Earth Day – Celebrating national parks around the world
Celebrating Earth Day – what a better way to enjoy the day than with a tour of some of the most famous national parks from around the world. Travel bloggers share some of their favorite photos and stories about their visits to these iconic national parks and landmarks around the world.
Enjoy the tour and hopefully you can visit some of these soon!
Canyonlands panorama
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
It is most famous for its 100 mile-lone waterpocket fold, a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth). There is a beautiful scenic drive (approximately 90 minutes round trip) that takes visitors through the park past cliffs, colorful layered rocks (including the famous Chimney Rock), and ancient petroglyphs. I enjoyed this particular park for the beautiful landscape and for the incredible drive through some of America’s most stunning geological formations!
Joffrie Gorge Karijini Western Australia
Karijini National Park, Western Australia
Karijini sits about 275km south of Port Headland and 100km east of Tom Price, in Western Australia’s North-West Pilbara region. Visitors who make the long drive there are rewarded with photography, hiking, climbing and swimming opportunities in a collection of gorges that have been spectacularly eroded into the landscape over two billion years.
Karijini possesses all the characteristics of the iconic Australian outback. Unsealed and dusty roads, gums trees reaching to the skies, spinifex carpeting the red soil, kangaroos hopping across the landscape, night skies filled with stars or lightning displays, sweltering heat, a crowded population of flies, wide open spaces and deafening silence. But the real attraction of Karijini is the dramatic and intense landscape of its gorges.
Kellie Netherwood (Destination Unknown) https://www.facebook.com/mydestinationunknown
Yosemite-National-Park
Yosemite National Park, California
Yosemite National Park, in central California, was the first National Park I visited and has remained one of my favorites. This view of the valley, after emerging from the Wawona tunnel, still takes my breath away every
time we visit. Yosemite is beautiful in any season with varied waterfalls,meadows, granite cliffs and Sequoia groves and appropriately declared a United Nations World Heritage site.
Mary Penafiel Solio at http://www.theworldisabook.com
Rapa Nui National Park
Rapa Nui National Park (Easter Island)
Located on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, one can find the most unique archeological and natural park of South America: The Rapa Nui National Park. With more than 16,000 hectares, this park comprises a majority of the island and is filled with hundreds of Moais statues. Definitely one of the most magical places on the Earth.
Raphael Zoren at http://journeywonders.com/
Serengeti National Park
Phoebe Mroczek at http://www.shortroadtohappy.com
Los Glaciares panorama
Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
Bianca Bauza at http://www.nomadbiba.com
Yubeng, China
Yubeng sits in Yunnan province in China on the border with Tibet. Though foreigners are not always allowed in Tibet, and certainly not without a tour, Yubeng is a national park that always welcomes visitors from all around the world. Only reachable on foot or mule through 17 kilometers of mountains, Yubeng is a small town populated with Naxi minority villagers – incredibly warm and friendly individuals who make this sacred Buddhist land their home. Though chickens, donkeys, pigs, and yaks have complete freedom to roam the narrow dirt roads in and around the town, the feeling of peace all around the area is incredible. Prayer flags are strung along every hiking trail which snakes through pine forests, running rivers, and through gorgeous mountain peaks. Accessible via Deqin, Yubeng is a place I will not soon forget.
Kristin Addis at http://www.bemytravelmuse.com
Zion National Park
Zion National Park, Utah
Zion National Park is gorgeous in the summer or the winter. Listed as a National Park in 1919, it is known for its spectacular Navajo sandstone canyons and Zion Canyon. The Navajo sandstone cliffs are some of the highest in the world. Hiking, bicycling, backpacking, and scenic drives are some of the park’s recreational activities. Many of Zion’s towering cliffs and formations are viewable from road pull-offs and are quite breathtaking. Mule deer and mountain sheep are easily spotted up the cliff sides grazing. Zion National Park is an experience in grand and glorious landscapes.
Plitvice National Park – photo – Amanda Kendle
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Cristalino Private Reserve (Amazon, Brazil)
Ha Long bay, Vietnam
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
I saw some photos of Ha Long Bay about two years ago and made a special trip to Vietnam just to see it and it was so worth it! I went on a three-day 2 night cruise of this lush mountainous area. I saw many floating fishing villages and explored some beautiful caves.
