50 Natural Wonders Everyone Should See at Least Once

Formed over 6 million years as the Colorado River ate into its banks, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is now a mile deep and 277 winding river-miles long. The eroded walls are a geologic masterpiece, made up of almost 40 distinct, colorful layers of rock including limestone, shale, and sandstone.

Between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the Bay of Fundy’s dramatic tides, which can rise and fall almost 50 feet in a day, reveal naturally carved boulder formations in the tidal zones offshore. Migrating sandpipers and miles of cliffs also draw visitors to this Canadian wonder.

The striking, vertical peaks in Zhangjiajie, China — aside from having inspired the floating mountains in the movie “Avatar” — are rife with mind-blowing attractions, including a 4,700 foot glass-bottomed skywalk, stairs that lead to the “gateway to heaven,” and a 900-foot-high glass bridge suspended between sandstone cliffs.

This massive salt lake has the lowest elevation of any body of water on earth. Situated in the middle of a desert, the lake’s waters are so saline that nothing but bacteria can survive in them, hence the name. The saline waters are famous for being so dense that they keep swimmers afloat.

This massive waterfall on the Zambezi River is twice as wide and deep as Niagara Falls. Spanning over 5,000 feet, the falls drop into a chasm formed by the cliff they descend and another rock face opposite the falls.