Acting on the State President’s authority, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee grants the third-class Labor Medal to Mr. Howard Limbert, who who discovered the Cave of Son Doong

Howard Limbert, who is leader of the British Cave Research Association, took the first expedition to the Phong Nha Cave, part of system of Phong Nha- Ke Bang Cave. British explorers contributed to develop and spread Quang Binh tourism to the world.

Meanwhile, Ho Khanh (living in Son Trach commune, Bo Trach district), who discovered Son Doong Cave and took the explorers to the site of the cave. Son Doong Cave is recognized as the biggest cave in the world by National Geographic. Moreover, Ho Khanh also actively contributed to develop the socio-economic sector in Quang Binh province.

During the past 10 years, Ho Khanh and Howard Limbert has jointly coordinated to seek, discover and announce a lot of new caves in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, of which the world’s largest cave – Son Doong Cave.

Granting the third-class Labor Medal to Mr.Ho Khanh, who discovered Son Doong cave

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee affirmed the important role of Mr. Howard Limbert to the development of Quang Binh tourism, saying that the third-class Labor Medal is a noble reward that the Party and State of Vietnam offered to him. Chairman believed that Mr. Howard Limbert is an experienced person to explore the caves in Quang Binh.

On behalf of the leaders and people of Quang Binh province, Chairman thanked and highly evaluated great contributions made by Mr. Howard Limbert and Mr. Ho Khanh to the exploration of the cave and general development of the province.

In the forthcoming time, he expressed his hope that Mr. Howard Limbert would continue to help the province to develop tourism and discover many unknown caves in Quang Binh.

Son Doong cave was formed 2-5 million years ago when the river which flowed through the limestone mountain area was buried by a choke. The water flow eroded the limestone and created an underground tunnel. In the soft limestone area, the ceiling collapsed and formed large holes which took a long time to create giant domes.

With the height of 200m, 250m in some area, the width of 200m and the length of 8.5km, Son Doong ranked at the first place, passing Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu in Malaysia to be the world’s largest natural cave.

Remarkably, Son Doong Cave has two entrances – hardly seen in most discovered caves in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park. Going deep inside the cave, there are magnificent and spectacular scenes of the stalactites and stalagmites, some 70-m high. In the middle of the cave, there’s a site called “Garden of Eden”, where tourists can encounter a great tropical forest, bathed in the blue light of the immense trees and many animals such as birds, snakes, squirrels, monkeys.

The cave consists of a river which has 2.5km in length. The flow of the river brought the scallop shell creating a layer accumulation on the riverbed. Not far from the Garden of Eden is the giant “pearl collection” consisting of thousands of round stones laying between the rocky crevices in the heart of the shallow pond. In rainy season, the calcium crystals within water enclose the sand to form huge “pearls”, adorning the marvelous beauty of the cave.

Shortly after the announcement of the new explored cave, Son Doong cave quickly attracted attention of many major media outlets in the world. The National Geographic magazine (USA) published several articles praising the cave’s beauty and value of biography. The cave has also been voted as one of the most beautiful caves in the world by the BBC (UK).

Latest, the ABC’s "Good Morning America" program broadcast live footage of the caves of En and Son Doong at the World Natural Heritage Site of Phong Nha - Ke Bang in Quang Binh province, attracting millions of viewers in the world and making the world overwhelmed by Son Doong cave. Son Doong cave has become the pride of not only people in Quang Binh province but also the entire Vietnamese people.

Translated by Nhu Y
(Source: Quang Binh Portal)