Category: Travel
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The edge of the Earth: Australia’s Nullarbor Cliffs
What looks like the end of the Earth is really just the end of Australia: what’s known as Nullarbor Cliffs. The Bunda Cliffs, as the Nullarbor Cliffs are also called, are located in Southern Australia on the Nullarbor Plain. The terrain of the Nullarbor Plain is so flat that the Trans Australian Railway spans a…
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Meet the Traelanipa “slave” cliffs of the Faroe Islands
Located on the island of Vagar in the Faroe Islands, Denmark, is the beautiful Traelanipa cliffs. This chasm is the westernmost and widest in the islands. The lake above the ocean — also known as “Flying Lake” — starts from the shores of Sorvagsvatn Lake and juts out to the steep cliffs over the Atlantic…
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Norway’s stunning obelisk-shaped Stetind mountain
Stetind is a stunning obelisk-shaped mountain in Nordland county, Norway. Author and mountaineer Peter Wessel Zappfe once described its smooth, vertical, and overall distinct shape as “an anvil whereupon the Gods can hammer.” The 4,566-foot wonder became the official mountain of Norway in 2002. Sailors often use the mountain as a landmark because it rises…
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Iran’s mesmerizing rock salt formations
Who knew salt could look like beautiful snow cones? Mountains of rainbow-colored rock salt formations dominate the Zagros mountains of Iran. The Jashak salt dome formed when the Persian Gulf evaporated millions of years ago and left behind massive quantities of salt. Salt and other evaporites have since risen upward through the overlying rock layers.…
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The gorgeous Great Blue Hole of Belize
The Great Blue Hole is a flooded sinkhole that lies 50 miles off the coast of Belize. The hole is 1,000 feet wide and about 410 feet, the bottom of which is so murky and limited in oxygen it’s claimed to be unlivable for most creatures. The Lighthouse Reef surrounding the hole is so much…
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The story behind geological oddity Split-Apple Rock, NZ
Split Apple Rock is a rock formation located in Tasman Bay off the northern coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Shaped like an apple that’s been sliced in half or a giant Pacman (if you prefer), this geological wonder emerged as granite from the Cretaceous period 120 million years ago. Split Apple Rock most likely…
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Natural erosion takes down famed Darwin’s Arch in the Galapagos Islands
The top of Darwin’s Arch, a rock formation located in the Galápagos Islands, collapsed into the sea from erosion. The Ecuadorean Environment Ministry reported the destruction of the unique 141 foot high, 230-foot long rock on May 17. “The collapse of Darwin’s Arch, the attractive natural bridge found less than a kilometer from the main…
