The Northern Lights
This marvellous happening of beauty is also often called “Aurora Borealis” named after the Roman Goddess of dawn (Aurora) and the Greek word for the north wind (Boreas). This spectacle can only be viewed in the North Sky of the Northern Hemisphere, most often during March through to April and September through to October. Often appearing as a green glow (although sometimes faint red) a lot of people wish to see this “piece of art in the sky”.The Great Barrier Ree
Admired among many, off the coast of north-east Australia in the Coral Sea lays this behemoth of vibrantly coloured fish and a forest of extraordinary reef. This is the world's largest reef that stretches out over an area of 344,400 square kilometres which is home to a wide range of tropical fish, built by billions of organisms. People often scuba dive off of boats just to look upon this beautiful piece of sea landscape.
A Simple Sunrise
Most people believe that you must travel far and wide to experience the full splendours of this Earth but in actual fact they can be found anywhere. Most people can take solace in waking up early, sitting on a nearby hill and watching the morning sun rise behind the landscape with it's shine blaring across the skies, puncturing the clouds and blasting it's way across the land. Sunrises look very effective on lakes and beaches.
4.Machu Picchu
Lost in the mountainside, this remote secret village was discovered a hundred years ago by an American Historian named Hiram Bingham and only recently it was made one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Built with brick (and with some excellent places to climb on) this town is now populated by Llamas and tourists who flock to Peru just to witness and be a part of this unique culture. Machu Picchu was constructed around 1460 at the height of the Inca empire but it was abandoned 100 years later until urban tourists can and invaded this natural landscape.
A Smile
A very meaningful natural wonder. A single smile can lift someone's mood and bring out the best in people. If you're feeling down and blue, a quick smile can help to cheer you up, especially if it's from a friend or someone who you care about a lot. Isn't it amazing? How a little effort can do so much; sure, it might not be something that you remember for the rest of your life, but it shows compassion and care and can make you feel special.
A Snowflake
The [Creator] scratched his nose again. “You soon run out of ideas for snowflakes, for example.”' - Eric by Terry Pratchett.
That's the thing about snowflakes; they're so intricate and unique. A sparkling miniscule sculpture of pure intricacy and beauty. Never will you see two that are exactly the same as they glide elegantly down from the winter sky. True beauty can be found right outside your doorstep.
Iguassu Falls
Niagara Falls has nothing on this. Iguassu (Commonly spelt “Iguazu or “Iguaçu”) Falls are situated on the border between Brazil and Argentina, where the frothy waters fall over the edge of the rocky landscape in this forest filled area. Legend says that a God was planning on marrying a beautiful aborigine by the name of Naipi, but she fled with her lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a fit of rage the God sliced the river to create the waterfalls and consequently condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon, a steep-sided gorge that was carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. The canyon is 277 miles long, ranging in width from 4 and 18 miles and has stood for 17 million years. Native Americans built settlements within the canyon and its many caves and the “Pueblo” people considered it to be a holy site, making pilgrimages to it. The first European (known) to have viewed it was García López de Cárdenas from Spain.
A Rainbow
A Rainbow actually has no physical form, but is a very attractive visual illusion created by our eye viewing the light being bent through raindrops, and it most commonly seen when it is rainy and sunny, or near waterfalls. Also, because it has no physical shape there is no end to it, and therefore, no pot of the gold at the end. Just thought I'd clear that up. Whenever a rainbow is in the sky, people often point it out, and appreciate it's beauty as it shows the entire spectrum of white light from red to violet.
The Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest is located in the Amazon Basin of South America (the area is also known as Amazonia) and is a moist broadleaf forest that takes up 5.5 million square kilometres and spread out throughout nine different nations. This rainforest is so big that it represents over half of the planet's remaining tropical rainforest in the entire world, and so beautifulwith it's luscious green leaves and it's wild habitat.
Table Mountain, South Africa
The sandstone layers of South Africa's Table Mountain were laid down 300 million years ago. Overtime, the sand hardened into rock and was uplifted without folding, so its layers are still horizontal. Erosion has worn away everything but the distinctive table rock that remains. Table Mountain rises 3,566 ft. (1,087 m) above Cape Town.Ahaggar Mountains, Algeria
From the desolate Sahara desert plain rise the majestic Ahaggar Mountains. The tallest of these spiny peaks is about 9,840 ft. (3,000 m) high. The mountains are made of igneous rocks - granites and lavas including phonolite. Phonolite, meaning “sound stone,” is so called because when it is hit with a hammer, it gives off a musical note. The phonolite cooled and cracked into long, thin shapes that give the Ahaggars their ribbed surface. Now let's proceed to the largest continent - Asia.Guilin Hills, China
Over hundreds of millions of years, the limestone in the hills of Guilin has been slowly dissolved by rain, creating a landscape called tower of karts. The flat lands at the bottoms of the hills, covered by rice paddy fields, are layered with vast amounts of clay washed away with the limestone. Rivers snake their way around these strange, weathered remains.Mount Fuji, Japan
The majestic snow-capped volcano Mount Fuji is 12,388 ft. (3,776 m) high. The volcano has been active for thousands of years. When it last erupted in 1707, black ash fell in the streets of Tokyo, 62 miles (100 km) away. Its name comes from “fuchi,” which means fire, a word of the Ainu, the original people of the Japanese islands. Fuji is a sacred place of pilgrimage. Thousands of people each year climb the mountain to watch the sun rise. From Asia we'll go to the land down under - Australia.The Olgas, Australia
Resembling huge red rock haystacks, the Olgas (or Kata Tjuta - meaning many heads to the Australian Aborigines) are clustered on the sandy Australian plains. The plain is covered with regolith - rock-sand and clay weathered from the underlying solid rocks. Erosion does not remove the regolith, so overtime it gets thicker, until it is burying all but the highest points of the underlying solid rock. These island mountains are called inselbergs. Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock) is another example. From land down under let's go to the land of beautiful people - South America.The Pantanal, Brazil
In the back country of Brazil, seasonal rainfall in the mountains feeds mighty rivers. Where these rivers travel over the level swamplands of the Pantanal, they spread out, flooding the land. When the rains stop, hundred of shallow pools are left behind. The swamps cover an area the size of Great Britain.Angel Falls, Venezuela
The waterfall with the longest drop in the world tumbles 3,212 ft. (979 m) off the wet swamplands of a plateau called Auyan Tepui in Venezuela. It is named after the pilot Jimmy Angel, the first outsider to see the falls in 1935. The water changes into white mist before reaching the bottom. From south, let's move to the north, the third largest continent - North America.Bryce Canyon, Utah
The Hoodoos (from African word meaning “spirit”) of Bryce canyon are a mass of pinnacles sculpted from layers of soft young rock. The canyon's pink-orange limestone is sediment that collected in a lake 60 million years ago. The attack of wind, snow, and rain has worn the rocks into colorful hoodoos.Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona
The large mesas and smaller buttes that tower over Monument Valley are isolated flat-topped mountains, made of horizontal layers of sedimentary rock. Over hundreds of thousands of years they have worn away, leaving behind tall towers of rock.Canadian Tundra, Canada
In summer, soggy plains stretch in all directions in the Arctic regions of northern Canada and Siberia. Below the surface the ground is permanently frozen, so the summer melt water has nowhere to go and collects in swampy pools. At the end of the summer these pools of water freeze again. When water just beneath the surface expands to form ice, it may push the soil up into small domes called pingoes.
