Getting to Vietnam's Son Doong cave

60 Minutes Overtime Vietnam's Son Doong: A rare journey inside the world's largest cave passage By Brit McCandless Farmer March 29, 2026 / 7:33 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google For decades, 60 Minutes has explored some of the most remote and extraordinary places on Earth, places viewers have never been and likely will never go. But even by those standards, correspondent Scott Pelley's latest assignment stands apart. "This was completely unique," Pelley said. This week's journey takes viewers deep into the largest known cave passage in the world: Son Doong Cave in central Vietnam. Its caverns reach higher than 65 stories and stretch as wide as one and a half football fields — large enough to contain the Great Pyramid of Giza. Traversing the cave required an arduous effort by Pelley and the 60 Minutes team. But getting there almost never happened. A reluctant start and a grueling journey Son Doong was first discovered in 1990 by Ho Khanh, a Vietnamese villager who found the entrance while sheltering from a storm. Inside, he was greeted by darkness and an immediate 300-foot drop, so he never explored the immense cavern. In 2000, British cavers asked Ho Khanh to show them the cave he had found, but it took another eight years for Ho Khanh to relocate the narrow entrance. He'd lost it in the trackless jungle. As a result, Son Doong was not explored until 2009. 60 Minutes' trip there began when veteran producer Nicole Young pitched the idea of filming inside Son Doong. Pelley initially declined. He told Young his doubts: "It's a hole in the ground. What are we going to take pictures of?" But after persistent encouragement, he agreed, setting off on what would become one of the most physically demanding and visually stunning assignments of his career. Reaching Son Doong is no simple task. The cave lies deep within a remote national park, accessible only by trekking through dense jungle for a day and a half. There are no roads, only rivers to cross, mud to navigate,...