Vale da Lua, Brazil: The Incredible Moon Valley of Goiás

In the heart of the Brazilian cerrado, there is a landscape that looks like it is from another planet. Vale da Lua, or Moon Valley, is an impressive rock formation in the state of Goiás, close to Alto Paraíso de Goiás. It is one of the most unusual places to visit in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, with strange sculpted rocks, narrow channels, natural pools and smooth curves.

The name comes from the rocks' appearance. Over thousands of years, water has worn down the old stone into rounded shapes and winding grooves. Standing among them, it is easy to understand why visitors compare the landscape to the surface of the Moon.

Vale da Lua is renowned for its unusual rock formations in Goiás, Brazil.

Zone of Silence Mexico: The Mystery of Mapimí

In the middle of northern Mexico lies a remote desert landscape that has drawn curious travellers, scientists, and storytellers for decades. Known as the Zone of Silence, the area is associated with the vast Bolsón de Mapimí and the surrounding Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, where the states of Durango, Chihuahua, and Coahuila meet. The place became famous for its stories of strange radio behaviour, unusual magnetic effects, meteorites, and even a military rocket that reportedly crashed in the area. Some of these stories have been repeated so often that they are now part of the desert's identity.

The remote desert landscape of the Zone of Silence stretches across the Mapimí region.

La Rinconada Peru: The Highest Permanent Settlement in the World

Imagine living in a place where every breath feels like a struggle, where the temperature rarely rises above freezing, and where the air holds only half the oxygen found at sea level. Welcome to La Rinconada, Peru. Perched at a staggering 5,100 metres (16,732 feet) above sea level in the majestic Peruvian Andes, this remote enclave holds the official Guinness World Records title for the highest permanent human settlement on Earth. 

Yet, nobody comes to La Rinconada for the alpine views or the crisp mountain air. They come for one thing only: gold. Tucked precariously beneath the shadow of Mount Ananea’s glacier, affectionately called "La Bella Durmiente" (The Sleeping Beauty), La Rinconada is a city built entirely on the modern gold rush. It is a place of dizzying paradoxes—a settlement frozen in time, yet hyper-connected to the volatile swings of global commodity markets.

La Rinconada, Peru, sits at about 5,100 metres above sea level in the remote Andes and is famous for its extreme altitude and gold-mining economy.

Mount Roraima: Gran Sabana, Venezuela

Rising dramatically above the vast grasslands of Gran Sabana in Venezuela, Mount Roraima is one of the most extraordinary landscapes in South America, surrounded by three different countries: Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. Its enormous flat-topped summit, towering cliffs, misty valleys, and unusual plants make it look almost unreal. From a distance, the mountain resembles a gigantic stone table floating above the surrounding landscape. Its sheer vertical cliff walls rise 7,671 feet (2,338 meters) above the surrounding forest floor, creating a surreal "floating island"

Mount Roraima rises dramatically above the grasslands of Venezuela's Gran Sabana.

Río de la Plata: Where the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers Meet

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.

The vast Río de la Plata stretches between Argentina and Uruguay.

Boiling Lake: Dominica

BOILING LAKE — The area of volcanic activity in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, Dominica is in the Caribbean. This park covers nearly 7,000 hectares and features five volcanoes, many hot springs, and other craters, as well as a large, famous boiling lake. Dominica Boiling Lake is actually a submerged hole or vent in the earth's crust. The gray-green pool of water bubbles at around 92 degrees Celsius. The heat and gas from the molten lava below heat the water. A cloud of water vapor covers the lake's surface.

Boiling lake

Atacama Desert Flowers

Nature amazes us all. One of the most amazing natural wonders is Chile's the Atacama Desert. It is considered to be the driest and highest desert on Earth. The region might not see rain for many years. Temperatures range from 0°C at night to 40°C during the day. The driest desert of all is where miracles can be performed. The El Nino phenomenon caused an increase in winter rains, which led to a surprising outcome: the desert burst into bloom with a bounty of color and flowers. The desert was covered in wildflowers, with thousands to even millions of wildflowers.

