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84
sossusvlei
dunes
NAMIBIA
At 1,250 feet (380 m), the sinuous
dunes of the southern Namib Desert
are some of the highest in the world,
bolstered in places by a binding of
vegetation that is watered by sea-
sonal rivers and the heavy fogs that
roll in from the Atlantic Ocean. The
sand’s high iron content lends the
dunes their pink-orange hues.
Hikers follow the crest of a megadune
in Namib Naukluft National Park.
86
the emerald
lakes
TONGARIRO NATIONAL
PARK, NEW ZEALAND
Ancient craters filled with water,
the Emerald Lakes are part of the
still active Mount Tongariro volcano
(6,490 ft/1,978 m) and are colored by
minerals leaching from the surround-
ing thermal areas. Hikers can view
them on New Zealand’s most popular
day hike, the 12-mile (19.3 km) Ton-
gariro Alpine Crossing.
The Emerald Lakes dot the landscape.
85
racetrack playa
DEATH VALLEY,
CALIFORNIA
How can it be? How can boulders
move by themselves across a dry, flat
lake bed on the flanks of Death Val-
ley? The wind, some say, and the rare
winter rains that render the lake bed
slick with mud. No one knows for sure,
and the Playa, a place of silence and
mountains etched dark against the
blue of desert skies, isn’t telling.
One of the “sailing stones” and tracks
that give Racetrack Playa its name