10 Natural Places You Won’t Believe Are Real

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

People don't usually look at surrealist paintings and think, "Yup, art imitates life." But one look at the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia proves otherwise. During the rainy season, when a thin layer of water turns the world's largest salt flat into a vast mirror, Earth and sky seem to blend seamlessly, offering a version of the world usually just seen in paintings.

Danxia Landforms, China

Not everyone can pull off stripes, but the Danxia hills and mountains of southern China do it with flair. Named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2010, the remarkable terrain stretches across more than 1,000 miles of southeastern and southwestern China. Wondering how a mountain got its stripes? In this case, it's the result of layers of rock reacting to the pressures of the Earth and effects of the environment over millions of years.

Pamukkale, Turkey

Imagine a world in which you get, all at once, the blinding white of fresh snow and the vivid aqua of tropical seas. Turns out that world is ours, and that place is Turkey's Pamukkale, or "cotton palace." A dazzling sight since ancient times, turquoise water fills dozens of terraced semicircular travertine pools. The fresh deposits of calcium carbonate give the warm-water basins their vivid white sheen. The UNESCO World Heritage site also includes mineral forests, petrified waterfalls, and the ruins of Greek temples and baths.

Dead Vlei, Namibia

Dead Vlei. Even if you don't speak Afrikaans, you can sense what the landscape holds. This "dead marsh" of the Namib Desert is a terrain of contrast and drama, where towering rust-red sand dunes surround a cracked white plain dotted with 1,000-year-old sun-blackened trees. Many visitors explore Dead Vlei as part of a larger excursion to the sand dunes of Sossusvlei.

Lencois Maranhenses, Brazil

In northeastern Brazil, just beyond the Amazon Basin, lie 600 square miles of alternating sand dunes and sparkling rainwater lagoons. You've got to earn that peek at Lencois Maranhenses National Park's striking scenery, though: There are no roads, so the only way to explore is by four-wheel-drive tour or boat. On TripAdvisor (where the park garners rave reviews), past visitors recommend visiting in June or July, when the pools are full just after the rainy season.

White Desert, Egypt

Egypt's White Desert has all the usual desert stuff: sand, oases, hot sun. But it's got a little something extra as well: incredible wind-carved rock formations rising from the bleached landscape. Explore some of the most amazing shapes—ranging in likeness from mushrooms to crickets—on a four-wheel-drive desert safari.

Lakes of Mount Kelimutu, Indonesia

The three crater lakes of Mount Kelimutu on Indonesia's Flores Island are a haunting—and possibly haunted—sight. Considered to be the resting place for departed souls, the lakes are locally referred to as "the lake of old people," "the lake of young men and maidens," and "the lake of evil spirits." Bizarrely, all three lakes change color dramatically and unpredictably, from blue or green to black or red. Reaching the popular sight requires a long drive on a steep and winding road.

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China's Hunan Province has the distinction of being a real place that inspired an imaginary world. Thousands of quartz-sandstone columns, many of them thousands of feet high, dot the lush mountain landscape. The unusual formations have long been an inspiration for Chinese art, but you might be more familiar with a more recent version of the towers: the floating peaks from the 2009 blockbuster Avatar.

Richat Structure, Mauritania

You'll have to go to space to get a properly impressive view of Mauritania's Richat Structure, but don't worry, it'll be worth it. Satellite imagery reveals what looks like a giant eye staring up out of Africa's Sahara Desert. The going theory is that the 30-mile-wide circle is the result of the wind eroding a massive volcanic dome.

Hutt Lagoon, Australia

Australia's Coral Coast pays tribute to its signature color at Hutt Lagoon, one of the world's few pink lakes. The lagoon gets its unusual color from a carotenoid-producing algae that blooms in the rosy hue. Other famous pink lakes include Lake Retba in Senegal, where high salinity produces the reddish pigment and supports a thriving salt-harvest industry; and Dusty Rose Lake in British Columbia, Canada.

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