Desert Bloom

Meeting of Waters | Encontro das Aguas

The Meeting of Waters | Encontro das Águas is a phenomenon that happens at the confluence of the Negro River, of black water, and the Solimões River, of muddy water, where the waters of rivers flow side by side without mixing for an extension of more than 6 km. Then the waters of the two rivers come together and start to be called the Amazon River, one of the primary economic and transport means for the inhabitants of Manaus, Brazil. The meeting of the waters of these two rivers is one of the main tourist attractions in the region.

Meeting of Waters | Encontro das Aguas

Belmond Andean Explorer Train | The first luxurious train of South America

Belmond Andean Explorer Train | The first luxurious train of South America, Since the summer of 2017. The Belmond Andean Explorer - travels through the majestic Andean countryside along some of the world's highest-lying railroads. The first thing that arouses interest is its route: it runs between Cuzco (the ancient capital of the Inca Empire) and the picturesque city of Arequipa. The second thing that will not leave you indifferent is its interior, made in the spirit of the 1920s and 1930s, and the unique views that open up to travelers.

Venezuelan Poodle Moth

The Venezuelan Poodle Moth is one of the strangest-looking moths ever photographed. It looks more like a tiny furry animal than an insect due to its thick, fluffy appearance, pale body and unusual facial features. There is an interesting story behind this famous picture, though. The picture is authentic, but the insect has not been identified to species level. What scientists do know about it is based mostly on a photograph taken in Venezuela in 2009. 

The mysterious Venezuelan Poodle Moth became famous for its unusually fluffy appearance.

The Unique Boiling River in Peru, Shanay-Timpishka

The unique and very dangerous river Mayantuyacu, also known as Shanay-Timpishka (loosely translated as “warmed by the heat of the sun”), is located in the depths of the tropical forests of the Peruvian Amazon. The maximum width of the river is 25 meters, the depth is 6 meters, and the length is 6.4 kilometers.

Caño Cristales, The most beautiful river in the world

Caño Cristales is called the "most beautiful river in the world" and especially among Colombians, who consider it one of its great natural treasures or "the river of the five colors"; But some also refer to this strange flow, located in the Natural Park of the Sierra de la Macarena department of Meta, in a more poetic way: "the river that escaped from Paradise" or "the rainbow that melted" . Everything is due to the incredible color palette that floods its waters during the driest months that's go from July to November. The red and fuchsia color is caused by a type of native algae that develops especially during those months in which the rains fall. But there are no shortages between the pools, waterfalls and meanders that make up this 100-kilometer-long stream of yellow, green, blue and black.

El Peñón de Guatapé: Colombia’s Giant Rock

Standing in the countryside of Antioquia, El Peñón de Guatapé looks almost out of place. The enormous rock rises sharply above the surrounding hills, with the blue waters of the Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir spreading out around it. Visitors can climb the staircase built into the rock and reach a viewpoint high above the landscape. From there, the maze of water, islands, and green hills looks entirely different. The rock also has a story that goes well beyond tourism, with an unusual geological past, a famous first climb in 1954, and a long connection with the people who lived in this part of Colombia.

El Peñón de Guatapé rises dramatically above the surrounding landscape in Antioquia, Colombia.

Ojos del Salar | The Eyes of the Salt Flat, Chile

The Ojos del Salar “The Eyes of the Salt Flat” Two perfectly round pools in the middle of a wide expanse of cracked earth, sand and brittle clumps of grass. Ojos del Salado - a miracle of nature on the border between Argentina and Chile or we can say located in the salt flats of Chile. The eyes of the salt plain are perfectly round, freshwater lakes, about 20 miles from the town of San Pedro de Atacama. They are accessed from a sandy road, and these two freshwater lakes connect with distant rivers through underground caves, are commonly visited as part of a larger trip to two other lakes in the area, a little south of the Laguna de Cejar and Laguna Tebenquiche are surrounded by spectacular mountains. 

