Vietnam’s majestic Son Doong Cave stars in Planet Earth III

Update: 29/11/2023
(TITC) - BBC filmmakers chose Son Doong Cave to be included in the movie Planet Earth III - one of the top nature documentary television programmes worldwide - premiered on the evening of 26th November on BBC One, UK, and will continue to premiere across the US, Canada and around the world in early December 2023…

This project is part of the BBC's famous Planet Earth series, one of the top nature documentary television programmes worldwide. This is an important step in introducing to global audiences the magical natural beauty of Son Doong Cave as well as of Vietnam.

Son Doong Cave is the world's largest cave located in the core area of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (in Quang Binh Province), which has the largest limestone mountain system in Southeast Asia, and a large limestone cave system. From 1990 to 2022, more than 450 large and small caves have been explored by the British - Vietnamese cave expert team led by Mr. Howard Limbert.

Son Doong Cave was discovered by a local man named Ho Khanh in 1990 and then explored by British-Vietnamese cave experts in 2009-2010. Cave experts and National Geographic magazine have announced that Son Doong is the largest natural cave in the world with a volume of 37.5 million m3. It has been put into operation in the form of adventure tourism since 2013.

Son Doong Cave (Photo: Collection)

To make the film at Hang Son Doong, the BBC film crew consisted of 6 members, led by producer Theo Webb, along with production and logistics crews from the US and UK. The group brought with them more than 1 ton of filming equipment and machinery to take excellent footage of Vietnam's natural beauty. Especially when filming inside the cave in difficult conditions, the space was completely dark, so the crew had to prepare copious extremely modern lighting systems and modern filming equipment to serve the recording.

This is the film crew with the longest filming duration in Phong Nha and in the cave compared to any previous crew, especially in Son Doong Cave. The crew had to work non-stop for more than 20 days in Vietnam to shoot scenes in many areas of natural beauty in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, along with famous caves such as Son Doong, En, Va, and Nuoc Nut.

Stalactites in the cave (Photo: collection)

BBC's film programmes about natural beauty always attract viewers around the world, each documentary has a large number of viewers. This is the first time the world's most magnificent landscapes in Asia have been broadcast in the BBC's specialised programme on natural beauty.

Planet Earth III was broadcast at the end of October 2023 and has helped audiences explore wild lands around the planet, discover the wonder of the natural world, and meet the incredible animals that live here and their extraordinary stories. Especially Son Doong Cave in episode 6 of the series with breathtaking images shot by the world's leading documentary filmmakers.

By bringing the unique beauty of Son Doong Cave or En Cave and Va Cave to BBC television through Planet Earth III, Oxalis Adventure hopes to attract more tourists, especially international tourists to Quang Binh. The film is expected to help promote tourism in Quang Binh in particular and Vietnam in general around the world, thereby attracting international tourists and creating many new opportunities to receive major projects from major global media companies.

The film crew recorded images of vegetation at the cave entrance (Photo: Oxalis Adventure)

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