Some stalactites have actually broken off from the ceiling and fell down to the ground.
05:32That one in the middle is a fault line.
05:34It was formed because of tectonic movements of the earth.
05:37Song Dong's enormous size is not just the result of water erosion,
05:41but also the fractures caused by tectonic movements,
05:44which created pathways for water to flow deeper.
05:47There's a huge river in this part of the cave.
05:50If you fall, you can't swim.
05:53It's so fast.
05:54Heavy rains feed many rivers here,
05:56and a large and fast river now flows through the cave.
06:00How did this come to life?
06:03We are like hundreds of meters inside the cave.
06:06There's no sunlight.
06:07Heavy floods can bring soil and plant stems into the cave.
06:10That's why we see a sprouted seed here.
06:12Unfortunately, without sunlight, they won't survive for long.
06:16The flood also brought spores in,
06:18so now there are mushrooms growing here.
06:20The moisture and darkness are perfect for them.
06:22Just yesterday, the water reached up to here.
06:24It carried a lot of mud with it.
06:26It's so recent, as if the flood just happened here.
06:29Signs of the incident are still visible.
06:32We reached the Hope and Vision Passage.
06:34This is the largest part of the cave.
06:36I'm standing next to the tallest stalactite mine in the world.
06:39It is 80 meters high.
06:41It took an average of 800,000 years
06:43for these minerals to accumulate on the ground
06:46as water dripped from the ceiling
06:48and formed this massive stalagmite.
06:50The reason it got so huge
06:52is because it grew in a part of the cave
06:54where the ceiling is over 170 meters high
06:56and more than 130 meters wide.
06:58So this part of the cave is as large
07:00as a 40-story skyscraper could fit,
07:03and even a double-decker aircraft could fly through.
07:06You can see the light coming from the first dolin very far ahead.
07:09That's where we are heading.
07:11We spot cloudy-like white catches on the ground.
07:14What is this?
07:15A spiderweb.
07:16When they sense vibrations of a trapped insect,
07:18the spider jumps out, bites the prey,
07:21and returns to the funnel to eat.
07:23These are sand towers.
07:24When water drips from above,
07:26the parts under the pebbles are protected
07:28while their surroundings erode.
07:30And in the end, it forms these towers.
07:33It looks like a small metropolis.
07:36If you carefully look at it,
07:37there's a guy standing on the top of that rock.
07:40Our teammate in the far distance
07:41is now standing on a stalagmite of 60 meters in length.
07:45We move three kilometers forward in the cave.
07:48This is our camping site.
07:49Imagine sleeping here, looking at this view.
07:52From here, you can partially see the first dew line.
07:54It might look like the cave's exit,
07:56but it's actually the first of two massive dew lines.
07:59And from here on, things will get more incredible.
08:02The temperature difference between the outside
08:04and the inside of the cave
08:05forms mist and clouds inside the cave.
08:08The area beyond them is called
08:10Watch Out for Dinosaurus.
08:12We will explore that place tomorrow.
08:14For now, it's time to rest.
08:16Now we are going to First Dolan.
08:17This is the next day.
08:19There will be a lot of things that we will see today.
08:22Let's go.
08:23We are crawling through narrow passages
08:25to get to the first dew line.
08:27A very narrow point.
08:29These sticky threads are traps belonging to cave worms.
08:33They produce a blue-green light from their tail
08:35to attract flying insects to these sticky threads.
08:38Once an insect gets stuck,
08:40the larva pulls up the thread with its mouth
08:42and eats its prey.
08:43This limestone is the oldest limestone in Southeast Asia.
08:46It is more than 400 million years old.
08:48While some sea creatures become part of the limestone,
08:51others mineralized and ended up as fossils,
08:55like you see in this example.
08:56We will get into the details of this fossil later.
08:59We are almost there.
09:00Sun!
09:03Well, it takes for water droplets to reach the ground
09:06for like 20 seconds from up there.
09:09What is the height of this wall?
09:11It is around 140 meters.
09:13Everything is huge here.
09:15When you look up, you can see the trees of the rainforest
09:19surrounding the opening.
09:20But right now, we are meters below
09:22and still inside the cave.
09:24The reason why this hole exists
09:26is that hundreds of thousands of years ago,
09:28the river, flowing inside Song Dong,
09:30eroded the limestone and weakened the roof.
09:33The roof couldn't hold up and collapsed,
09:35creating this giant hole above.
09:37So the light gave life to these algaes and mosses.
09:40In the afternoon, we'll go to doline number two.
09:43It's very different.
09:44You'll see a real jungle there.
09:46But first, let's see the first of the last two
09:48incredible formations here.
09:50This is also a stalagmite.
09:53But it's a different one.
09:55It owes its unique layered shape to the waterfalls.
09:59These are phytokarst formations.
10:01They are rare limestone formations
10:03shaped by the growth of algae, mosses,
10:05and microorganisms together with calcium carbonate.
10:08Since both biological and geological processes shape them,
10:12they're like partly a living and partly non-living.
10:15Here, you can see the phytokarst formations
10:17moving toward the sun like a hand extending from the cave.
10:21Climbing one kilometer down and up in the dark,
10:24we finally reached our next destination.
10:26This is the second dolin, much bigger than the first one.
10:29This looks amazing.
10:31All of a sudden, we are in a forest in a cave.
