Got a love for the weird, wonderful and unexplained? Well here are 15 amazing alien like places on earth which look like they could easily belong in another world…
1. Blood Falls, Antarctica
You really only associate the colour white with Antarctica – as the coldest place in earth, it’s natural to do so. That’s why the sight of the Blood Falls is completely bizarre and pretty unnerving; a waterfall weeping a gory bright red liquid, making it look like the ground has been slashed open viciously. The colour however, is actually the result of iron oxide rich salt water flowing out from a lake trapped beneath a glacier.
2. The Spotted Lake, Canada
One of the world’s most bizarre lakes can be found in British Colombia, Canada. Like a spotted toad, the lake is filled with spots of various colours including white, yellow, green and blue depending on the minerals contained within. The spots form when the main water of the lake evaporates, leaving behind the mineral rich pools and hardened walkways among them.
3. Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
Visible from space at almost 50km wide, the Eye of the Sahara could very well be a way for extra-terrestrial beings to spy on us! There are a number of more realistic theories but it’s pretty amazing whatever its origin.
4. Skaftafeli, Iceland
Skaftafeli itself is a preserved area in Iceland, once a national park in its own right but now under the umbrella of the larger Vatnajökull National Park. It’s the incredible Blue Ice Cave found here that make it so amazing and these photos do it justice.
5. Al-Hajjarah, Yemen
The village of Al Hajarah in Yemen is like nowhere you’ve seen before, in real life at least. Otherworldly, like the setting of a video game, the buildings are built on a precipice directly onto cliff faces as a way of defence. Dating to the 12th century, the nondescript greys and browns of the buildings blend into the background, and to me it seems to have an air of abandonment, almost post apocalypse like.
6. Salt Flat, Bolivia
You’ve no doubt seen the Salt Flat in Bolivia but they still amaze. The largest salt flat in the world, it’s found at an altitude of almost 12,00ft above sea level in the Andes Mountains. Covering an area as large as a state and incredibly flat with a thick crust of salt a few metres thick plus no visual reference points, playing with perspective is the most popular past time here.
7. Nine Hells of Beppu, Japan
The Nine Hells of Beppu are famed as Japans best hot spring spot, despite its name, with more than 2,800 hot springs located here. A series of nine steaming bubbling lakes are of particular interest, each of which is a different colour due to the different minerals they contain, and each represent various “hells” from snap happy crocodiles to water hot enough to cook eggs. The weirdest is the one that glows bright red, aptly named Chinoike Jigoku or “Hell Pool of Blood”.
8. Lake Retba, Senegal
Lake Sebta resembles a strawberry version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate river such is the shade of the pink water which fills it. Covering an area of 3km² the colour is as a result of the concentration of Dunaliella Salina algae, and with 40% salinity too, you can float along quite happily just like in the Dead Sea.
9. Door to Hell, Turkmenistan
This one doesn’t need much explanation – it looks just like its name suggest, a great fiery pit leading to hell, opened by geologists somewhat by accident. The hole in the midst of the Karakum Desert has been burning for more than 40 years.
10. The Pearl Waterfall, Jiuzhaigou Valley, China
There are many amazing waterfalls in the world but I think the Pearl Waterfall is pretty incredible; it looks like the world is collapsing in on itself like some kind of vortex!
11. The Plain of Jars, Laos
Whether prehistoric burial practises, jugs to collect rainwater, or giant’s cups, the purpose of the huge stone jars which litter remote areas of north east Laos are an unsolved mystery. There are more than 400 locations where they can be found, but just 3 sites with a high concentration.
12. Fly Ranch Geyser, USA
It’s only small but the geothermal Fly Ranch Feyser in Nevada is rather spectacular despite being relatively small. It was created by accident in 1916 during a well drilling and geothermal water found a weak spot in the 60’s and started to escape. Different minerals have created a multi coloured feature over the years.
13. Cano Cristales, Colombia
Cano Cristales is no ordinary river; it’s known as the “River of Five Colours” and the “Liquid Rainbow” thanks to the bright red, green, blue, yellow and black colours visible. A short period between the wet and dry season sees the Macarenia Clavigera plant on the river bed bloom and an explosion of colour follows.
14. The Great Blue Hole, Belize
This huge submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize is one of the world’s most spectacular dive sites and looks equally impressive from a bird’s eye view. An almost perfect circle, enclosed by the lighthouse reef with water that plunges to depths of 412ft, it’s an eye of the ocean.
15. Chocolate Hills, Philippines
There are more than 1200 of these hills in the Philippines. Local legend says they are the tears of a giant. Each between 40 -100ft high and brown in the winter, vibrant green in the summer, the exact origin of the hills are still debated, but one thing is for sure; they make for a spectacular sight.
So there you have it; some of the world’s most alien-esque places. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever Why not take a look at some other weird and wonderful places to visit!
