The 10 Most Beautiful Places in the World
Like art, beauty is purely a subjective attribute so we all have something to say about the scenery that has inspired us. If you have traveled much overseas, or to the many awesome places here in the U.S., please comment on the natural beauty you’ve encountered.
Here are my observations:
#1 Patagonia
It’s difficult to rate any place above the many spectacular places I will soon mention in my beloved Alaska. Nonetheless I’ve made eight separate trips to the far south of Chile & Argentina and have experienced an indescribable exhilaration watching the ever changing weather and light dancing across these spectacular landscapes. What is Patagonia like? I guess the best way to describe it would be like “a blend of Alaska and the Canadian Rockies in a mixing bowl”.
For information about photo tours in Patagonia see http://www.photosafaris.com/Tours_2008/Patagonia/Patagonia.asp or for photographs visit the late Galen Rowell’s Mountain Light photo gallery at http://www.mountainlight.com/gallery.classics/images.html
#2 Denali National Park, Alaska
Rising nearly 4 vertical miles above sea level, few mountains on earth compare with the beauty and grandeur of Mt. McKinley, known to the Alaska Native people as Denali, or, The High One.
Best of all is the expanse of this national park and preserve which extends across a landscape the size of Massachusetts with sprawling glaciers, tundra ridges and braided rivers and streams that provide habitat for grizzly bears, caribou, moose, fox, wolves, lynx, Dall sheep and many other mammals unique to both North America and Alaska. http://www.photosafaris.com/Tours_2009/DenaliInAutumn/denali-photo-tour.asp
#3 Prince William Sound Alaska
This may come as a surprise to those who have never plied these glacier-fed waters nor trod its lush green hillsides and wildflower meadows. For those who have, it naturally belongs somewhere in the Top 10 along with the other of the world’s great places. For a first-rate trip see http://discoveryvoyages.com/
#4 South Georgia Island
Located south of The Falkland Islands and on a plotted course toward the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia Island is a surreal place perhaps best known for its crucial role in Sir Earnest Shackleton’s epic journey aboard The Endurance. For the ultimate trip to South Georgia Island http://www.photosafaris.com/Tours_2008/UltimateAntarctica/UltimateAntarctica.asp
#5 Antarctica
The time I spent along the southern tip of the earth’s most remote continent was brief yet packed with exhilaration, observations and thousands of photographs. Pristine water clarity, oodles of penguins, countless humpback whales and other marine life coupled with skyscraper-size ice bergs was simply and extraordinary experience. For the ultimate trip on earth see http://www.photosafaris.com/Tours_2008/UltimateAntarctica/UltimateAntarctica.asp
#6 Coastal Katmai National Park
Although Katmai is best known for the Brown Bears of Brooks Falls, nothing can top the expansive lush green meadows and secluded shorelines of the Alaska Peninsula. Indeed from the wildflower meadows to the low nesting bald eagles to the countless brown bear that live here, there exist few places on earth that compare with this wilderness made famous by Timothy Treadwell in the Grizzly Man Chronicles.
#7 Serengeti Plains of East Africa
Once you’ve been out on a safari you soon realize that the sunrises, sunsets, dusty days and endless encounters with the African wildlife somehow penetrates your blood stream. Once it grabs hold of you it’s impossible to stop with one trip which probably best describes my successive trips to back to Kenya and Tanzania as well as the countries of Botswana and neighboring Zimbabwe and Zamia.
#8 Karakoram Highway
Alas, as I am yet to see this fabled region of the world which encompasses spectacular portions of Pakistan, China, Afghanistan & India, I can only comment as a “wanna-be and a wanna-see”! Having left a prolific career as a professional freelance photographer for my present career in real estate, a journey along this spectacular pathway is perhaps the only unresolved inner journey I pledged to experience but to date have not done so. Thanks to the inspiring images of the late Galen Rowell, I do hope to get there some day soon.
#9 The Canadian Arctic
Aside from guiding several polar bear photo safaris my connection to the Canadian Arctic has been vicariously lived through the photos and experiences of others I’ve encountered who are dearly intimate with northern Canada’s tremendous wildness and beauty.
#10 National Park System of the United States
From the Grand Canyon, to Yosemite to the Everglades to the desert southwestern parks of Canyonlands, Bryce & Zion National Parks there is little doubt that America has world class beauty all its own.