10:34Look here, they're so dense.
10:36The roof of the cave at this point collapsed as a result
10:39of the intersection of two main faults,
10:41forming a dew line on the surface 252 meters above where we are.
10:45The collapsed cave roof allowed sunlight to enter,
10:48giving rise to an entirely new ecosystem.
10:51Despite extreme conditions, plants and animals
10:54have managed to adapt and turn this place
10:56into a unique underground rainforest.
10:58As we move forward towards the light, the height of the plants grow.
11:03The soil makes it perfect to form a rainforest.
11:06A large portion of the soil here consists of bat guano.
11:09It is accumulated for millions of years and is highly fertile.
11:13The soil here is deep and full of small holes.
11:16There is an insect in each hole and the insects are making traps in these holes to catch animals.
11:21This jungle is huge.
11:23The biologists have found more than 200 species of plants
11:27and almost 60 species of animals living in this area.
11:30There are some monkeys on trees.
11:32This might be the only cave where monkeys live.
11:35Most primates typically prefer trees as their habitat
11:38and cave environments are not suitable for them.
11:41However, this extraordinary cave has become a new living space for certain species.
11:46We came across a centipede.
11:49And snakes are living in this forest as well.
11:52The sound of this forest is calming.
11:59Even the explorers, who first came here in 2009,
12:02thought they'd found the exit for a moment.
12:04Remember that we are in a cave.
12:06This cave has its own rainforest.
12:08All of these trees get thinner but taller to reach the sunlight coming from above.
12:13That's why all of them are very thin but very tall compared to their width.
12:18Certain trees reach heights of 40 to 50 meters.
12:21It's because the trees prioritize height to maximize sunlight absorption.
12:26This is the remains of a snail.
12:28Monkeys catch these snails and break them with stones, then eat them.
12:32As we move through the cave, we start coming across signs red-shinned dukes have left behind.
12:37Look, so many snails. Most of them are broken and probably eaten by a monkey.
12:42We kind of forget we're in the cave because it's so massive.
12:46This is where we are going to camp tonight.
12:48It's our fourth and final day in the cave.
12:50Today, we navigate through a water-filled passage before reaching the Great Wall of Vietnam.
12:56The stalagmites here look fascinating, almost like the work of a sculptor.
13:00A pool of water surrounds this column and fish are swimming in it.
13:04These fish have no eyes as they have adapted to live in this total darkness.
13:08Instead, their other senses got stronger over time.
13:12See how it doesn't give any reaction to the shadow of my hand or the movement?
13:16It doesn't see anything.
13:19Like the fish, this cricket is completely blind.
13:23It doesn't see me.
13:26These super rare formations are called cave pearls.
13:30They are usually one centimeter in diameter, but here since they are too old,
13:34some of them are as big as a tennis ball.
13:36Just like real pearls, they form around a tiny nucleus, such as a grain of sand,
13:41with layers of minerals slowly building up over time.
13:44They need a few hundred years to be fully formed.
13:47As we push further into the cave, something unexpected catches our eyes.
13:52These are deer bones.
13:53They're estimated to be 500 years old.
13:56There is one last challenge ahead.
13:58An 80 meter high karst wall called the Great Wall of Vietnam.
14:02To reach there, we must also pass through a 600 meter long Passchendaele Passage.
14:07The passage is now filled with water and is turned into a breathtaking jade green lake.
14:12It's so high that the light does not reach the very top.
14:16After the wall, the light from the exit is visible from 500 meters away.
14:23We have explored the world's largest cave from one end to the other.
14:26Yet on the fourth day of the exploration, one mystery still remains.
14:30Which ancient creature, the fossil we saw in Sondom belongs to?
14:34I'm opening opera browser and quickly navigating to the cave's website to check the related article.
14:39Here we will find the same fossil's image and its description.
14:43I'm gonna press command slash or control slash to open ARIA.
14:47It's a built-in AI tool.
14:49Let's ask it to highlight the key points in this article.
14:53The article mentions two different coral fossils but doesn't specify which image belongs to which creature.
14:59Luckily, ARIA has image recognition feature.
15:02I'm gonna upload the image and ask again.
15:08It identifies the fossil we saw as Tetracoralia.
15:11Let's check for more information on this sea creature.
15:14First, I'm using the tab islands feature to effortlessly group tabs by topic and save space.
15:19I can expand or collapse them as needed.
15:22I'm splitting the browser window to view both websites side by side.
15:26It appears that Tetracoralia or rugosa went extinct 300 million years ago.
15:31This carnivorous species is believed to have had tentacles to catch its prey and grew up to 10 centimeters.
15:37Because it is extinct today, we don't know exactly what this animal looked like.
15:42But with ARIA's image generation feature, we can create a possible visual for this animal.
15:48Here's an illustration of a living Tetracoralia drawn as a colony with tentacles.
15:53By the way, tab traces feature, as you can see here, help us see our recent visited tabs by darkening the underscore.
16:00The darker the underline, the more recently the tab was visited.
16:04Using Opera's smart tools, I believe that we identified which creature this fossil belongs to.
16:10Opera also enhances workflow with a floating music player and customizable themes with many other features.
16:16Download Opera now from the link in the description box or pinned comment to take your browsing experience to the next level.
16:23Thank you for watching. See you in the next one.
16:25Ruhi Chenet was here.
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