MENTAL ESCAPE: beautiful sights on this incredible planet

 

Sossusvlei means "the gathering place of water" but you'll need to bring your own if you don't want to dehydrate at this, one of Namibia's most outstanding attractions.


Torres del Paine: created with screen savers and inspirational corporate posters in mind.see  more after the cut
 

 We love the wildebeest migration, which traverses the major nature parks in Kenya and Tanzania throughout the year, and so do the lions.  Star-filled sky, New Zealand:Orion, Pegasus and about a million of their friends are visible in Mackenzie Basin in New Zealand.  Lucky us, the world didn't end in 2012, so we still have time to see the Mayan ruins in Palenque.  You're camera's memory card might blow up inside this Iceland volcano, but otherwise it's all cool.  Monument Valley -- more beautiful in reality than in the movies. How many screen legends can say that?  Kasanka bat migration, Zambia:Yes, five million bats can look beautiful. They cluster together in one tiny corner of Zambia's Kasanka National Park every November.   Approximately 40% of Korea's tea is produced in the rolling fields of Boseong, which have also provided the backdrop of many Korean dramas and films   Guests staying within the village compound are allowed to enter this 9th century monument, hidden beneath volcanic ash for centuries, before opening time.  The Rialto, the Bridge of Sighs, the vast expanse of San Marco look much as they did 400 years ago, but nothing evokes the mystery of La Serenissima quite like Santa Maria Salute looming out of the mist at the entrance to the Grand Canal.   Electrical storm, United States:From thunder to lightning to tornadoes, you can see it all by joining a storm-chasing crew in Tornado Alley, the area between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains where 25 percent of America's "significant" tornadoes occur, according to the National Atlas by the US government.  Clean, secluded and easy to skip because it takes some effort to get here, the beaches of the Seychelles are the benchmarks against which others must be judged.  Scandinavia gives you a chance to see the most dazzling light display on Earth.