These years its more than ever has been a chance to appreciate nature and everything it offers. It is a time when the tourism industry ground to a halt, it’s a perfect opportunity to look at some of the world’s unspoilt and untouched places that are so beautiful because it has left them as pure as nature itself. Its masmirizing beauty would give you an amazing experience.
Hang Sơn Đoòng, Vietnam
Son Dong is one of the world’s largest natural caves which are recently explored. It was first discovered in 1990 by a local man, Ho Khanh while searching Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park for food and timber to earn a modest income. During his search, he stumbled across an opening in a limestone cliff. He noticed clouds billowing out from the entrance and heard the sounds of a river raging from somewhere inside. He then returned home and forgot about the cave. Ho Khanh then met Howard and Deb Limbert of the British Cave Research Association (BRCA), who were then conducting exploratory caving expeditions in the area. After hearing his stories, they urged Ho Khanh to rediscover the cave. After several attempts, which he eventually did in 2008. In 2009, he led Howard, Deb and a team of other caving professionals to the opening. After the first survey in 2009, the team could conclude that the cave had the largest cross-section of any cave anywhere on the planet. The cave was named “Son Doong” and Ho Khanh is still an integral part of every Son Doong Expedition.
The Rao Thuong River made the cave, which carved out the cave, while large dolines which are also known as skylights collapsed, creating giant openings to the sky. Stalagmites the size of buildings have formed from water dripping from the cave ceiling, while the key passage is over 1.8m long and ceilings can reach up to 200m tall. Son Dong is so big that it could fit a New York skyscraper. This beautiful place is nothing less than a fantasy world.
It is the home to the “Great Wall of Vietnam,” with a 90m high calcite barrier. It has various unusual cave formations, including huge cave pearls, towering stalagmites and phytokarst. It is nestled in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, home to some of the world’s largest caves.
Namib Desert, Namibia
Namib Desert is a coastal desert in the southern area of Namibia, Africa. It is known for its burnt orange-golden sands. The Namib desert has been dry for at least 55 million years and most probably 80 million. Parts of it rival the Atacama Desert for the driest place on earth. The name Namib means vast space. It stretches for over 1200 miles along Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The dunes of this beautiful desert can reach up to 980 feet high and span 20 miles long. The incredible temperatures when collide with cold currents create a fog belt that often envelops the desert.
Namib desert has always been the same throughout the times as compared to Sahara desert. The Sahara, with just 12,000 years ago, was a mixture of green savannah grasslands and forests. Unlike Namib desert, the kinds of charismatic African mega-fauna that make us all want to go on safari inhabited the Sahara.
The world’s oldest desert has this extremely arid ecoregion comprises shifting sand dunes, gravel plains, and rugged mountains. The Namib Desert is completely devoid of surface water but bisected by several dry riverbeds. These riverbeds are vegetated and are home to a few ungulates, such as Hartmann’s zebras. The south of the desert is extremely dry and even lacks dry riverbeds. The gemsbok is the only large mammal to occur in this harsh environment. Thick fogs are very frequent along the coast of the desert. They are the lifeblood of the desert, providing enough moisture for several interesting, highly adapted animal species to survive.
Bhutan
Bhutan is a Buddhist kingdom which lies on the Himalayas’ eastern edge. We know it for its monasteries, fortresses also known as dzongs and dramatic landscapes that have a range of subtropical plains to steep mountains and valleys. Its popular trekking destinations include the High Himalayas peaks such as 7,326m Jumolhari. Above the forested Park Valley lies the Paro Taktsang monastery, which is also known as Tiger’s Nest, which clings to cliffs.
This little visited country is on the Himalayas’ eastern edge and is officially known as the Kingdom of Bhutan. We know it for its dramatic landscapes that range from subtropics to towering cliffs. The beauty of this place is filled with wild, flowing rivers, crystal blue lakes, snow-capped peaks and glaciers, and jungles. There are no traffic lights because it has escaped the claws of mass tourism and kept its culture and remoteness.
Bhutan is the only Vajrayana Buddhist nation in the world. The profound teachings of this tradition remain well preserved and exert a powerful influence on all aspects of life. The tiny Kingdom of Bhutan has been called “The Last Shangrila” because of its pristine environment and harmonious society. Culturally and environmentally, Bhutan is a unique country. It has developed the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and they measure their development using a holistic approach of well-being and not just based on gross domestic product.
We know it as a third world country with farming practiced in much of Bhutan. The land is fertile and the population small. The counti’s current generation receives free education, and all citizens can access to free medical care. The sale of tobacco products is banned and smoking in public areas is an offense and is punished with fines. Major sources of income are tourism, hydroelectric power and agriculture.
Rock Islands, Palau
The Rock Islands is the most extraordinary place to visit and is like nowhere else on earth. The Southern Lagoons of Rock Islands cover 100,200 ha. It includes 445 uninhabited limestone islands of volcanic origin. Their display is unique and mushroom-like shape in turquoise lagoons which are surrounded by coral reefs. A complex reef system heightens the breath-taking beauty of this site. This featurs over 385 coral species and different habitat. It covered the islands with an immense diversity of plants, birds and marine life, which includes dugong and at least thirteen shark species.
