Travel through Vietnam's Son Doong, the world's largest cave passage
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Son Doong, the world's largest cave passage — big enough to fit a skyscraper — is deep inside a Vietnamese jungle. Exploring the dark caverns, home to beautiful rock formations and a river, takes days.
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60 Minutes - Newsmakers Travel through Vietnam's Son Doong, the surreal cave so large a 747 plane could fly through it By Scott Pelley , Scott Pelley Correspondent, 60 Minutes Scott Pelley, one of the most experienced and awarded journalists today, has been reporting stories for 60 Minutes since 2004. The 2024-25 season is his 21st on the broadcast. Scott has won half of all major awards earned by 60 Minutes during his tenure at the venerable CBS newsmagazine. Read Full Bio Scott Pelley , Nicole Young March 29, 2026 / 7:33 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Imagine, in the 21st century, discovering a marvel on par with Mount Everest or the Grand Canyon. It happened, in 2009, with the revelation of the largest cave passage in the world. It's in Vietnam and they call it Hang Son Doong, "Mountain River Cave." An intrepid British explorer, Peter MacNab, led the first team through this epic underworld of caverns the height of skyscrapers. MacNab is to caving what Armstrong is to the moon, the first explorer. Recently, we asked MacNab to show us this wonder of the world. But before we begin our trek, we really have to show you a preview of where we're going. Simply glorious. This was the moment Son Doong caught us in its grasp: sunbeams cascading 120 stories from a break in the ceiling, groundwater, above us, slipping through the light like rain — and rock reflecting what seemed like the only sound in the world. Not many have stood in this space that transcends time. It was a reward for our journey that began days before. The only way to Son Doong is on foot—a trek of a day and a half. We had a party of 53 — moving in groups — mostly porters heaving camping and TV gear, plus experts in safety and climbing. There were 20 river crossings — water flowing through limestone, two of the essentials for building caves. This is the slender center of Vietnam, the Truong Son Range between Laos and the South China Sea. We were following the Vietnam War's Ho Chi Minh trail throu...
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