Twenty natural wonders, from Iguazú Falls, the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon to Mount Fuji, Kilimanjaro, Antarctica, the Mariana Trench and the glowing Sea of Stars, with the science and stories behind each landscape.
Some places on Earth look almost too strange to be real. This collection brings together twenty of the planet's natural wonders: thundering waterfalls and living reefs, sacred volcanoes and lone mountains, salt flats that become mirrors, cotton-white terraces and fairy-chimney valleys, the vast Amazon and the frozen poles, the deepest trench in the ocean and a beach that glows blue at night.
Many of them hold records. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth, Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain, Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, and the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep is deeper than Mount Everest is tall. Antarctica holds about 70 percent of Earth's fresh water, yet its Dry Valleys have not seen rain in two million years.
Their science is often surprising. The Amazon makes its own rain and is fertilised by dust blown from the Sahara, Iceland's Blue Lagoon was created by accident by a power plant, Pamukkale's white terraces are made of mineral deposits, not snow, and the Sea of Stars on Vaadhoo Island glows because of microscopic plankton defending themselves. Mount Fuji is actually three volcanoes stacked on top of each other, and its summit is owned by a shrine.
From Cappadocia's underground cities to Greenland's hidden mega-canyon and Lapland's eight seasons, these places also carry rich human stories. Choose a wonder below to read fifteen facts.
Every item on this page, with the one fact most people get wrong about it.
| Name | Where you'll meet it | The fact worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Iguazú Falls | Argentina and Brazil | It is wider than Victoria Falls and taller than Niagara. |
| Great Barrier Reef | Queensland, Australia | It is the largest living structure on Earth. |
| Mount Fuji | Honshu, Japan | Its summit is privately owned by a Shinto shrine. |
| Mount Kilimanjaro | Tanzania | It is the tallest free-standing mountain on Earth. |
| Salar de Uyuni | Bolivia | In the rainy season it becomes the world's largest mirror. |
| Pamukkale | Türkiye | Visitors can swim among fallen Roman columns. |
| Cappadocia | Central Türkiye | The underground city of Derinkuyu could shelter 20,000 people. |
| Zhangjiajie | Hunan, China | Its stone pillars inspired the floating mountains in Avatar. |
| Wadi Rum | Jordan | More than 45,000 ancient rock inscriptions have been found there. |
| Amazon Rainforest | South America | The forest creates its own rain. |
| Mariana Trench | Western Pacific | The Challenger Deep is deeper than Mount Everest is tall. |
| Galápagos Islands | Ecuador | Charles Darwin spent only five weeks there. |
| Sea of Stars | Vaadhoo Island, Maldives | The glow comes from microscopic plankton defending themselves. |
| Patagonia | Argentina and Chile | Cueva de las Manos preserves rock art about 13,000 years old. |
| Antarctica | South Pole | Its Dry Valleys have not seen rain in two million years. |
| Greenland | Arctic North America | No roads connect any of its towns. |
| The Alps | Eight European countries | Ötzi the Iceman preserved a 5,300-year-old crime scene. |
| Blue Lagoon | Reykjanes, Iceland | It was created entirely by accident. |
| Lake Bled | Julian Alps, Slovenia | Grooms traditionally carry their brides up 99 steps to the island church. |
| Lapland | Northern Fennoscandia | Rovaniemi was rebuilt in the shape of a reindeer's head. |
Largest Living Structure
Great Barrier Reef
The reef off Queensland is the largest structure built by living organisms on Earth. Great Barrier Reef
Driest Place
2 million years
Antarctica's Dry Valleys have not seen rain for about two million years. Antarctica
Biggest River Discharge
7 rivers combined
The Amazon discharges more water than the next seven largest rivers combined. Amazon Rainforest
Most Salt
~10 billion tonnes
Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, holds an estimated 10 billion tonnes of salt. Salar de Uyuni
Argentina and Brazil
Iguazú's name means "big water", and it is made up of a chain of nearly 300 cascades. The Devil's Throat swallows more than half of the river's flow, and birds nest directly behind the falling water. Both Argentina and Brazil list it as a UNESCO site.
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Queensland, Australia
The Great Barrier Reef is made of thousands of individual reefs and islands, and six of the world's seven sea turtle species nest there. Corals spawn in a mass, synchronised spectacle each year. Ocean warming and crown-of-thorns starfish threaten it.
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Honshu, Japan
Mount Fuji is three volcanoes stacked on top of each other and is still classified as active. Women were banned from climbing it until 1868, and a monk made the first recorded ascent in 663 AD. Hikers can post letters from its summit post office.
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Tanzania
Kilimanjaro is made of three volcanic cones, and climbers pass through five climate zones on the way up. Uhuru Peak means "freedom", and its ice fields are rapidly disappearing. A climber has even delivered a pizza to its summit.