The site has the highest concentration of marine lakes anywhere. There are isolated bodies of seawater separated from the ocean by land barriers. They are among the islands’ distinctive features. This sustains high endemism of populations, which continue to yield new species discoveries.
There are also remains of stonework villages, burial sites and rock art, bear testimony on the small island communities over some three millennia. The remains of the villages in the 17th and 18th centuries show the consequences of climate change, population growth and subsistence behaviour on a society living in a marginal marine environment.
The Islands comprise many large and small forested limestone islands, scattered within a marine lagoon protected by a barrier reef. The reason to come to Palau are these unique island formations scattered across a 32km stretch of turquoise ocean southwest of Koror. You can enjoy on these islands from any vantage point going under water, from the air, lying prone on a beach or aboard a boat. It is a mesmerising fantasy-scape of limestone islets surrounded by crystalline waters.
They added it to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012. The Rock Islands are a world-class destination for diving, snorkelling and kayaking. It was formed into a 445 uninhabited limestone island from volcanic activity and display unique mushroom-esque shapes. The environment is lush, but harsh, and the only sign of human habitation is from 3100 BC.
Antarctica
Antarctica, which is perhaps the ultimate unspoiled destination lies in the southernmost continent and site of the South Pole. This continent is a stark, brutal, and desolate landscape and is virtually uninhabited, ice-covered landmass. Most of the people visit the continent to see the Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches toward South America. It is known for the most extraordinary Lemaire Channel and Paradise Harbor, striking, iceberg-flanked passageways, and Port Lockroy. It is a former British research station turned museum. Its isolated terrain also shelters rich wildlife which mainly include many penguins.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest continent. It is is divided into two regions, known as East and West Antarctica. No trees grow here, and one must travel with a tourism company. It contains 90 percent of all of the ice on Earth. it has an area which is just under 1.5 times the size of the United States. But the southernmost continent is much more than a big block of ice.
Antarctica is the fifth largest continent which is in the Antarctic Circle that rings the southern part of the globe. Its size also varies through the seasons. The expanding sea ice along the coast nearly doubles the size of the continent in winter. Almost all of Antarctica is covered with ice only less than half a percent of the vast wilderness is ice-free. The ice in this part of the continent averages 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) thick. West Antarctica which is on the other side is a series of frozen islands stretching toward the southern tip of South America. It forms an extension of the Andes Mountains. The two regions are separated by the Transantarctic Mountains, and is sometimes completely covered by ice.
Fiordland, New Zealand
One of the most dramatic and beautiful parts of New Zealand is Fiordland. To see the most breathtaking sights of this region you can look for it by water, air or hiking. It is a geographic region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island. It is comprised on the westernmost third of Southland. Most of this beautiful place is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, and its steep, glacier-carved, and now ocean-flooded western valleys.
The Milford Track is one of the most famous walks. It is a 33m-long four-day journey taking trekkers past pristine lakes with the tallest waterfall in the country, and panoramic glacier-carved valley views. Surrounded by mountains Lake Monowai is a glassy, mirrorlike body of water and is best explored by kayaking on a still day. This beautiful scenic place is carved by glaciers over 100,000 years of the landscape. There are waterfalls cascades which are hundreds of meters into deep black fiords. There are ancient rainforest clings to mountains and shimmering lakes, granite peaks look as they did a thousand years ago.
Fiordland National Park is also a World Heritage Site. It includes Milford, Dusky and Doubtful Sounds. Milford Sound was described by Rudyard Kipling as the Eighth Wonder of the World. If you will take a scenic flight over it and only then you will understand why. Some of the fiords can also be explored by kayak but if you’d like to see the less accessible fiords, eco-tours can also be arranged. But this place is really for hiking. Fiordland National Park has three of New Zealand’s ‘great walks’ which are the Milford, Kepler, and Routeburn Tracks. Milford Track is without any doubt New Zealand’s most famous walk. Starting from the Te Anau, it will take you over 53 kilometers through the most breathtaking scenery. The mountains, lakes, and enormous valleys are right up to Sutherland Falls which is the tallest waterfall in New Zealand.
Nunavut, Canada
Forming most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago ,Nunavut is a massive and sparsely populated territory of northern Canada. Its islands have expanses of tundra, craggy mountains and remote villages. It is accessible only by plane or boat. Aujuittuq National Park, which means “the land that never melts”, is just one of the stunning wonders in Nunavut. There are many glaciers, jagged peaks, and deep valleys, while hikers cross the 60m Akshayuk Pass in the summer, walking right across the Arctic Circle and that’s just one spot. From fjords to mountains, tundra to rivers and lakes, there are three regions in the territory, all with distinct terrains. Visitors can hunt, fish, dogsled, mountain hike, walk across ice floes, and kayak rapids.
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