May 14 2012 Top 7 / Parks

"Nature" is a concept invented by man to define some of the wonders of the world. The term "park" the wilderness more accessible, humanizes, but the truth is that in these seven "parks" the traveler feels small or overwhelmed, or both. Nature should not be classified as one can hardly express in our language. The beauty is presented in the form of mountains of sand, of ice walls, of cliffs, of guns, herds of elephants, of colored lakes or valleys impossible. I could not tell which of these landscapes is more daunting, but they all felt the impact caused only places.

1.- Canaima (Venezuela)

Canaima is meaningless, or proportion. Located in the Gran Sabana of Venezuela, a territory that was just mimicking the Amazon jungle in the south. Landscape is full of delusional, where rivers rush to nearly a thousand feet high on the slopes of the tepuis, the oldest mountains on the planet. Angel Falls is one of the protagonists. In Canaima is endemic plants, hidden waterfalls, rapid, snakes, crystalline pools. We flew over the park with the feeling of us sneaked into the forests of Avatar.

2.-Sossulvlei (Namibia)

I've always found that deserts are the epilogue of other landscapes. Here ends all, silence is the last word. No noise of tourists, or heard the murmur of a river, or the leaves of the trees against the wind. Everything has an air inert, timeless. Well, Sossusvlei Valley would be the epilogue of the other deserts of the world. The sand turns orange with the evening light, decorating and the tragic end of all that grows around. Trees that have not yet been buried logs cemeteries are lonely. Only a few oryx ruthless government resist the highest dunes in the world.

3.-Grand Canyon (U.S.)

Vertigo is just one of its virtues. The Grand Canyon is the largest sculpture in the world, relief so steep that it seems designed to bad milk, to blow a giant chisel, painted in red, as in an outburst of nature. But, Colorado River tributaries learned to shape the landscape with restraint. The Antylope Canyon is the most delicate of the park, the most beautiful. It forms an almost underground gorge (if everything would be out of a cave). The light is cast on a polished surface, a labyrinth iridescent by light, by water and by the time.

The Grand Canyon is the largest sculpture in the world, relief so steep that it seems designed to bad milk, to blow a giant chisel, painted in red, as in an outburst of nature.

4.-Eduardo Abaroa (Bolivia)

Every journey begins with some red spots marked on the map of our dreams. But, There are places that do not sense this in the paper, we can only discover on the way. I, I confess, did not know Eduardo Abaroa Reserve, in southern Bolivia. Now is one of those places you, a large red dot in the memory. It is difficult to explain this place because I still hold that it is unrealistic. Has volcanic geysers emanating fluids, hot springs to bathe more than 4.500 meters above sea level and colored lagoons impossible: whitish, red or green as emerald as the flamingos that fly. Eduardo Abaroa begins just where the Salar de Uyuni, final spasm to cause the route.

5.-Lago Argentino (Argentina)

Sailing on Lake Argentino is travel time when the world was ice. Boats must dodge icebergs and close to the walls of glaciers. Everything acquires a prehistoric dimension, so great that it is impossible to calculate the mass of frozen water, the paralysis affecting the landscape of Glacier National Park. The Uppsala, Spegazzini, Onelli are just some of the wonders that overlook the lake most solemn of Patagonia. For dessert, an ice giant: Perito Moreno Glacier. As we returned to the hotel in Calafate, we were all smaller.

6.-Yosemite (U.S.)

California has no measure, wants it all: beaches listed, giant redwoods, deserts, Vineyards, legendary cities… and between every whim, highlights the Yosemite Valley. One of the most visited parks in the world and there, beneath the stone masses, understanding why one ends. The terrain is shaped like a "U" because an ancient glacier covered the entire valley. Over the centuries, climate change-which is not a modern fashion, but a permanent phenomenon of the Earth, melted the ice and cleared the valley leaving only the deer, Waterfalls, the lofty mountains of North America and a stiff neck in the visitor irremediable.

7.-Kruger Park (South Africa)

So wild can be a mountain like a leopard, but let's be clear, can not make a list of natural wonders not including African wildlife. Kruger represents the animal attraction of many other parks on the continent, although this reserve located between South Africa and Mozambique has the advantage of size. It has an area similar to Wales and so the traveler can see the lions mane without having to do too, at least not always- a queue of tourists. It has the 5 large: buffalo, rhino, elephant, leopard and lion and here you can get lost for hours in search of wildlife encounters, good, lost completely is not recommended.

What we have left…?

All, I must admit. Talking about the beauty of the Parks has a subjective component against which you can not fight. I have tried to establish a list based on the geographical range and the way I've left many wonders, but this section is called the Top "7" and that's life, only fit 7. Among the many African parks, might have included Etosha, in Namibia, the Lower Zambezi, en Zambia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana and indeed both Serengeti as Crater Ngorongoro, both in Tanzania. They have also been at the gates of this list Yellowstone –Yogi the bear forgive me, the Denali de Alaska, and some shows with a waterfall: Iguazú or Victoria Falls, booking Tortuguero in Costa Rica, The Barrier Reef in Australia, the Valley of Geysers de Kamchatka, the Fjords of Norway… The world has too many wonders for a Top 7!