What are some of the most bizarre places around the world which are less known to people?
Q. What are some of the most bizarre places around the world which are less known to people?
The Earth is full of various bizarre and mysterious places. I would point out only those places which are lesser known to the people. That’s why I won’t mention places like “The Stonehenge from England” or “Giant Heads/statues of Easter Island” or the “Nazca lines in Peru” because they are quite famous.
1) The Great Blue Hole- Belize:
The Great Blue Hole is a submarine sinkhole near the coast of Belize. It is at the center of the Lighthouse Riff which is 70 km away from the Belize city.
The hole is perfectly circular in shape and it has a diameter of 300 meters. It is 108 meter deep. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Jacques Cousteau founded this great amazing destination in 1971 and made it famous. According to him, it is one of the best Scuba diving points in the world. In 2012, it was declared No. 1 in the list of Discovery Channel’s “The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth".
Source:- Great Blue Hole - Wikipedia
2) Red Beach in Panjin, China:
Red Beach in Panjin is the biggest wetland and reed marsh in the world. The landscape consists of red plants called Suaeda Salsa which cause such red effect.
When we think about beach, the picture of sand comes to our mind. This is the first beach which has no sand but instead, is covered with red sea weed. It is the host of the most completed ecosystem that can be found. The area has become the dwelling ground of more than 260 kinds of birds and 399 kinds of wild animals.
3) Skaftafell:
The ice caves of Skaftafell are found in Iceland during the winter only. They are found when glacial rivers retract and the water freezes. Each year, new caves are formed at new places.
Due to the nature of the ice frozen in these caves, the caves are also called “crystal caves”.
4) Ram setu (Adam’s bridge):
Ram Setu is situated in Tamil Nadu, India. It is a series of limestone shoal. It stretches from Rameswaram Island off the coast of Tamil Nadu, India and Mannar Island off the coast of Sri Lanka.
According to the Hindu belief, Prince Ram built this bridge to go to Sri Lanka from India to rescue his beloved wife Sita.
Source:- Adam's Bridge - Wikipedia
5) Thor’s Well:
The Thor’s Well is also known as Spouting Horn. It looks like as if a natural hole is draining the sea. It gives an impression as if the hole is swallowing the streams of water and then shoots the water upwards with great force
The Thor’s well is situated at Oregon coast, USA.
Source:- Thor's Well
6) Salar de Uyuni:
Salar de Uyuni is world's largest salt flat. Due to transformations between several prehistoric lakes, the Salar was formed. The geographical change lead to the formation of Salar.
The Salar is spread up to 10,582 square kilometers. It is situated at approximately 12,000 ft. above the sea level. The Salar is unique for the optical tricks which looks like white hexagonal tiles that seem to continue forever. People can drive over it during winter. During summer, the Salar becomes a giant pool. The reflection of sky and clouds can be seen under your feet.
Source:- Salar de Uyuni - Wikipedia
7) Magnetic Hill in Ladakh:
This hill is a “gravity hill” situated at Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
The layout and landscape of the hill is in a bizarre fashion where a “downhill” drive looks like an “uphill” drive. Since it is a downhill drive, the vehicles actually roll downhill but the surrounding landscape gives an optical illusion that the vehicle is rolling “uphill” automatically.
Source:- Magnetic Hill (India) - Wikipedia
8) Lake Natron- The petrified lake:
Lake Natron is a salt and soda lake in northern Tanzania. It is situated within the Lake Natron Basin. The lake receives it water from the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River.
Huge amount of evaporation has left behind natron (sodium carbonate decahydrate) and trona (sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate). The lake has high pH value more than 12.
The alkaline water has a pH value up to 12. It is highly caustic and can burn the skin and eyes of animals which are not adapted to it. The alkalinity is due to the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake from the nearby hills. Deposits of sodium carbonate acts as a good type of preservative for the animals which somehow died in the water.
Photographer Nick Brandt found some creatures whose bodies were preserved due to calcification. He used these “preserved” corpses of the creatures for his photo-shoot. One of the famous photos is this:-
Source:- Lake That Turns Animals to Stone? Not Quite, PHOTOS: Deadly Lake Turns Animals Into 'Statues'
9) The Spotted Lake:
The Spotted Lake is situated at Osoyoos, British Columbia in Canada. It is a saline endorheic lake. It is richly concentrated with different minerals.
The lake is revered by Syilx people. During summer, the water of the pool evaporates and leaves behind small mineral pools. Each one of the small pools are different in color than the one beside it.
Aerial view of the lake.
