Natural Wonders of the World

What are the world’s seven natural wonders? Which ones would you pick?

We’ve compiled a list of our top seven, from the suffocating heat of Death Valley, the awesome power of Niagara Falls and the Geysers of Yellowstone, to the mightiest river, and the greatest Canyon.

For many of us the natural world acts as a distant backdrop to our busy urban lives. We carve and cultivate vast areas of land to suit our own purposes and needs. But where nature remains untamed we are forced to confront ourselves, compelled to look and listen. These wildernesses, tropical jungles, and desert canyons, not only provide a window into the past, but they help remind us of our place on Earth.

In this film we celebrate some of our most exquisite and precious natural sites. 

2002 documentary for the Travel Channel, including the following subjects :

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is contained within and managed by Grand Canyon National Park, the Hualapai Tribal Nation, and the Havasupai Tribe. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone, widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

Death Valley

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California's Mojave Desert, the lowest, driest, and hottest area in North America. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level. This point is 84.6 miles east-southeast of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet. Death Valley's Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest reliably reported air temperature in the world, 134° Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, is a United States National Park located in the U.S. State of Hawaiʻi on the island of Hawaiʻi. It encompasses two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive subaerial volcano. The park gives scientists insight into the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and ongoing studies into the processes of volcanism.

The Amazon

The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge of water in the world, averaging a discharge of about 209,000 cubic meters per second, greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined. The Amazon rainforest, also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms.