Amazing Human & Natural Wonders

Bagan Temples and Pogodas

While the kingdoms of Bagan date back to the early 2nd century A.D., Bagan only entered its golden age with the conquest of Thaton by King Anawrahta in 1057 A.D. From this time, until Bagan was overrun by Kublai Khan's forces in 1287 A.D., more than 13,000 temples, pagodas and other religious structures were built. Today, seven centuries later, approximately 2,200 temples remain standing. The river Irrawaddy has washed away nearly one-third of the original city area, thieves have torn apart many temples in search of treasures, while earthquakes and the ravages of time have reduced hundreds of others to great piles of crumbled stones.

The Moai statues of Rapa Nui

One of the world's most famous yet least visited archaeological sites, Easter Island is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27 degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of Chile, it is considered to be the world’s most remote inhabited island.

That culture's most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart and creating an almost unbroken line around the perimeter of the island.

Galapagos Islands,Ecuador

The giant Galápagos tortoise ( a tortoise near the rim of the Alcedo Volcano) is one of the many species on the Galápagos Islands that are found nowhere else on Earth.

But these unique species are in considerable danger from irresponsible visitation by large cruise ships and inappropriate development.

Though the islands' rating on National Geographic's Destination Scorecards has improved slightly in recent years, the area is still very much on the cusp.

When you visit the Galápagos, make sure you're doing that with a responsible tour operator.

Maldives

One of the 28 New7Wonders of Nature finalists, the Maldives are made up of 1,192 small islands (including the above), but people live on only about 200 of them.