Source:- Spotted Lake, Canada
10) Cano Cristales- The river of five color:
It is a Columbian river which is also known as “The Rainbow River” for it’s striking color. The river is situated at Serrania de la Macarena province of Meta.
From July to December, the river turns into ruby red color. The red color is due to great quantities of endemic plant species Macarenia clavígera.
Source:- Caño Cristales - Wikipedia
11) Goblin Valley State Park:
It looks really weird and that’s why it has been a shooting attraction for Hollywood film like Galaxy Quest.
The park is situated at 216 miles southeast of Salt Lake city in Utah. The park has numerous hoodoos and hoodoo rocks which are referred as “goblins”.
The goblin rocks are formations of mushroom-shaped rocky pinnacles. There are erosion-resistant layer of rocks at the top of softer sandstone which don’t get eroded and hence give unique shapes.
Source:- Goblin Valley State Park - Wikipedia
12) Socotra Island:
Socotra Island is found in Yemen. It was separated from mainland Africa more than six million years ago.
Socotra has unique and incredible biodiversity. The plants and trees in Socotra island are endemic means- they can not be found anywhere else in the world. Not only this, the plants have evolved over millions of years. The flora and fauna of the island makes it look like an alien world.
The most unique and bizarre flora in Socotra island are the bizarre dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena cinnabariand) which has umbrella like shape. The Dragon’s blood tree yields red colored sap which is used in paint and tarnish.
Other endemic plants from Socotra are
- The bulbous bottle tree Brachychiton rupestris,
- The giant succulent tree Dorstenia gigas
- The cucumber tree Dendrosicyos socotranus,
- The rare Socotran pomegranate (Punica protopunica),
- Aloe perryi
- Boswellia socotrana
13) Lake Hillier:
Lake Hillier is a pink lake on the Middle island. The Middle Island is the largest island of the Recherche Archipelago which is off the coast of Esperance in Western Australia.
The lake is 600 meters long. It is surrounded by a sand and dense woods. The woods contains paperbark and eucalyptus trees.
Lake Hillier is saline in nature. The pink colour is permanent. It does not change when the water is taken in a container. Scientists consider that the pink colour is due to the presence of an organism called Dunaliella salina.
Source:- Lake Hillier - Wikipedia
14) The Giant’s Causeway:
It is an area of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. This is located at County Atrim of northeast cost of Northern Ireland.
About 60 million years ago, a huge volcano erupted to spout out molten mass of basalt which got solidified after cooling, resulting into many polygonal columns.
Source:- Giant's Causeway - Wikipedia
15) Beach glass:
Glass beach is a beach in MacKerricher State Park. It is situated near Fort Bragg, California. The beach contains abundant ea glasses.
Sea Glass are physically or chemically weathered glass found in beaches along with bodies of salt water. These are formed from garbage which has been dumped into coastline since years.
16) Hide & Seek Beach:
This beach is situated at Chandipur in the state of Odisha, India. The beach is unique in certain respect. The water recedes up to 5 kilometers during the ebb tide. It seems as if the beach has suddenly vanished. During high tide, or normal tide, the beach becomes full with waves.
Following image is taken during the normal time.
And this image is taken during the low tide. The beach has vanished remarkably.
17) Roopkund:
Roopkund lake is a glacial lake. It is also known as Skeletal Lake because of numerous human skeletons found in it.
The skeletons date back to 9th century. The lake and the skeletons were discovered during 1942. According to the local legend, the skeletons belong to the troop of a king from Kannauj.
Due to round shaped injuries and crack in the skulls, It is believed that the whole troop died in a hailstorm at Roopkund.
18) The world’s only “Floating Lake”:
The Loktak Lake is located at Moirang in Manipur, India. It is world’s only floating lake.
It is also the largest freshwater lake in the North-east. There are floating vegetation and decomposed organic mass which are called “phumdis”. The phumdis are perfectly circular in shape, floating on the surface. These are clusters of vegetation, soil and other organic matter. Some of these floating phumdis or islands are so big that resorts have been built on them. It is due to these floating phumdis that the lake is called “Floating Lake”. The lake is big on biodiversity. Total of 233 species of aquatic plants can be found here.
Source:- Loktak Lake - Wikipedia
19) Chembra Lake:
The lake of Chembra is located in the Wayanad hill ranges, near the town of Meppady, Kerala, India. The lake has a heart-like shape. It is a romantic tourist spot and the landscape is remarkable.
20) Living Root bridge of Cherrapunji:
Living root bridges are a form of tree shaping practised in Meghalaya. The aerial roots of the rubber trees are shaped and thus, handmade bridges were made. These bridges are made by the Khasi and Jaintia people.
Comments