To honor Earth day, I’ve compiled a list of great natural wonders with the help of my new favorite internet toy: http://www.panoramio.com Here you can browse the Earth on a giant map that has pictures on it that people take from all over the world. The pictures are, well, panoramic! And placed fairly accurately to where they were taken. For the past few weeks, I’ve been virtually discovering obscure areas that I’ve heard about, but never researched all that much. Now that I have, I’ve updated the list I made of areas with the best natural diversity. So happy Earth day; conserve energy, or these places will die!
1. Northern Rockies, Montana & Canada. From Glacier Park and Waterton Lakes to the Banff & Jasper Canadian Rockies, this is simply the most beautiful strip of land on the face of the Earth.
2. Colorado River Canyonlands, Utah & Arizona. The Colorado River has carved some of the coolest geology on Earth. Arches, columns, buttes, even Mexican hats- it's all there. Nowhere on Earth is the geologic diversity so extreme. Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Lake Powell, and of course the Grand Canyon, all offer spectacular views of the greatest canyons on Earth.
3. The islands of French Polynesia, Bora Bora, Tahiti. Nowhere on Earth is the water quite so clearly light blue, the sand quite so white, and the palm trees quite so inviting. Plus, there are long stretches of beach islands for miles- trippy!
4. Southern Andes of Chile. Some of the biggest glaciers in the world make their home here (Moreno, Upsala). They rise out of the lakes into valleys of ice and nest themselves in the cradles of rocky mountains. Some of the mountain ranges are really cool. Mt Fitzroy and the Torres Del Paine are worth seeing. This stretch of land is probably the most wintry, craggy on Earth.
5. The savannahs under Kilimanjaro, Tanzania & Kenya. Acacia trees baking under this iconic mountain as the wild animals roam the plains. Enough said.
6. Karst Mountains & caves along the Lijang River, China. Panoramio blew me away here. It felt like I was taking photographic cruise down that river. The mountains are lush and pointy, with green valleys and caves infested with stalagmites underneath. It’s truly the limestone capital of the world. Guilin rivals Rio De Janeiro as the best natural setting for a major city.
7. Lencois Maranhenses, Brazil. The formula is simple but heavenly: a vast expanse of white dunes on the ocean with pools of water randomly scattered in the tiny valleys between them. I don’t know why, but it hits home in a very surreal way.
8. East Atacama Desert, Bolivia/Chile/Argentina. Here there are vast stretches of salt lakes. Some are totally wicked - Salar De Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world. Lago Colorado is the color of blood! Between the lakes are high volcanos surrounded by dunes.
9. Fjords of Norway. The entire coast of Norway is teeming with meandering fjords that rise high into the atmosphere. Snowcapped peaks empty into enormous waterfalls that plunge off cliffs into the inlets. Check out Geirangerfjord, my favorite one.
10. Cenotes of the Yucatan near Chichen Itza, Mexico. Here is the finest subterranean network of caves in the world. Rivers of dark blue water flow through the caves while freakish roots from the trees above creep down the cenote walls like drapes in a house.
11. Sossusvlei Sand Dunes, Namibia. Highest dunes in the world... amazing.
12. Kauai, Hawaii. The wettest, lushest place you’ll ever lay eyes on. Exotic flowers, green canyons, and the peculiar geology of the Na Pali coast make this one of the most unique islands in the world.
13. Queen Maude Land, Antartica. Something about the way those gigantic brown rocks jut out of the snow-laden landscape takes my breath away.
14. Bromo Tennger Semeru volcanoes, Indonesia. Three major volcanos right next to each other. It’s a Jurassic paradise.
15. Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil. A giant shoehorn waterfall. Yeah, I think it beats Niagara and Victoria falls, but they’re close behind.
16. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. Cute little waterfalls dribbling into pristine lakes.
17. Guge Canyonlands, Tibet. A remarkable series of canyons in the shadows of giant snow-capped Himalayas. Can’t get any more geologic hysteria than that.
18. Pamukkale, Turkey. Beautiful white terraces.
19. Palawan, Philippines. Originally, I was going to have the beaches of Krabi Thailand here. But ever since Monica introduced me to this place, I’ve gone ape for it. These karst coastlines in SE Asia (Halong Bay in Vietnam too, even Palau) barely beat out the Amalfi Coast in Italy for best coastline
20. Chocolate Hills, Philippines. I just love the image of a thousand little hills all the same size right next to each other. Too bad they aren’t really made of chocolate, then they would be #1!
There’s a lot more, so if I forgot something too bad, it's probably down the list somewhere.
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