Hang Son Doong contains jungle-like vegetation, water and sheer cliffs and is the largest cave in the world

The travellers in the cave appear as specks within the huge landscape dominated by jungle and rocky outcrops

Photographer records video of Vietnam's Hang Son Doong cave using a drone to capture its colossal size


It is the largest cave in the world, with its own sheer rocky cliffs, jungle-like vegetation and climate.

So it is no wonder photographer Ryan Deboodt, 31, relied on a drone to capture footage showing the immense size of the Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam.

The result is a spectacular video showcasing the dramatic topography inside the cave, which is 5.5 miles long, 650ft wide and 500ft tall.

Opening with shots pan across the vast jungle-like vegetation and adventurers are traipsing through the cave are dwarfed by their immense surroundings.

Ryan, originally from America but now living in Beijing, China, described the cave as like an extraterrestrial planet.

He said: 'This was my third visit to Son Doong. It was actually last minute that I even decided to take the drone in with me.

'I was originally going in to the cave to collect three timelapse cameras I had in there for six months to document the flooding.'

The process took Ryan eight days to complete and he was required to take a lot of ropes, harnesses and safety equipment into the cave with him.

The drone captures the staggering height of the cave and people in the images appear to be specks on the landscape

A time lapse shot captures a beam of sun light moving through the top of the cave over the course of a day

Outside shots of the cave show the magnitude of it and capture the grand scale of its reported 500ft

SON DOONG CAVE EXPEDITION Tourists with a spare £1,800 ($3,000) can take tours of the cave with a company called Oxalis. A team of more than 25 porters, safety experts and guides take the tour over six days. The journey to the cave takes a day and a half through dense uninhabited jungle, before you abseil 260ft down to its entrance. Tours must be booked in advance as there is a strict limit of 10 guests per departure. Advertisement

He said: 'Throughout the entire cave you have to be extra cautious, as something as simple as a twisted ankle can cause much grief and effort in order to get back out of the cave.'

Ryan explained that while he was within the cave he wouldn't have been surprised to have seen a dinosaur.

He said: 'Being inside Son Doong is absolutely unreal. I felt tiny, insignificant.'

The cave was first discovered in 1991, when a local farmer stumbled across it and sought shelter there from a storm. Before the chance discovery, it had remained undetected beneath the Annamite Mountains in a remote part of central Vietnam for millions of years.

Unable to find the cave again on a repeat visit, the farmer gave up the hunt until he was approached by a group of cavers to help him find it.

The colossal underground network of tunnels was discovered in 2009 and officially named the world's largest cave.

A natural staircase covered in greenery is captured up-close and explorers can be seen climbing them

The cave was first discovered in 1991 by a local farmer and is five times the size of Malaysia's Deer Cave

A number of shots capture beams of sun light and the vast jungle-like vegetation that grows inside the cave

The name 'Son Doong' cave means 'mountain river cave'. It was created 2-5 million years ago by river water eroding away the limestone underneath the mountain Where the limestone was weak, the ceiling collapsed creating huge skylights.

The mesmerising six-minute-long video presents the different parts of the underground world, from the harsh and jagged rocks to the lush greenery and the cave's own lake and river.

A timelapse shot captures the sun filtering through one of the many sinkholes which allows natural light in to illuminated the hidden underground world.

Ryan Deboodt's photography can be found on his website and Instagram page, and the original video can be viewed here.