BURIED TREASURE

One of the most significant geological finds in recent exploration — the discovery of Vietnam’s Hang Son Doong, the world’s largest cave — almost never happened. Circa 1990 farmer Ho Khanh stumbled across an entrance and a limestone overhang in the thick jungle of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The distant noise of rushing water caught his attention, but he thought no more of it. Given the thick, almost impassable, Vietnamese jungle, the farmer’s trail was lost in any case, and he did not try to find his way back. For about 18 years,