15 Enormous Places that Will Make You Feel Tiny
6 Angel Falls, located in Canaima National Park of Venezuela, has the highest uninterrupted fall on the planet. From the top of the mountain Auyan-tepu, it falls into Devilâs Canyon approximately 3,230 feet below, including an uninterrupted drop of 2,647 feet.
Today, one of Venezuelaâs best tourist destinations, Angel Falls, was once unknown to the world. Locals believed that the falls was home to âbadâ spirits. In 1933, James Crawford Angel, while looking for gold ore beds, accidentally discovered the falls.
Angel Falls is the worldâs highest waterfall with a height of about 3,230 feet and a plunge of about 2,647 feet. (1, 2)
7 Situated at the height of about 11,995 feet above sea level, Salar Uyuni in Bolivia is the worldâs largest salt flat. It is spread over an area of 10,000 square kilometers.
The bewildering white expanse of Salar Uyuni has served as a backdrop of several Hollywood blockbusters, including Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Fall, and Salt and Fire. As such, the place has become a widely known tourist destination. The salt flat came into existence because of sequential transformations between several prehistoric lakes.
Apart from its blinding glare, Salar is also famous for its unique mirroring qualities after heavy rains. (1, 2)
8 Built between 713 to 803 CE, Leshanâs Giant Buddha is a 71-meter tall statue carved in red bed sandstones. Lying at the confluence of the Min River, Qingyi River, and Dadu River in the Sichuan province, it is the tallest and largest statue of Buddha in the world.
Dedicated to Maitreya, a stout Bodhisattva monk with a big smile, the statue is located in Leshan City of Sichuan province. The giant Buddha, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was carved by thousands of workers over 90 years and has found its place in stories, songs, and poetry.
The 71-meter tall statue is also an architectural marvel with over 1,021 neatly carved hair buns on the Buddhaâs head. There is also a thoughtfully laid out drainage system to protect the statue and keep the inner parts dry. (1, 2)
9 Hang Son Doong Cave in Vietnam is the biggest cave in the world when measured by cross-section. The cave has a volume of 38.4 x 106 cubic meters and is five kilometers long, 200 meters high, and 150 meters wide.
Discovered by a local Vietnamese man, Ho Khanh, in 1991, while he was out looking for timber, the Hang Son Doong Cave achieved international fame after exploration by cavers from British Cave Research Association in 2009.
Situated within the Nha-Ke Bang National Park, the cave is home to the âGreat Wall of Vietnam,â a 90-meter-high calcite wall.
Son Doong cave is about a three-million-year-old limestone formation carved by the Ruo Thuong River underneath the Truong Son Mountains. The caveâs central passage is over five kilometers long, 200 meters high, and 150 meters wide. (1, 2)
10 Approximately 20 ancient Baobab trees line either side of the dirt road, connecting the town of Morondava with Belo Tsiribihina in Madagascar, aptly giving it the name âAvenue of the Baobabs.â Some of these trees have been reported to reach over 150 feet and are 800 years old.
The only thing uniquely exciting about the road trip from Bello Tsiribihina to Morondava is a group of giant ancient trees that lie on both sides of the road. They alone have made the track the most sought after place for watching the sunrise and sunset. Such is the beauty of the entire landscape that Madagascarâs government awarded it the status of the countryâs first natural monument.
The trees are over 800 years old, with some reaching a height of up to 150 feet. Their canopies, which resemble the roots of other trees, prompted ancient Arab seafarers to remark that âit appears as though the devil itself has uprooted the trees and placed them upside down.â (1, 2)