Red downpour, stone sail and the world’s most immense swamp

There are lots of miracles on the planet known to the whole world, but there are places and phenomena whose beauty is incredible and marvelous, which not everyone has heard of. In the BRICS countries, such little-known and almost unexplored wonders abound.

In South Africa. In the Republic of South Africa there is a crater called Vredefort, it is the largest on the planet. Jokes aside, its diameter is 250-300 kilometers. By the way, the age of Vredefort is 2 billion years. Besides, in South Africa, scientists have discovered blue-green algae, and that is the earliest evidence of life on Earth, because, according to experts, they lived on the planet about 3,500 million years ago.

In China. Three thousand sandstone pillars are located one hundred and seventy miles northeast of Changsha city district. That is Wulingyuan, part of the Winshan Mountain System. Fantastic peaks and cliffs of astounding beauty, more than two hundred meters in height, look like huge towers. It is one of the world’s most stunning natural sites. The quartzite and sandstone pillars are karst formations. In 1992, Wulingyuan became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it still remains almost an unknown natural wonder for most of the world's population. Although it is believed that those are the very mountains that inspired the creators of the “Avatar” film to design their fantastic landscapes.

In India. Idukki, an Indian district in Kerala, is known for a strange phenomenon called “red rain”. It is notable that the district itself was formed in 1972, but the first recorded red rain took place there in 1818.According to folktales and legends, red rain means the wrath of the gods. Many Indians believe that the killing of innocent people leads to the red rain, although there is no evidence of that, but red rain pours on Idukki quite often.

In Brazil. Brazil has the largest swamp on the planet. It is located in the lowlands of the Pantanal - it is a huge tectonic basin in the territory of the country, which is completely swamped. By the way, part of the huge swamp is located outside of Brazil, in Paraguay and Bolivia. The total area is more than 150,000 square kilometers, and that is what makes Pantanal the world’s largest wetland.

In Russia. Near Praskoveevka village in the Krasnodar Krai nature erected a very picturesque monument, which looks like a sail. A slice of sandstone vertically standing on the seashore is over 30 meters high and about 20 meters wide. Experts still argue how that natural wonder came into being. The most popular version suggests that the Sail is the only thing left after the softer sands had been washed out by the sea.

That is, once the Sail was part of the seabed, and the water surface was much higher. There is one more detail that is haunting the geologists’ and local historians’ minds. At a height of about 2.5 meters there is a hole in the Sail. Researchers suggest that it was pierced through by mountain artillery gunners during the Caucasian War. However, it is still a version, which needs the proof. Based on the materials from epochtimes.ru, 4tololo.ru, mediasole.ru, liveinternet.ru, bigpicture.ru