In 2012, New 7 Wonders Foundation officially named Ha Long Bay as one of New Seven Natural Wonders of the world. Hạ Long Bay is also a member of the Club of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World. This was definitely one of my tope five travel experiences so far!
Michelle Maria at http://www.wanderingsearching.com/
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Here is our favourite National Park in California called Joshua Tree National Park.
Ruth Johnston at
Mount-Augustus
Mount Augustus National Park, Western Australia.
“Mount Augustus National Park probably is most remote park in Australia and I love that remoteness. Not so many tourists know about it though it’s main feature is the biggest rock in the world. It takes 1.5-2 hours to reach top of this rock and you can enjoy view of endless plains from the summit just by yourself.” http://www.shorttraveltips.com/climbing-mount-augustus/
The Royal National Park, Sydney Australia
Acadia National Park, Maine
Acadia National Park, Maine
Pu’ukohola Heiau National Park
Great post! Thanks for getting all of us together to create this wonderful collection of parks!
What a diverse collection of places. Pity I missed your shout-out for this one, Noel… I live between what are widely considered to be two of the most beautiful National Parks in England – the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. Let me know if you ever do a follow-up post along the same lines! 🙂
Our world is such a spectacularly diverse place! I’ve had the pleasure of visiting several of these incredible parks, but not nearly enough. Hope to see them all some day!
That is very interesting, You are a very professional blogger.
I’ve joined your rss feed and sit up for seeking more of your wonderful post.
Also, I have shared your website in my social networks
What a great collection of national parks here. I have to admit that my favorite is Yosemite simply because of first hand experience there. I was also planning on submitting a proposal for the Lake District National Park in England but didn’t have time (sorry Noel) so would highly recommend this to anyone traveling to the UK anytime soon. A real beautiful collection here though with very different and unique characteristics to each of them that make them attractive visiting spots for exploration and relaxation.
What a fantastic collection of photos and a great idea for a post! I hope I get to see at least one or two of these for myself one day, the waterfalls of Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia in particular.
I’m a big fan of Kellie’s work and she kindly let me use a couple of her images for my pre-trip post about the Arctic.
Thanks for introducing me to some more great photographs. I’m looking forward ot checking out some of their blogs.
Thanks for connecting Kathryn, glad these places have inspired you to visit. Plitice is one of my favorites that I got to visit last fall and the colors and walks were stunning. Stay tuned for those posts down the road.
Glad to see Plitvice made the cut 🙂
I would love to go to any of these!! The photos are stunning and each has individual attributes. In the UK we are so lucky to have so many national parks and the scenery is always stunning. National parks and the unesco SSI’s are so important and I’m always pleased if where we are visiting has some – even New York has its high line national park now!!
Thanks for connecting Anna, I would love to see some of the national parks in the UK, it would be beautiful I’m sure!
This is a wonderful way to honour Earth Day! It’s moving to see so many incredibly beautiful places on one page, what a great post. It’s uplifting, but also reminds me of how much there is to see and enjoy …It’s hard to choose favourites, but something always grabs me when I see photos of Rapa Nui National Park. Thanks for putting together so much beauty.
In 1872, the US established the first National Park in the world, Yellowstone National Park. The idea had been around for a while, and I’m glad that there are now nearly 7,000 national parks worldwide. I have been to several national parks but the only one on this list that I have been to is Yosemite. This list provides some good examples of places to make a point of visiting in the future.
What an impressive list you’ve got here. All of them look so great and with their specific sights. I’ve been reading this post over and over again and still I can’t pick a favourite. Maybe the Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site in Hawaii because we (me and Nina) would really like to spend some time in Hawaii pretty soon. The pictures are great too, like always!
Great idea for a blog post and thanks for including me in this great collection of images. I’ve just found some inspiration for my next adventure!!
Oh so many more places to add to the ever growing list of “must sees”! So many beautiful places out there, thanks for putting this list together. (Funny to leave a comment after another “Phoebe”, there aren’t so many of us out there!!
What a great collection, Noel! I haven’t heard of some of these parks and now my travel list just got even longer. Beautiful photos! Thanks for including mine and for all the inspiration.
Amazing photos 🙂
That is a really beautiful collection of national parks Noel! While it’s great to see all the different contributions, it just made me realize that most of these parks I haven’t even visited jet. So thank you some new travel inspirations… 🙂
Seeing all these pictures together is a stark reminder of the precious resources we often take for granted.
Great post with so many incredible photos!!! Thanks for including me!