These shocking locations will have you scrambling to find your passport. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re exploring the most incredible, inexplicable, surreal and unique, you-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it, natural places from around the world.
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00:00It looks like the kind of spot where Satan himself should jump out with a pitchfork and the hole works.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're exploring the most incredible, inexplicable, surreal, and unique,
00:14you gotta see it to believe it, natural places from around the world.
00:18I feel like I'm hallucinating.
00:23Number 10. Cenote dos Ojos, Mexico.
00:26Located in the Yucatan Peninsula, Cenote dos Ojos is one of Mexico's most famous and enchanting underwater cave systems.
00:34The name Dos Ojos, meaning two eyes in Spanish, refers to the two circular cenotes or natural sinkholes connected by a vast underwater cavern system.
00:42The crystal-clear, mesmerically blue waters of Dos Ojos provide unparalleled visibility, making it a hotspot for snorkeling and scuba diving.
00:50If you can get there on a quiet day, though, the whole place is made just that little bit more fascinating by what dwells in the main cavern.
00:58Known as the Bat Cave, it's home to lots of, well, bats, dotted here and there between the stunning stalactites and stalagmites that have formed here over thousands of years.
01:07Number 9. Rainbow Mountains, China.
01:10Found in the Zhengye National Geopark, there may be no better place on Earth for visualizing the immense passage of time than along China's Rainbow Mountains.
01:18These distinctive rock formations appear like a striped tiger stretching along the horizon.
01:23They've been made that way thanks to millions of years' worth of sandstone deposits.
01:27The geological eras have piled on top of each other here, so that from a distance, you could easily believe that some higher power had simply painted the ground.
01:35But actually, we have the ever-evolving conditions of Earth to thank, with other climatological factors such as the wind and rain also playing their part in gradually cutting and sculpting the peaks, ravines, and towers.
01:46Number 8. Pamukkale, Turkey.
01:49Meaning cotton castle in Turkish, Pamukkale is an extraordinary UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Denizli province of southwestern Turkey.
01:57You might think Pamukkale is a snowy hill or even a glacier, but look closer and you will notice a true wonder of Mother Nature.
02:05Known for its dazzling white terraces of travertine, which is a glittering type of limestone,
02:10it has formed over hundreds of years thanks to mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down the hillside.
02:15These waters leave, and have left, layers of calcium carbonate, which then solidify into the striking snow-white formations that can be seen today.
02:23These mineral-rich waters are naturally heated to 36 Celsius.
02:27In the gaps and dips, there are also turquoise pools, creating an effect that, at first glance, looks a lot like frozen waterfalls.
02:34It's a place that people have been drawn to for hundreds of years, since at least the time of ancient Greece.
02:39The waters are believed to have healing properties.
02:43The view just speaks for itself.
02:45Number 7. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
02:47As is becoming a theme, the Plitvice Lakes are another stunning location that needs to be seen both up close and from afar.
02:55But in these dark forests lies a hidden treasure, a shimmering natural jewel.
03:01At height, these lakes and pools might put you in mind of Rivendell, the land of the elves in The Lord of the Rings.
03:07The waterfalls at the edge spill over, as though the entire park is a bowl of water that's always gently overflowing.
03:14Get closer, and it may be the sounds of Plitvice that most strike a chord.
03:18For centuries, the waters of Plitvice have turned with the seasons on a cycle of destruction and recreation.
03:27The gentle ripples and the surrounding nature conjure up a truly idyllic setting.
03:31Visit in the depths of winter, and the views take on an altogether different dimension, though, with the frozen waters assuming the look of a frozen palace.
03:39Number 6. Mount Yiragongo
03:41The Democratic Republic of the Congo
03:43Were we to continue our Lord of the Rings comparisons, then perhaps here we've moved from Rivendell to Mount Doom.
03:50Mount Yiragongo is surely one of the most dramatic, affecting, and awesome sights in today's natural world.
03:56Deep down, huge quantities of gas are dissolved in the molten matter.
04:01It's also incredibly dangerous, however, and has sadly been the cause of death and destruction for hundreds of years.
04:06It's a very active stratovolcano, with a lava lake that, at times, is the largest of its kind in the world.
04:13The measurements show that Yiragongo belches out an astounding 70,000 tons of sulfur dioxide every day.
04:21With an almost constant presence of blistering molten rock, either within its pools or spilling down its sides,
04:27this mountain has also erupted more than 30 times in the last 150 years.
04:31We would call it Hell on Earth, but actually, that title may yet fall to another on this list, coming up shortly.
04:38At times, the magma rises with such force that the lake spills out of its cauldron.
04:44Number 5. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
04:47Welcome to the world's largest salt flat.
04:49It's a bizarre and eerie landscape, where the sharp contrast between the white of the ground and the blue of the sky
04:55makes the view in real life feel something like a dramatic painting on canvas.