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Bolivia
Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat and holds huge lithium reserves. NASA uses it to calibrate satellites, and its hotels are built from salt blocks. Cactus-covered coral islands rise from the salt.
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Türkiye
Pamukkale's name means "cotton castle", and its white terraces are made of mineral deposits from hot springs. Above them lies the ancient spa city of Hierapolis, with a theatre for 12,000 people and a deadly "Gate to Hell". Visitors must walk barefoot to protect the stone.
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Central Türkiye
Cappadocia's fairy chimneys were carved from volcanic ash, and early Christians hid in its caves and painted its rock churches. Uçhisar Castle is a fortress cut from a giant rock. Today it is the hot-air balloon capital of the world.
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Hunan, China
Zhangjiajie was China's first national forest park, and its pillars are quartz sandstone rather than karst. It has the world's tallest outdoor elevator and a terrifying glass walkway. Living fossil plants and rare wildlife thrive there.
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Jordan
Wadi Rum's red sandstone has made it Hollywood's favourite stand-in for Mars. T. E. Lawrence camped there during the Arab Revolt, and the Nabataeans built hidden water systems. Its Bedouin still cook in underground pits called zarb.
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South America
The Amazon is fertilised by dust from the Sahara and discharges more water than the next seven rivers combined. Pink dolphins swim through its flooded forests, and one river is hot enough to boil animals. No bridge crosses the Amazon River.
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Western Pacific
The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench equals fifty jumbo jets pressing on your body. Plastic waste has reached its floor, and James Cameron dived there alone in 2012. The Mariana snailfish is the deepest known fish.
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Ecuador
Marine iguanas are the only lizards that dive in the ocean, and the Galápagos have the only wild penguins north of the equator. Giant tortoises can live for more than 150 years, and some finches drink blood. Ninety-seven percent of the land is a protected national park.
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Vaadhoo Island, Maldives
Vaadhoo's waves glow blue because dinoflagellates flash when the water moves. The light works like a burglar alarm against predators, and it is best seen around new moons. Blue light travels farthest underwater.
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Argentina and Chile
Patagonia covers more than a million square kilometres, and myths of giants fascinated Europeans for centuries. The Perito Moreno Glacier is still advancing, and the region hosted some of the largest dinosaurs ever found. Welsh settlers created their own enclave there.
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South Pole
Antarctica holds about 70 percent of Earth's fresh water, and Blood Falls pours out red, iron-rich water. Mount Erebus spews tiny particles of gold, and winds can reach 200 mph. Ice cores preserve 800,000 years of climate history.
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Arctic North America
Erik the Red named Greenland as a marketing trick to attract settlers. It has the world's largest national park and the lowest population density, and the words "kayak" and "igloo" come from Greenlandic. A canyon longer than the Grand Canyon lies hidden under the ice.
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Eight European countries
The Alps span eight countries and are still growing every year. Injured cows are flown down by helicopter, St Bernard dogs never really carried brandy, and the world's longest rail tunnel runs beneath them. A bet in St Moritz invented winter tourism.
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Reykjanes, Iceland
Iceland's Blue Lagoon formed from a geothermal power plant's waste water, and a psoriasis patient was the first to bathe in it. The water is not actually blue and comes from 2,000 metres underground. Nearby volcanic eruptions now threaten it.
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Julian Alps, Slovenia
Lake Bled is fed by glacial water and thermal springs, and its island church stands on a pagan temple site. Bled Castle is Slovenia's oldest castle, and the famous cream cake kremšnita was created there in 1953. Only a family guild may row the traditional pletna boats.
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Northern Fennoscandia
The Sámi have lived in Lapland for more than five thousand years and recognise eight seasons. Reindeer outnumber people in many districts, and the northern lights shine on nearly 200 nights a year. Ice hotels are rebuilt every winter.
Read the full article →8 questions, every answer is somewhere above.
1. What does the name Iguazú mean?
2. Who owns the summit of Mount Fuji?
3. Which space agency uses Salar de Uyuni to calibrate satellites?
4. What does Pamukkale mean in Turkish?
5. Which film's floating mountains were inspired by Zhangjiajie?
6. What fertilises the Amazon rainforest from across the ocean?
7. How long did Charles Darwin spend in the Galápagos?
8. How was Iceland's Blue Lagoon created?
The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, which is deeper than Mount Everest is tall. Film director James Cameron made a historic solo dive there in 2012.
The blue light on Vaadhoo Island comes from microscopic dinoflagellates that flash when the water is disturbed. The glow is a defence that may attract larger predators to whatever is attacking them, a so-called burglar alarm.
Yes. Geologists still classify Mount Fuji as active, and it is actually made up of three volcanoes stacked on top of each other.
No. The famous image of Alpine rescue dogs with brandy barrels is a myth, although St Bernards did help rescue travellers in the Alps.
Erik the Red chose the name as a clever marketing campaign to attract Viking settlers, even though most of the island is covered by an ice sheet up to three kilometres thick.
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