Today we travel to the most exotic destinations, where nature plays with us, it seems from another world, unique places that you have to know and visit.
-
1. GRJOTAGJA CAVE, ICELAND.
A small lava cave, it seems little, but inside it hides a small lake of thermal waters. From the 18th century until the 1970s, Grjotagja was a popular bathing area. But with the eruptions produced in 1975 and 1984, the temperature of the water rose to more than 50 °C, and although now a few degrees have fallen, it is no longer possible to take a bath without scalding.
Be careful, for Game of Thrones fans, this is the cave where Jon Snow and the wild redhead unleash love… with these temperatures it’s not surprising.
2. SAN BLAS ISLANDS – PANAMA
365 small islands and islets rest off the southern Caribbean coast of Panama, only 80 are inhabited by the Guna indigenous people, who are at the same time owners of the islands.
The San Blas Islands are an authentic virgin paradise that has nothing to do with the crowded Caribbean destinations for large crowds, to begin with because getting there is not easy, the best thing is by plane, one of those that turn the trip into an adventure , the kind that land on an island that from the sky does not seem bigger than a €2 coin. You can also go on a sailboat, which allows you to go from island to island discovering the different lifestyles, its seabed and its lonely beaches, what you always dreamed of in the Caribbean, that is San Blas.
3. GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING, YELLOWSTONE; UNITED STATES.
Can a trip to the United States be exotic? If it’s to the state of Wyoming, to Yellowstone National Park, sure as hell. This famous park, which brings back childhood memories with those Yogi Bear drawings, is a true gift of nature, a collection of wonders in the form of canyons, rock formations, geysers… and of course its picturesque hot springs.
The most spectacular is the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring, or the Great Prism Source, it is the largest hot spring in the United States, and the 3rd in the world. A true example of the jewels that our planet can create…
We can say much more, such as that it is as deep as a 10-story building, and extends like a football field, that the colors it gives away form a vivid rainbow, orange, yellow, green and the intense blue, thanks to bacteria. thermophilic… But there is nothing like seeing it smoke live and marveling at its colors, we will believe we have traveled to another planet.
4. MORENO EXPERT, ARGENTINA.
An imposing and endless mass of blue ice advances a few centimeters every year, in summer a threat of thaw breaks the arc it forms with the earth, creating a spectacle haunted by the most curious travelers.
Almost at the end of the world, equipped with thick coats, hats and scarves in the middle of summer, one looks out over the glacier and is enveloped in a continuous moaning sound of the ice crunching, breaking… suddenly a piece of ice falls into a noise that warns that the world is ending, and so at the end of the summer it starts again. Surrounded by forests and mountains, this is a spectacle that must be experienced.
5. LAKE RETBA, THE PINK LAKE, SENEGAL.
Speaking of colors, we now travel to Senegal, popularly known as Lake Rosa, although its original name is Retba, a lake that is easy to get to from the capital, Dakar.
The magic of that color of water is due to biology, exactly to the large concentrations of an algae, Dunaliella salina, used to living in extreme environments. And it is that the saline concentration that this lake reaches is 40%, which is why the buoyancy of this lake is also enormous. This alga protects itself from the radiation, salinity and temperature conditions of the environment by producing large amounts of beta carotene, and there is the color, which can range from brownish pink to fuchsia, depending on the day you visit.
6. DEADVLEI, THE DEAD SWAMP, NAMIBIA.
This brilliant white clay flat is surrounded by reddish sand dunes, forming an incredible color contrast. Blackened, dry, lifeless 900-year-old acacias, their twisted branches immobile before the merciless sun, witnesses of a life that went and left. But they have left a gift to the landscape, making it one of the favorite places for travelers.
This place was formed when the Tsauchab River flooded the area, creating temporary pools that allowed trees to grow there. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, the Deadvlei was formed, to delight our eyes avid for exotic landscapes.
7. OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA.
A delta that is an unusual case, unique in the world, since this fluvial delta does not flow into the sea. In reality, it is not a true river delta, but a fan of rivers that meet their death in a desert plain in the center of Botswana.
With a much drier climate than at its headwaters, the rivers that form at the end of Okavango end up drying up, evaporating… forming the magic of this natural wildlife reserve, where it is possible to observe the big five of the safari: the elephant, the buffalo, the rhinoceros, the leopard and the lion, the latter have reached a particularity living in the capricious waters of the Okavango, between its ups and downs, to survive they have had to adapt and learn nothing to hunt their prey, is there anything more exotic than a swimming lion?
8. BAMBOO FOREST; SAGANO ARASHIYAMA, JAPAN
The famous Arashiyama bamboo forest, located in the city of Kamakura in the northwest of Kyoto, is a beautiful forest that overwhelms all who visit it.
Bamboo, with its reed shape, is common in Asia, but in Japan it is an art of its rich culture, characteristic is the chlorophyll color that envelops its visitors, its swaying to the rocking of the wind, and the whisper it produces. A forest that inspires trpaz, it seems magical… maybe it is.
9. ULURU, THE ROCK, AUSTRALIA.
Also known as Ayer’s Rock, it is a sandstone rock formation located in central Australia, within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It is one of the largest monoliths in the world, more than 348 meters high, 9 km in contour and 2.5 km underground. As a rock iceberg in the middle of the Australian desert, it is not surprising that for the aborigines it is a sacred place.
Anyone who comes close to its feet will be impressed, mesmerized and will need at least a whole day to marvel at its color changes, from mauve at dawn to blood red at the end of the day.
