Our planet is a veritable storehouse of surprises.
We think we know everything about her, but sometimes we meet these places, getting into that, it’s hard to believe it’s the same planet.
We invite you to travel to different corners of the Earth, where everything looks so unfamiliar that it feels like we left outside of our cosmic home.
15. National Park “Lassen Mount”, USA
In addition to the alien landscapes, the national Park “Lassen Mount”, located in California, is famous for the fact that this is the only place on Earth where there are all 4 types of volcanoes: stratovolcano, shield volcano, and lava and cinder cones.
14. Mount Roraima, The Brazil — Venezuela — Guyana
At first glance it may seem that we have before us a plot of land, soaring freely among the clouds. In fact, this is mount Roraima, or, as it is called, table mountain. The cloud near the top never disappears, many plant species can be found only in the vicinity of this mountain and nowhere else.
13. National Geopark “Zhangye danxia peak”, China
These multi-colored mountain “puff pies” — the result of layering one each of Sandstone and other rocks, which lasted 24 million years. Wind and rain over millions of years gave these mountains of various shapes, from rounded to cone-shaped.
12. The Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia
Dried salt lake Uyuni holds 10 billion tons of salt. Every year during the rainy season the Salar de Uyuni is covered with a thin layer of water and turns into the world’s largest natural mirror, which is used to calibrate satellites.
11. The Salvador Dali Desert, Bolivia
Lifeless desert, which occupies over 100 sq km, as if descended from the paintings of eminent genius. Smooth like painted watercolors of mountains, strange stones resembling growing out of nowhere trees, and endless sand — it seems that it is here that Dalí wrote his surreal masterpieces.
10. Depression, Danakil, Ethiopia
Depression, Danakil is a place that can be considered the cradle of mankind, because here were found the remains of Lucy, the first known hominid. Thanks to the sulphur lakes, which are home to unique organisms adapted to extreme conditions, the local landscape is reminiscent of the types of IO — one of Jupiter’s moons.
9. Antelope canyon, USA
Antelope canyon, located on lands owned by the Navajo nation, and consists of two giant cracks that occurred in the sandy rocks in a natural way. The credit for creating these bizarre shapes belongs to the rain water that millions of years were washed away grains of sand, forming a unique landscape inside the rocks.
8. Moon valley, Atacama desert, Chile
Moon valley is located in one of the driest places on the planet — the Atacama desert. The landscape of the valley is very similar to the moon, because even local lake consist exclusively of the salt crust, and rock here and there rise above the surface.
7. Flying geyser, Nevada, USA
Geothermal source flay was formed due to human intervention: during the construction of the well was a mistake, which gave the boiling water the opportunity to get out. Minerals formed a “volcano” with a height of 1.5 meters, which continues to increase in size.
6. The Cave Prohodna, Bulgaria
Cave Prohodna, or “eye of God” is one of the most popular tourist places in Bulgaria. Through holes in the rock are surprisingly symmetrical and is really similar on the eyes, especially in the rain when using them begins to leak water, Recalling the tears.
5. Desert Wadi Rum, Jordan
Desert landscapes of Wadi Rum are some of the most unusual on Earth. Noticed the similarity of Wadi Rum with other planets and filmmakers: this is where they filmed several famous movies, including “the Martian”.
4. Socotra Archipelago, Yemen
The unusual landscapes of the archipelago of Socotra give trees — cinnabar-red dracaena, growing up to 10 m in height. If notching the bark of the tree, it begins to extract the juice, resembling blood. There are no such trees anywhere else on the planet, so the archipelago seems to be a separate alien world.
3. Bryce canyon, Utah, USA
Unique chisel-shaped formation, similar to trees, is what makes the view of Bryce canyon is unlike anything else. Transitions from white to red look particularly fascinating at sunset when the landscape seems even more unearthly.
2. Dead valley, Namib desert, Namibia
Dead trees in Dead Vlei valley — a kind monuments to themselves. Once sand dunes cut off the valley from the river, and the trees withered and died. Scientists believe that in this state they are more than 600 years.
1. The Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina
The secret of the unusual color of the Perito Moreno glacier is that dense compacted ice absorbs all the colors of the spectrum except blue. This majestic glacier you can not only see but also hear cracking ice creates amazing and like no other melody.
