You can’t have failed to notice the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings last month, the only time man has set foot on another world and possibly our greatest achievement.
But there are places on earth so remote, so strange, so alien in fact that a visitor could be forgiven for thinking that they had left the safe confines of Planet Earth...
The Great Blue Hole, Belize
This natural sinkhole lies 60 miles off the coast of the Central American country of Belize. Formed when sea levels were much lower, it was originally a limestone cave.
As sea levels rose, the cave collapsed, leaving a hole more than 300 metres across and 125 metres deep. Jacques Cousteau declared it one of the best dive sites in the world.
The Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
Officially known by the rather prosaic name of the Richat Structure, this mysterious structure came to the attention of early space missions because of its out-of-place appearance in the middle of the Sahara desert.
A giant circular depression 30 miles across, it was originally thought to have been caused by a meteorite strike but may in fact be a
geological formation exposed by erosion.
Cave of the Giant Crystals, Mexico
Guaranteed to make you feel like you’re on the set of the Incredible Shrinking Man, this cave in Chihuahua contains the largest crystals known to man.
Made of the mineral Selenite, the crystals are 500,000 years old and the largest is 11 metres long, four metres in diameter and weighs 55 tonnes.
Hell's Gate, Uzbekistan
You could be mistaken for thinking you were on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when visiting this cavern on the edges of the town of Darvaz in Uzbekistan.
When drilling for gas, geologists happened upon a giant cavern. Gas inside the cave was ignited and has been burning continuously for 35 years.
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
The world’s largest salt flat, measuring just over 4,000 square miles, Salar de Uyuni is the remnants of a giant prehistoric lake near the Andes.
More than 25 times larger than the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, Salar de Uyuni contains more than 10 billion tons of salt, of which just 25,000 tons are extracted annually. It also holds half the world’s stock of Lithium.
Eisriesenwelt, Austria
The celebrated Ice Hotel will feel old hat after a visit here, a series of caves with a name meaning “World of the Ice Giants”.
Stretching for over 40 kilometres inside Hochkogel Mountain south of Salzburg, they were first discovered in 1879; locals had always refused to enter, believing it to be the entrance to Hell. Nowadays the phenomenon attracts 200,000 visitors a year.
The Wave (Arizona/Utah border)
Not quite as inaccessible as Antartica, but reaching The Wave does involve a three mile hike across open desert with no path to follow and in temperatures regularly topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Only 20 visitors a day are allowed to view this stunning formation created 190 million years ago when desert dunes compacted and solidified into striped sandstone.
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Closer to home but no less spectacular, the Giant's Causeway is made up of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns thrown up by an ancient volcano. The largest is 12 metres tall and in places the lava is 28-mteres thick.
Legend has it that Irish warrior Finn McCool built the causeway to fight Scottish giant Benandonner but upon seeing his opponent’s size, fled back to Ireland with him in hot pursuit.
However McCool’s wife disguised him as an infant and upon seeing the size of what he thought was a child, Benandonner fled, tearing up the Causeway as he did so.
Waitomo Glowworm Cave, New Zealand
One of more than 300 known caves in the Waitomo region of New Zealand’s North Island, these are most famous for their population of Arachnocampa luminosa, a glowworm found here in their thousands.
The bright bugs weave silken nests on the roof and then lower glowing strands down into space where they ensnare insects attracted by the glow. Further on in the formation is the Cathedral, a cave with 18 metre high ceilings and superb natural acoustics – opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa once performed here.
McMurdo Dry Valleys
Arguably the most extreme place on earth, these valleys in Antartica are so named because they are almost entirely free of any ice or snow, caused by winds that whip through at up to 200 miles an hour, scouring everything away.
Scientists believe it is the closest representation of the surface of Mars and have found a number of strange bacteria living there, one of which stains the water emerging from the Taylor Glacier, causing it to be named Blood Falls.
The final Curious © phrase:
"The strange and faraway places where you've never been. The wild unknown leads you to a place just around the corner. Take a picture when you get there...the road is you"
(J.Bebe & R. Hammond)
