Humans have transformed Earth beyond
recovery, but luckily not everything is lost yet. Beautiful mountains,
blue water lakes, magnificent oceans with fabulous islands – our planet
has many breathtaking places and awe-inspiring sceneries just waiting
for you to discover them.
However, life is short, and the funds
are limited, so we have to narrow down the selection. Knowing that you
are just another lazy panda, we’ve done it for you!
We’ve picked 41 most amazing places in
the world, however it is said that “beauty is in the eye of the
beholder”, so you may as well have your very own personal list of
places to see before you die.
1. Antelope Canyon, USA
Bamboos for:
James Marvin Phelps ,
Rob Inh00d
Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and
most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located
on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon includes two
separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as
Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The
Corkscrew. The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní,
which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Lower Antelope
Canyon is Hazdistazí, or “spiral rock arches.”
Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of
Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due
to other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon
season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections,
picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over
time the passageways are eroded away, making the corridors deeper and
smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic ‘flowing’
shapes in the rock.
[1]
2. The Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
Bamboos for:
Jo@net ,
Goianobe ,
CX15
The Phi Phi Islands are located in Thailand, between the large island
of Phuket and the western Andaman Sea coast of the mainland.
[13]
Classic beaches, stunning rock formations, and vivid turquoise waters
teeming with colourful marine life – it’s paradise perfected.
[14]
3. Santorini, Greece
Bamboos for:
MarcelGermain , Maggie & David
Santorini is perhaps the most
fascinating and most talked about island of Greece in the Aegean. Only
the name of the island is enough to unfold in mind pleasurable
connotations, volcanic landscape, gray and red beaches, dazzling white
houses, terraces with panoramic sea views , stunning sunsets, wild fun.
All this, together with remnants of lost civilizations discovered in the
volcanic ash justify the epithets with which visitors identify
Santorini and fairly is called, magical, indescribable, astonishing.
[3]
4. Maldive Islands
Bamboos for:
iujaz ,
aquabumps
The Maldives lies in two rows of atolls
in the Indian Ocean, just across the equator. The country is made up of
1,190 coral islands formed around 26 natural ring-like atolls, spread
over 90,000 square kilometers. These atolls structures are formed upon a
sharp ridge rising from the ocean, making way for their secluded
uniqueness.
Maldives has deep blue seas, turquoise
reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It is also a place full of
character, where its people have long spent their days languishing in
the very essence of idyll living. While it is the perfect place to sit
on a beach and watch a sunset with a cocktail balanced on your hand, it
is also a geographical marvel, knowing that there are thousands of fish
swimming around the vivid corals just a few feet away from where you
sit.
[4]
5. Machu Picchu, Peru
Bamboos for:
Tati@ ,
szeke ,
magnusvk
Machu Picchu stands 2,430 m above
sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an
extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing
urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls,
terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the
continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes
of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity
of flora and fauna.
[5]
The Incas started building the “estate”
around AD 1400, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers
a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known
locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to
international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham.
[6]
6. The Great Wall of China
Bamboos for:
Francisco Diez ,
topgold
The Great Wall of China, one of the
greatest wonders of the world, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO
in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down
across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching
approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of
China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are
now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most
appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural
grandeur and historical significance.
[7]
7. Iceland
Bamboos for:
shchukin ,
Stuck in Customs
Fire and Ice offers a stunning portrait
of this island of extremes, where some of Europe’s biggest glaciers cozy
up to some of the continent’s hottest volcanic springs.
[8]
Every season has its own unique charm and there are always
opportunities to experience new things, discover beauty and be
mesmerized by the freshness and colours of nature.
[9]
8. Bora Bora Island
Bamboos for:
kenyai ,
jsmoral ,
Pierre Lesage
Bora Bora emerged from the waters 3
millions years ago. Like all the other Polynesian islands, this volcanic
island slowly sinking in the ocean. It currently presents particular
geological characteristics ranging in between a high island and an atoll
status. Island has unforgettable turquoise lagoon – where a multi-color
aquatic fauna (sting & manta rays, sharks, tropical fishes) can be
observed by outrigger canoe, boat or diving explorations. The coral reef
includes a string of islets and gorgeous white sand beaches surrounding
the main island.
[10]
9. The Wave, Arizona, USA
Bamboos for:
Alaskan Dude ,
DIVA007
The Wave is a sandstone rock formation
located in the United States of America near the Arizona and Utah border
on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion
Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. Nearly 200 million years
ago, this region was a sandy desert where huge dunes migrated across the
landscape pushed by seasonal winds. Prevailing winds of that ancient
Jurassic time can be determined by examining the cross-bedding (layers)
in the sandstone. What we see today are some of the original crossbedded
dunes shaped into dramatic landforms and exposed by erosion from eons
of runoff. The spectacular ribbons of various colors called Liesegang
Bands, were formed by movement and precipitation of oxidizing materials
such as iron and manganese by ground water[1]. Thin veins or fins of
calcite cut across the sandstone, adding another dimension to the
landscape.
[11]
10. Petra, Jordan
Bamboos for:
ralwic ,
rwoan
Petra, the world wonder, is without a
doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction.
It is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the
Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000
years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and
other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with
Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.
[12]
