14 Most Unusual Landscapes in the World That Are Too Beautiful to Be Real

The world is such a vast place that a lot of beautiful wonders are yet to be discovered. And even if a few handful have already come across these places, some haven’t reached the popularity and admiration it deserve.

In here, we list the top 14 beautifully eccentric places all around the world.

#14. The Morning glory pool of Yellowstone National Park.

Morning glory pool is considered the most beautiful pool and a must-see of Yellowstone National Park. Its colors are because of the existence of heat-thriving bacteria, making a stunning display of hues. The delicate blue water is created by thermophilic bacteria, which thrive in the pool’s searing heat.

Over the years people threw coins, bottles and trash in the pool, reducing its flow and causing the red and orange bacteria to creep in from its edge, replacing the blue bacteria that thrive in the hotter water at the center of the pool.

The trash has slowly built up and blocked some of the thermal vents and reduced the heat of the pool, allowing other bacteria to begin working their way in at the edges, creating a red and yellow ring around the pure blue center. While this rainbow hue is indeed beautiful, it is a fragile beauty, as the invasive yellow bacteria continues to close in.

#13. The Great Blue Hole in Belize

The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m (984 ft) across and 124 m (407 ft) deep.

It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000; 66,000; 60,000; and 15,000 years ago. As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded.

The Great blue hole is believed to be the largest of its kind in the entire world. This spot has become more than a sink hole, as it is home to different species of fish and other water life forms.

#12. The Puente del Inca natural rock bridge in Argentina

Puente del Inca in Argentina is one of the most remarkable natural wonders. It is a natural stone bridge over the River Caves, situated 2,720 m above the sea level in Mendoza. Researchers suppose that in ancient times ice covered the river, and the ice sheet formed a support for snow, dust and rocks that fell from the nearby mountains in avalanches.. This stone bridge over the Rio Mendoza has rock walls and the remnants of an old yellow-colored spa underneath.

There are large quantities of mineral deposits that have collected underneath the bridge. There are provisions for hot bath at an ocher calcareous structure over Las Cuevas River. It is one of the most visited thermal centers. The geological formation of the bridge of Inca Argentina is strange and is an interesting place for history lovers.
It is recommended that you do not miss this natural wonder of Argentina if you are traveling to the province of Mendoza in Argentina.

These rock walls are covered with bright orange and yellow bacteria mats produced by natural sulfur springs.

#11. The pink Lake Hiller lake in Western Australia

Lake Hillier is a pink-colored lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. From above the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often crane their necks to take a glimpse of it.

The lake is about 600 meters long, and is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees. A narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separates it to the north from the Southern Ocean.

The unusually solid pink color is said to be due to the presence of algae, which is commonly associated with discoloration processes.

#10. The elephant rock formation in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada

Elephant Rock, a sandstone formation that looks like an elephant and whose trunk is formed by a natural arch, is a fine example of an arch in the shape of an elephant.

Elephant Rock is one of the most photographed natural formations in Nevada’s oldest and largest state park, The Valley of Fire.

This sandstone formation perfectly resembles an elephant. Its long, straight snout extends all the way to the ground from a rounded head and slender neck. Its haunches are clearly defined, too. And from some angles it even appears to have shoulder blades, knees, and perhaps ears, if the shadows are just right. Strange!

#9. Balls Pyramid, Australia

The Ball’s Pyramid is a unique land structure found in the The South Pacific, near the Australian east coast. It resembles a castle that has come out of the depths of the ocean in all its glory and magnificence.

What is more interesting is that this structure is actually a remnant of an ancient volcano that emerged from the ocean about 8 million years ago.

The tallest sea stack in the world can be found in Lord Howe island in New South Wales, Australia. This measures approximately 562 feet. The Ball’s Pyramid is the home of the world’s rarest insect.

#8. The Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand

The Moeraki Boulders are geological marvels, exposed by erosion of sedimentary rocks laid down from 65 to 13 million years ago. They are formed by the gradual precipitation of calcite in mudstone over 4 million years. These spherical concretions are internationally significant for their scientific value and are a popular tourist attraction.

These unusually large and spherical boulders lies along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave-cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve.

Originally from the ocean floor, these gigantic boulders have been coursed through the shoreline due to erosion.

#7. Chocolate Hills of Bohol, Philippines

The Chocolate Hills are a geological formation in Bohol Province, Philippines. There are at least 1,260 hills but there may be as many as 1,776 hills spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi). They are covered in green grass that turns brown (like chocolate) during the dry season, hence the name.

Archeologists claimed that the Chocolate Hills was formed through metamorphic process. They said that thousand of years ago, the island of Bohol was entirely covered by sea. A series of volcanic eruptions caused irregularities at some areas of the sea beds. Water current affected the irregularities giving them their conical shape.

