xavierdesilets's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Indlovu DC, South Africa

African Bird of Prey Sanctuary

Environmentally crucial raptors like eagles and vultures are kept and protected in this massive sanctuary.
Soshanguve, South Africa

Tswaing Meteorite Crater

An ancient impact crater on the outskirts of Pretoria.
Howick, South Africa

Howick Falls

Local lore says a serpent-like beast lurks in the deep basin below the falls.
Cape Town, South Africa

Seal Island

Haven for Cape Fur Seals, until the Ring of Death of jumping Great White Sharks arrives.
Ehlanzeni, South Africa

Bourke's Luck Potholes

Raging waters have created a strange geological site that looks like something off of a progressive rock album cover.
Cape Town, South Africa

Boulders Beach Penguin Sanctuary

This African beach is home to thousands of rare mainland penguins that are known for their annoying voice.
Chad

Guelta d'Archei

Camels and crocodiles share the black waters of this stunning Saharan oasis.
East Tigray, Ethiopia

Abuna Yemata Guh

Reaching the "Church in the Sky" requires scaling the cliff face of a sandstone pinnacle with a 650-foot drop.
Lalibela, Ethiopia

Bete Giyorgis of Lalibela

An Ethiopian "Jerusalem" featuring a church hewn out of a single rock.
Afar Zone 2, Ethiopia

Erta Ale

Ethiopia's "smoking mountain" is in one of the hottest regions on the planet and is home to two lava lakes.
Afar Zone 2, Ethiopia

Dallol

The hottest place on the planet.
Djibouti

Lake Abbe

A salt lake dotted with steaming limestone chimneys.
Dargavs, Russia

Dargavs Village

This ancient village and its adjoining cemetery have a beautiful history of death and remembrance.
Moscow, Russia

Moscow Metro Stations

The gorgeous entrances into the city's underbelly look more like grand halls than subway stops.
Priozerskiy rayon, Russia

Church of Andrew the Apostle

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.
Medvezhyegorsky District, Russia

Kizhi Island

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.
Rybachiy, Russia

Dancing Forest

The reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of these "drunken" pine trees in Russia is still a mystery.
Evenkiysky District, Russia

Tunguska Event Epicenter

Site of the largest impact event to occur over land in Earth's recorded history.
Olkhonsky District, Russia

Baikal Seals

Some of the world's only freshwater seals live in one very special lake in Russia.
Perm, Russia

Gulag Museum

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.
Ulaganskiy rayon, Russia

Mushroom Stones of the Altai

Unusual, mushroom-like rock formations caused by weathering and water erosion, set to disappear, according to geologists.
Yekaterinburg, Russia

The Church on the Blood

Church built on the site where the last tsar of Russia and his family were killed.
Sosnogorsk, Russia

Manpupuner Rock Formations

Gigantic natural towers in a Russian plateau.
Turukhansky District, Russia

The 'Dead Road' Transpolar Railway

Stalin's prisoner-built rail line sits in ruin, never having a single car ride its tracks.