There is no dearth of natural wonders in our planet, which makes it nearly impossible to pick up only a few ‘BEST’ for this post. Moreover, the choice is subjective. Most people keep talking about the 7 beautiful wonders of the world. However, we have prolonged the list to include 12 wonders of the world and all awe-inspiring places on our list are only natural, not man-made.
To some, these wonders may look like out-of-the-world panorama, scenarios found in the pages of a fable book or what you see in your dream. However, they are very much real and big crowd-pullers from all over the world.
Angel Falls: Even a distant view of the world’s highest waterfall will make you fall in love with it. It is also called Santo Angel in Venezuela. Water falling down from a height of 979 metres and making a loud sound breaks the silence of the surroundings. In fact, due to such a great height, much of its water evaporates even before reaching the ground below.
Victoria Falls: Widely known as “The Smoke That Thunders”, it is nestled in southern Africa. This is the world’s largest waterfall with a dimension of 1,708 m x 108 m.
Davolja Varos (the Devil’s Town): The place features more than 200 formations also known as ‘earth pyramids’, with height ranging from 2-15 metre. According to geologists, soil erosion created this unique land formation in an area that previously suffered intense and frequent volcanic activities.
Chocolate Hills: The place exemplifies a perfect Karst topography. Nestled in Bohol, Philippines, Chocolate Hills comprise 1, 776 hills made of limestone. Those hills have a thick covering of green grass. During the dry season, the grass turns chocolate colour after getting dried up.
The Aurora (Borealis and Australis): Every year, thousands of itching feet crowd Norway for the spectacular phenomenon known as the Borealis and Australis. The natural display of light is clearly visible at night, at the poles of the Earth. The phenomenon is caused due to the collision between the charged particles, which are directed by the magnetic field of the Earth, in the ionosphere.
Meteor Crater: The crater, created by the meteoric impact, is located in Arizona. It is 1.2 km long and 170 m deep. A 45-m high rim surrounds the crater. As per geologists, the crater is 50, 000 years old. They believe that the crater was formed when a 50-m wide nickel iron meteor hit the Earth at the speed of 12.8 km/second.
Jeira Grotto: These are two karstic limestone caves extending approximately 9 kilometres in length. Carbonic acid dissolved limestone and formed this magnificent structure over millions of years.
Aldabra: It is the second largest coral atoll of the world. An atoll is a ribbon reef circling a lagoon and looks like a ring. Nestled in the Indian Ocean, the place is a wonderful resort to the Aldabra tortoise. Aldabra has made it to the list of the World Heritage Sites.
Tsingy de Bemaraha: Another great example of Karst Topography, the park is situated near the western coast of Madagascar. It has been earmarked as a World Heritage Site. The virgin lakes and mangrove forests make the place a natural and undisturbed habitat for rare and endangered birds and lemurs.
Perito Mereno Glacier: The 30-km long glacier is located in Argentina and considered the world’s third largest reserve of freshwater. The glowing glacier looks splendid and is one of the three Patagonia glaciers.
Uluru: It is also called Ayers Rock. The huge rocky sandstone formation is one of the most recognized hallmarks of Australia. Measuring 348 m in height and 9.4 km in circumference, the island mountain emerged as a result of continuous erosion of surrounding rocks due to the lack of jointing and eventual parting at the bedding surfaces.
Purnululu National Park: Nestled in the north east of Australia, this park is known for its striped sandstone domes that keep alternating between grey and orange bands, due to the porous sandstone layers and different clay content.
Summary: We have compiled a list of 12 wonders of the world for our readers’ digest.