05:00This is the Salar de Uyuni, 4,000 square miles of salt flats.
05:05Salar de Uyuni spans more than 3,900 square miles in the high altitudes of southwest Bolivia.
05:11This vast expanse, left behind by prehistoric lakes that evaporated long ago,
05:16creates a striking, almost alien feel, at incredible scale and with a unique kind of beauty.
05:22There's just a few inches of salty water, but that creates what looks like a vast mirror.
05:27During the dry season, the salt flat resembles a vast white desert,
05:31with endless hexagonal patterns formed across the surface.
05:34During the rainy season, it transforms into something like a giant mirror,
05:38reflecting the sky as if for eternity, in a breathtaking illusion where the ground and the heavens seamlessly merge.
05:45There's nowhere else quite like this on planet Earth.
05:48Number 4. Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand
05:52Located in Waitomo, a rural region on New Zealand's North Island,
05:56these caves are an enchanting natural wonder famous for their population of glowworms.
06:00Step inside, and thanks to their bioluminescent inhabitants,
06:03there's an instantly magical starry ambiance, like something out of a kid's animated movie.
06:08You've heard of mimicry in nature.
06:10This is more like astro-mimicry.
06:13The glowworms, known as Arachnacampa luminosa, are unique to New Zealand.
06:18And without them, these might have only ever been a damp and dark cave system.
06:22With them, though, it's a place on the world map that's quite unlike any other.
06:25As thousands of worms emit their soft, bluish-green light,
06:29it's easy to see why it's an important sight to the local Maori people.
06:32It's an ethereal dreamscape buried deep under rock.
06:35There's thousands of glowworm lights overhead. It's really beautiful.
06:40Number 3. Lake Hillier, Australia
06:43On Middle Island in the Recherche Archipelago, along the southern coast of Australia,
06:47there's a lake that's also bubblegum pink.
06:50The extraordinary hue is only emphasized when seen from above,
06:54alongside the surrounding blue ocean and lush green forests,
06:57marking Lake Hillier as one of the most bizarre bodies of water on Earth.
07:00This lake has been pink for some time. Even early explorers made notes of it.
07:05Scientists know that the pink is a result of there being Dunaliella selena algae in the water,
07:10which thrives in high-saline environments.
07:13And Lake Hillier is certainly that.
07:15It's a salt lake with a high enough salt content
07:17to have previously attracted global salt mining companies to its shores.
07:20Water samples reveal Lake Hillier has a very high salt content, similar to the Dead Sea.
07:25The mining has wound down in recent years, but it's expected that the lake could remain pink forever.
07:31Right now, the color remains vivid all year round, regardless of the season or weather conditions.
07:37And Hillier water remains pink even if it's taken away from the lake in a separate container.
07:42Number 2. The Gates of Hell, Turkmenistan
07:45Otherwise known as the Darwaza Gas Crater,
07:47this is that other particularly hellish landscape mentioned a couple of entries ago.
07:51An open pit burning for years. Locals call it the gateway to hell.
07:57In this case, though, it isn't a volcano spewing lava.
08:00It's a natural gas field that's just always burning.
08:03Strictly speaking, it isn't an entirely natural phenomenon,
08:06as the fires were initially started by engineers who were looking to burn off poisonous gases in the collapsed cavern.
08:13However, that was in the 1980s, and it's been on fire ever since.
08:17It has been said it was intentionally set alight by Soviet authorities,
08:20hoping it would burn off in a matter of weeks.
08:23But no one knows for sure.
08:25Today, the so-called Gates of Hell are quite the miracle of science.
08:29And although there have been attempts made to extinguish the flames over the years,
08:33none have so far achieved what could be impossible.
08:36So the Turkmenistan government is hoping to seal it up.
08:39It's studying pitches from scientists on how to do that.
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08:58Number 1. Underwater Waterfall, Mauritius
09:01Situated around 1,000 miles off the southeastern coast of Africa,
09:05with the famously unique island of Madagascar in between it and the continent,
09:09Mauritius is world-renowned for its immense beauty.
09:11But among all the perfect beaches and crystal-clear waters,
09:15there is one especially unusual natural feature.
09:18The island nation's underwater waterfall is best viewed from the top of Le Mourne-Brabant Mountain.
09:24And it's frankly amazing.
09:26However, it's also something of an illusion.
09:29What's actually happening here is the continual movement of sand rather than water,
09:33plunging into suddenly extreme depths of the sea.
09:36The colors that are created are made that way similarly to how they are in many of the world's invariably epic marine sinkholes.
09:42But even so, this view right here is quite the sight to behold.
09:47Have you ever been to any of these incredible places?
09:49Are you planning to go to any after watching this video?
09:52Let us know in the comments.
09:53It is so bright out here that you have to wear sunglasses and be covered from head to toe at all times.
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