Natuurwonderen

Great natural wonders of the world David Attenborough tells about the world and reveals some of the world's most spectacular natural wonders. In the programme there were twenty natural wonders, but I only write the ones down which I find the most beautiful. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming USA The Yellowstone plateau is part of the Rocky Mountains, and is the caldera (a bowl-shaped volcanic depression) created by one of the world's largest volcanic eruptions. Geothermal activity is still continuing and, one day, there will probably be another violent eruption. There are some 10,000 geysers, hot springs and fumaroles in the park, more than in all the rest of the world put together. The Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA This is the deepest gash in the surface of the Earth - a giant slice through the planet's geological history. At its base the rocks date back two billion years, which is almost half the age of the Earth itself. The canyon has been carved by the course of the Colorado River cutting through the Colorado Plateau. But it has also been made deeper by the continuous rising of the plateau itself. The river now runs 445km along the floor of the canyon, which at its broadest is 29km wide and 1.6km deep. The north rim is 300 metres higher than the more accessible south rim, and the driving time between the two main visitor centres, north and south, is several hours.
Angel Falls, Venezuela This is the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world. American adventurer, Jim Angel, discovered it in 1935. Among the countless waterfalls tumbling down he spotted one immense plume of water that dropped sheer down the side of one of the highest tepuis, named Auyun-Tepui Mesa. This slender ribbon of water falls 979 metres to the tropical savannah below. Two years later, Jim returned to the scene with some friends from Arizona, and landed his plane on the marshy top of the tepui, where it stuck. The group took 11 days to walk down to civilisation. Mount Everest, Nepal-Tibet Called Chomo-Lungma (Mother Goddess of the Land) by Tibetan people, the world's highest peak was renamed 'Everest' in 1865 in honour of the former Surveyor General of India, Sir George Everest. The 'roof of the world' was first conquered by the British Commonwealth 1953 expedition. Led by Colonel John Hunt, climbers Edmond Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing arrived at the 8,856 metres summit on May 28. The massive east-west range of the Himalayas is now the highest in the world. Victoria Falls, Zambia-Zimbabwe Lying on the course of the Zambezi River, Africa's fourth longest (after the Nile, Zaire and Niger rivers) the Victoria Falls are perhaps the continent's most famous natural wonder. The mist generated rises like smoke above the landscape and the roar of the falls can be hear from miles away. In 1855 the legendary British explorer David Livingstone became the first European to hear and see this spectacle. He named the falls in honour of the British Queen of that time, Victoria. The Twelve Apostles, Victoria These limestone stacks rise from the sea just off the coast of Victoria in southern Australia. They are undoubtedly the most recognisable features of the Port Campbell National Park, which extends along this stretch of the Great South Road, west of Melbourne. Sculptured by giant waves, which surge in from the Southern Ocean, this coastline is constantly changing its profile. The different layers of limestone evident in each stack, were laid down as sediment on the floor of an ancient and long-vanished sea. The ocean is now reclaiming the land that it once helped to create. There are no longer twelve stacks as one collapsed in living memory. Others are forming all the time. In centuries to come, there may be many more Apostles - part of the ongoing geological conversion of this dramatic coastline. These are all the natural wonders of the programme: Yellowstone National Park

Bryce Canyon
The Grand Canyon
Yosemite National Park
Angel Falls
Iguazu Falls
Glacier National Park
Aitutaki Atoll
Mount Fuji
Guilin Valley
Mount Everest
Abisko National Park
Mount Kilimanjaro
Victoria Falls
Namib Desert
Uluru (Ayers Rock) The Twelve Apostles
The Bungle Bungles
The Great Barrier Reef
Milford Sound