At first glance, Laguna Colorada looks as though someone has spilt red paint across a remote corner of the Andes. Against the pale mineral islands and rugged mountains of southwestern Bolivia, the shallow lake glows in shades of brick red, rust and pink. Flocks of flamingos wade through its waters, feeding in a landscape that feels almost unreal.
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| Laguna Colorada is a striking high-altitude lake in southwestern Bolivia, known for its reddish water and remarkable natural landscape. |
About 35 kilometres off the southern coast of São Paulo, Brazil, a small, forested island rises from the Atlantic Ocean. From a distance, Ilha da Queimada Grande looks like an ordinary patch of green surrounded by blue water. Its steep, rocky shoreline and thick vegetation, however, conceal something unusual: a venomous snake found naturally nowhere else on Earth.
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| Ilha da Queimada Grande rises from the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil's southeastern coast. |
In Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, a grove of quaking aspens hides a surprising secret. Thousands of white-barked trunks rise from the ground, spreading across the mountainside. In autumn, their leaves turn a rich golden yellow; when the wind picks up, the canopy seems to ripple.
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| Pando is an enormous, quaking aspen clone in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, known for its interconnected root system. |
On the southern coast of Sydney, the Pacific Ocean has created something that looks almost too neat to be natural. Cut into a wide sandstone platform in the Royal National Park, the Figure 8 Pools are a collection of shallow rock pools, including one famous formation shaped remarkably like the number 8.
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| The famous Figure 8 Pool is a natural sandstone formation shaped by the long-term action of ocean waves. |
Deep beneath the green hills of Waikato lies a place that seems almost unreal. The Waitomo Glowworm Caves are famous for a dark underground chamber where thousands of tiny blue-green lights shine above visitors like stars in a night sky. The experience is especially memorable because visitors view the glowworms from a quiet boat moving along an underground stream.
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| A spectacular glowworm cave in New Zealand creates a starry-sky effect, with hundreds of tiny lights glowing against the darkness. |
On the flat floor of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, rocks appear to have travelled across the desert by themselves. Some leave long, winding trails behind them, while nearby stones remain exactly where they were. For decades, nobody could watch the rocks move, which made the place one of the strangest natural mysteries in the American West.
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| A sailing stone leaves a long trail across Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. |
Deep in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, a strange red stain cuts through a wall of ice. It looks almost like blood spilling from Taylor Glacier, which is why the site became known as Blood Falls. But there is nothing supernatural about it. The strange colour comes from salty water, rich in iron, that has been held captive beneath the glacier for an unusually long time. One of the strangest sights in nature on Earth is when this ancient brine reaches the surface, reacts with oxygen, and turns a rusty red.
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| Blood Falls seeps from the end of Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney in Antarctica. |
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| The emerald-green waters of Charco de los Clicos contrast with Lanzarote's black volcanic coastline. |
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| The unique Devil's Kettle Waterfall on Minnesota's Brule River. [Photo | Source] |
Sometimes a tree develops a strange-looking mass of branches that seems completely out of place. Instead of growing in the usual pattern, dozens of short twigs crowd together in one area, creating a tangled ball that can look surprisingly like a bird's nest. This unusual growth is known as witches' broom.
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| Witches' broom growing on a forest tree—Photo | Source |
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| The Methuselah Tree is a famous ancient Great Basin bristlecone pine in California’s White Mountains. |
Mono Lake, California, is one of the most unusual natural places in the United States. The high desert lake of the Eastern Sierra is an ancient one, noted for its salty water, strange limestone tufa towers, volcanic islands, and remarkable flocks of migratory birds. Mono Lake looks almost like a different planet at first sight. Yet behind its strange appearance is a fascinating story of geology, wildlife, water and conservation.
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| The striking tufa towers of Mono Lake with the Sierra Nevada rising in the background. |
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| Brilliant white chalk formations spread across the White Desert near Farafra Oasis. |
Hocking Hills State Park is where Ohio shows off its dramatic, almost secret side. Deep sandstone gorge, echoing rock shelters, cool forest trails and waterfalls create a landscape that feels a world away from the everyday. The caves in Hocking Hills are among the most memorable outdoor experiences in the Midwest for hikers, photographers, families, and weekend travellers.
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| Explore the dramatic sandstone gorge, waterfalls, and forest scenery at Old Man’s Cave. |
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| The colourful waters of Five Flower Lake, located in Jiuzhaigou Valley, are a stunning feature of the area. |
At first glance, the Río de la Plata can look more like a sea than a river. It is enormously wide, carries vast quantities of freshwater, and opens toward the Atlantic Ocean between Argentina and Uruguay. Yet its story begins farther inland, where the waters of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers come together to form one of South America's most important estuaries.
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| The vast Río de la Plata stretches between Argentina and Uruguay. |
Rising dramatically above the forests of central Sri Lanka, Sigiriya is one of the country's most extraordinary historic sites. The enormous rock seems to rise from the ground, its steep sides towering over the surrounding green landscape. At the summit are the remains of an ancient royal citadel, while the gardens, ponds, frescoes and monumental entrance below reveal how carefully the site was designed.
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| Sigiriya rises dramatically above the surrounding forests of central Sri Lanka. |
On the rugged Oregon Coast, there is a natural formation that looks almost impossible. Thor’s Well appears to swallow seawater from the Pacific Ocean, then suddenly send it rushing back into the air. The dramatic hole sits on the rocky shoreline of Cape Perpetua, near Yachats, where powerful waves constantly reshape the basalt coast.
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| Thor’s Well sits among the rugged rocks of Oregon’s Pacific coastline. |
Drive across the rolling grasslands of northeastern Wyoming, and, at some point, you'll catch sight of it before you're ready — a grey column rising out of nowhere, standing apart from every hill and ridge around it. That's Devils Tower. Pictures never quite capture it — up close, it feels less like part of the scenery and more like something that showed up and refused to leave
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| The tower seen from the surrounding pine forest |
Bolton Strid is one of the most striking and deceptive natural features in Yorkshire. Here, the River Wharfe suddenly squeezes through a narrow rocky channel in Strid Wood, near Bolton Abbey. From the surrounding woodland, the scene can look almost peaceful: green trees, moss-covered rocks and clear rushing water. Yet the Strid has an entirely unique reputation from an ordinary riverside viewpoint.
The river is forced through a tight opening at intense pressure, while the rocks and water conceal hazards beneath the surface. The Bolton Abbey Estate itself warns visitors that the Strid is extremely dangerous and that lives have been lost there.
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| The River Wharfe narrows dramatically at Bolton Strid near Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire. |
A circular island in the middle of a Dutch lake might look like an unusual piece of land reclamation. But IJsseloog has a far more specific ...