Photo credit © Haroldo Horta Tricallotis

Island of the Dolls

La Isla De Las Muñecas, also known as the Island of the Dolls. It is located in the channels of Xochimilco, south of the Estadio Azteca soccer stadium, Mexico city, Mexico. One of the main attractions of the channels of the chinampa of the Laguna de Teshuilo. Don Julian Santana Barrera, the former owner of this island, placed dolls in various styles and colours. He believed that hanging dolls warded off the spirit of a drowned girl years before. He died in 2001 from a heart stroke. Sources claim that he was near the spot where the girl drowned.

Island of the dolls

Kaieteur Falls, The Worlds Most Spectacular and Most Powerful Waterfall

Kaieteur Falls is a waterfall on the Potaro River  is located in Kaieteur National Park and is in the centre of Guyana's rain-forest. It is 226 meters or 741 feet, when it was measured from its lope over a sandstone cliff to the first break. It then flows over a series of steep cascades that, when included in the measurements, bring the total height to 251 meters or 822 feet. Posteriorly, the locals named the falls Kaieteur, or “Old Man Falls”. Kaieteur Falls is about five times higher than the more well known Niagara Falls, and about two times the height of the Victoria Falls located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa. 

Photo credit Jeppe Klockareson

Chan Chan, The World's Largest Adobe City

Chan Chan is an archaeological site and the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, located in the Moche Valley, 5 kilometers from Trujillo, Peru. Its extension covers 20 square kilometers and had a dense urban center of 6 km². Chan Chan constructed by under the flag of Chimor the kingdom of the Chimú. The Chimu Kingdom, with Chan Chan as its powerful capital, reached its apogee in the 15th century, not long before falling to the Incas. A late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. Chan Chan is the world largest adobe city and Chan means sun-sun. Chan Chan was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1986, when it was also added in the list of world heritage in danger due to the torrential rains that destroyed the citadel, earthquakes, or rise of the first layer of groundwater beneath the area.

Lençóis Maranhenses, Crystal clear water between the Dunes

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, also known as Parque Nacional Dos Lençóis Maranhenses, is a national forest located in northeastern Brazil's Maranhão state, just east of the Baia de Sao Jose. The park, which covers 155,000 ha, was declared a national park on June 2, 1981. It includes a seventy-kilometre coastline and an interior made up of rolling dunes. The impermeable rock below prevents the freshwater from draining and fills the valleys with water lagoons. The park is home to various species, and it has become a popular spot for ecotourists.

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

The 15 Moai, Ahu Tongariki | Easter Island

The Moai, huge sculptures shaped human head, the main tourist attraction of Easter Island, Valparaíso Region, Chile. Easter Island has several settlements called Ahu "Altars", where a group of more or less numerous Moai meets, but always perfectly organized and looking in the same direction. Ahu Tongariki is the name of the settlement largest moai in terms of size and situation. Ahu Tongariki is located on the east coast of the island, about 20 kilometers from the capital Hanga Roa, between the coves of Hanga Hanga Hotu Iti and Nui. Ahu Tongariki is an altar, one composed of 15 figures aligned parallel to the coast, stand with their backs to the sea, as virtually all of the island Moai facing the center of it.

Rodovia dos Imigrantes, Brazil

Rodovia dos Imigrantes, officially known as "SP-160" — The road over the trees is a highway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The highway connects the city of São Paulo to the Atlantic coast and with the seaside cities of São Vicente and Praia Grande. It follows the route of Rodovia Anchieta and is also one of Brazil's busiest highways, especially on weekends. Rodovia dos Imigrantes has 44 viaducts, 7 bridges, and 11 tunnels, along its 58.5 km stretch. The highway has recently been expanded, in one of the most audacious feats of Brazilian highway engineering, with extremely long tunnels and high strutting six-lane bridges constructed over the tropical rain forest which covers the steep faces of the Serra do Mar, the cliff range that separates the São Paulo plateau from the seaside lowlands. During sunny weekends, more than 1 million automobiles commonly cross its near 60 km run, separating the city of São Paulo from the sea.