9 UNBELIEVABLE PLACES ON EARTH THAT ACTUALLY EXIST

Here’s a collection of some strange and unique places you probably never knew existed. Who’d have ever thought there would be a pink lake, a ‘door to hell’ or even an underwater city somewhere on this planet?! If you want some unusual places to add to your bucket list then check these out…

Lake Retba, Senegal

Lake Retba

This lake gets its pink color from the dunaliella salina bacteria, which is attracted by the lake’s salt content. The bacteria produces a red pigment so that it can absorb the sunlight.

Great Blue Hole, Belize

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This is a large submarine sinkhole. It’s over 300 m (984 ft) across and 124 m (407 ft) deep.

Leshan Giant Buddha, China

Ariel Steiner

This is the largest stone Buddha in the world and is 71 meters (233 ft) tall! It was carved out of the cliff face in the 18th century.

Derweze, Turkmenistan

Tormod Sandtorv

This cavern has been nicknamed the ‘door to hell’ and we can see why! This area is rich in natural gas. In 1971, geologists drilled into the cavern. The ground collapsed leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 meters. They decided to burn off the gas and thought the fire would only last a few days, but the gas is still burning today!

Ice Cave in Skaftafell, Iceland

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Chand Baori, Rajasthan

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Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand

Ancient Underwater City, China

The city remains undisturbed from the surface at a depth of 26-40m, and has provided scientists and archaeologists a glimpse into what life in ancient China was really like. Many of the intricate stone carvings and guardian lions that were scattered around the city are still perfectly intact as seen in the pictures taken by Chinese National Geography.

Qiu Feng, a local official in charge of tourism, first asked a Beijing-based diving club to come and explore the lake in 2001. Since then there has been an influx of tourists, and dive operators such as Big Blue in Shanghai organize trips to the city throughout the year, proving unusual opportunities to explore its underwater streets. A special submarine was also constructed to provide tours of the city, but has yet to be used due to local restrictions and concerns over damaging the city’s remains.

While the submerged city might seem beautiful now, it’s important to remember that the Chinese government at the time were happy to bury Lion City, along with another large city, 27 towns, 1,377 villages, and almost 50,000 acres of farmland to create a hydroelectric plant. The move flooded thousands of homes and displaced 290,000 citizens – a large price to pay for electricity and entertainment for hapless tourists.

Jacob’s Well, Texas

Jacob's Well is a perennial karstic spring in the Texas Hill Country flowing from the bed of Cypress Creek, located northwest of Wimberley, Texas.The 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter mouth of the spring serves as a popular swimming spot for the local land owners whose properties adjoin Cypress Creek. From the opening in the creek bed, Jacob's Well cave descends vertically for about 30 feet (9.1 m), then continues downward at an angle through a series of silted chambers separated by narrow restrictions, finally reaching a depth of 120 feet (37 m). Until the modern era, the Trinity Aquifer-fed natural artesian spring gushed water from the mouth of the cave, with a measured flow in 1924 of 170 US gallons per second (640 L/s), discharging 6 feet (1.8 m) into the air. The spring is the greatest source of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.