When the island emerged above the water, it retained the irregular surface. This theory has recently been strengthened by excavations which unearthed fossils of marine life embedded in rocks.

#6. The sliding stones of Death Valley, California

One of the most interesting mysteries of Death Valley National Park is the sliding rocks at Racetrack Playa (a playa is a dry lake bed). These rocks can be found on the floor of the playa with long trails behind them. Somehow these rocks slide across the playa, cutting a furrow in the sediment as they move.

First documented by miners back in the 1900s, these rocks range from pebbles to 600-pound (272-kilogram) boulders and seem to move of their own accord. The only evidence of their activity is a series of long, perplexing trails left in the valley’s dried mud.

For a century, these eerie rocks and their long, graceful trails have stumped visitors and scientists. The boulders of black dolomite appear to move on their own, sliding uphill across the playa’s flat lakebed. No one has ever seen them set sail, until researches finally solved the mystery by using GPS.

#5. The Champagne Pool, New Zealand

Champagne Pool is a hot spring located within the Waiotapu geothermal area in the North Island of New Zealand. The name Champagne Pool is derived from the constant efflux of carbon dioxide gas, similar to a glass of bubbling champagne.

The hot spring was formed 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, resulting in a crater 65 m in diameter and 62 m deep. Colored waters percolate up from underground full of carbon dioxide which forms bubbles near the surface where the water temperature is 74°C. At the edges of the pools the silica is lined with bright orange from antimony rich deposits that solidify out of the cooler water. Mercury, thallium, gold and silver are also deposited in the rocks.

The vibrant colors come from a rich deposition of minerals including gold, silver, and arsenic. The silicate structures around the edge of the pool is teeming with microbial life.

#4. The Wave in Utah

The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in the United States of America near the Arizona–Utah border, on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau.

It is famous among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms, and the rugged, trackless hike required to reach it.

This amazing wave formation is actually carved rock. Amazing, isn’t?

#3. Giant Crater Lake

Crater Lake National Park is a United States national park located in southern Oregon, in the United States. The centerpiece of the park is Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States, known for its deep blue color.

Crater Lake was formed from the collapse of Mount Mazama, a volcano in southern Oregon that once stood about 11,000 feet tall. A series of destructive eruptions around 5000 BC caused the mountain’s peak to collapse into its lava chamber, resulting in a caldera nearly six miles wide.

Over time, snowmelt and rain collected in the crater to form the lake, which at 1,949 feet deep, is presently the deepest in the USA, 2nd in North America, and 9th in the world. Based on a comparison of average depths, however, Crater Lake at 1148 feet, is the deepest in the Western Hemisphere and third deepest in the world.

#2. Nambung National Park, Western Australia

Located not far from the coast of southwest Australia are thousands of limestone pillars that rise from the shifting yellow sands. In places they reach up to three and a half meters tall. Some are jagged, sharp-edged columns, rising to a point, while others resemble tombstones. This is the Pinnacles Desert, a part of the Nambung National Park, roughly 200 kilometres north of Perth.

These amazing natural limestone structures were formed approximately 25,000 to 30,000 years ago, after the sea receded and left deposits of sea shells. Over time, coastal winds removed the surrounding sand, leaving the pillars exposed to the elements.

Although the formation of the Pinnacles would have taken many thousands of years, they were probably only exposed in quite recent times. Aboriginal artifacts at least 6,000 years old have been found in the Pinnacles Desert despite no recent evidence of Aboriginal occupation. This tends to suggest that the Pinnacles were exposed about 6,000 years ago and then covered up by shifting sands, before being exposed again in the last few hundred years.

The Pinnacles remained unknown to most Australians until the 1960s, when the area was added to Nambung National Park. Today it receives over 250,000 visitors a year.

#1. Tufa pinnacles at Mono Lake in Sierra Nevada

Nestled at the steep eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada in the Mono Basin, Mono Lake—like so many in the western United States—is the remnant of a much bigger Pleistocene water body called Lake Russell.

Because the basin is closed (i.e., it has no outlet), Mono Lake is hypersaline. Evaporation in the arid climate concentrates salts in waters fed by snowmelt streams off the mountains.

Outlandish pinnacles and castellations of tufa dot the lake margins. These carbonate formations were produced as limestone precipitated around submerged freshwater springs in the salty depths. The tufa towers have since been exposed by dropping lake levels resulting partly from natural fluctuations but also from diversions of freshwater from the lake’s catchment area for human use.

What do you think of these amazing photos? We are sure that you would want to visit these places once in your life. We do so too! The world is such an incredible place to live in!

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