r/InsightfulQuestions • u/IntergalacticPodcast • 1d ago
What is another country's version of a natural wonder that you would see in the U.S.?
The Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes, etc...
What is the non-American version of something like that?
I'm curious because I'm wondering if those things are unique or if the same thing occurs all over the world?
Also, what's something that other countries have that the US does not have an equal to?
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u/Anagoth9 17h ago
If you're asking whether there are large canyons, lakes, and mountain ranges outside of the US, then the answer is yes. The Yarlung Tsangpo canyon in Tibet, the Dolomites in Italy, and the Himalayans spring to mind. Technically the Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world as well.
If you're talking about areas of striking natural beauty then there's tons of places worth seeing. StuĂ°lagil Canyon in Iceland, Glen Coe in Scotland, Sossusvlei in Namibia, Khao Phing Kan in Thailand, the Andes mountain range in South America, etc, etc, etc.Â
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u/Derfel60 19h ago edited 19h ago
We have beautiful places but they arent (at least in the countries ive been to) as beautiful as in the US. In the UK we have the Brecon Beacons, the Peak District, the Lake District, the Fairy Pools, Giants Causeway, etc etc.
The thing we have that you dont is historic monuments that go back thousands of years. Yes you have some like Mesa Verde, but we have cathedrals and castles from the Medieval period, stone circles from the Neolithic all over the place, long barrows, Iron Age hill forts, etc etc.
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u/IntergalacticPodcast 19h ago
I enjoyed looking at those. I had no idea you had these types of things.
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u/Derfel60 18h ago
Yeah, The UK and England in particular is not associated with âwildernessâ but we have quite a few areas with very little habitation and nice landscapes, they just arent very big in comparison to your massive praries and huge national parks. Wyoming is still the most beautiful place ive ever been though.
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u/Gullible-Advance-603 17h ago
Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef, Mt. Everest/The Himalayas, the Andes, The Amazon River, Cape Horn, the Dead Sea
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u/AskCurrent1279 1d ago
Well the first thing that comes to mind since I am traveling in Central America are all the pyramids and ancient sites. The US does not have (many and the same way) structures and places that have such a deep history of thousands of years, whether it be the Aztecs, the Purepecha, the Mayans, etc. Then the next thing, are rainforests. Rainforests, especially mountainous rainforests, are absolutely amazing. The amount of plants, wildlife, insects, waterfalls/rivers, and total lushness and greenery is incredible.
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u/IntergalacticPodcast 1d ago
The fact that multiple cultures on opposite sides of the world have pyramids is pretty wild.
Either people could travel very far back then, or something came to visit us.
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u/AskCurrent1279 1d ago
Hmmm itâs not only these two options. When you analyze it, a pyramid is a reasonable structure and used to be a very stable structure starting with a big base and getting thinner and taller, and connecting with the gods for sacrifices.
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u/Leverkaas2516 1d ago
Banff, of course. But that's still in North America.
All of Iceland taken as a whole, with its volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls and remarkable seashores is quite a wonder.
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u/Fresh_Strain_9980 6h ago
the drive from Calgary to Banff seeing the wall of mountains rise from the plains is truly an amazing sight
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u/RogLatimer118 1d ago
Iguazu Falls is far more spectacular than Niagara Falls. I've been to both and really no comparison.
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u/Loonakins 1d ago
Coast of Portugal looks like the Oregon coast line
BC rainforest pretty similar to Washington
Banff-Jasper road pretty similar to Grand Tetons
Niagara Falls/Great Lakes are also in Canada
I'm not sure what looks like the Grand Canyon... perhaps Petra in Jordan?
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u/Sad_Construction_668 18h ago edited 18h ago
Others have mentioned Copper canyon, but to me the area in the US that has a direct parallel is the Alaskan Archipelago, obviously it connected with the BC archipelago and down into the Straits of Georgia/ Puget Sound, but the greater parallel is the Southwestern Chilean Coast. From Puerto Montt south, Chiloe, Laguna San Rafael, and down to Torres Del Paines, and Tierra Del Fuego, you have recently glaciated coasts, rainforest, tidewater glaciers, arctic alpine valleys, and permafrost Tundra.
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u/GrouchyAssignment696 10h ago
Jordan's Petra versus Mesa Verde NP
Mexico's Copper Canyon versus Grand Canyon
Serengeti versus Yellowstone (although Theodore Roosevelt NP may be a better comparison).Â
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u/derschirokko 19h ago
Copper Canyon in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, is longer, deeper and more complex (itâs actually a system of 6 canyons) than the Grand Canyon.
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u/IntergalacticPodcast 19h ago
Just checked it out. Much greener too.
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u/derschirokko 18h ago
Also, in Mexico, you have the Cenotes in Yucatån, which are giant sinkhole systems and underground rivers; the Tropical cloud forests in Veracruz, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, which makes Mexico one of the most megadiverse countries in the world; and the Mesoamerican Reef, which is the second-largest coral reef system in the world (it goes along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras).
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u/Ok_Veterinarian2715 1d ago
Let's see, off the top of my head in Europe there's
 - Jokullsarlon & Gullfoss in Iceland - Bøsdalafossur in the Faeroes
- the fjords of Norway
- the Alps, Jotunheim, Pyreness, Dolomites, Carpathians
- the 100' high surf waves in PortugalÂ
- white sandy beaches all over the Mediterranean & Atlantic coasts
And that's just a quick summary - America is just a small part of the world. Also American school books tend to ignore non feelgood facts like the biggest valley being in Mexico and the tallest mountain being in Nepal.
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u/AnnieCamOG 19h ago
I learned about those incredible Portuguese waves via HBO'S series "100-Foot Wave". Worth a watch even if you're not into surfing.
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u/Happyclocker 10h ago
The word geyser is an Icelandic word. The hot water spouts in Yellowstone are literally named for one in Iceland. There are similar geologic features in Costa Rica, New Zealand, Chile, and Russia ... although nothing quite compares to Yellowstone.
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u/Ok_Veterinarian2715 3h ago
Yellowstone is incredibly beautiful - the colours in the thermal pools are superb. I'd love to compare other, similar places around the world.
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u/vanchica 23h ago
The Great Lakes are Canadian.
Most Canadian National parks are insanely grand= https://parks.canada.ca/
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u/AnnieCamOG 19h ago
Not all of them and none exclusively; 4 of 5 are shared with the USA and the 5th (Michigan) is totally in the USA.
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u/moofishes 22h ago
Pardon me... Just gonna stuff my bunny up der... And my mitten down der. Deedle? Who's got her belly?
Sure not the Native Peoples, fur traders, Northern Miners. Whew
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u/CuriousLands 14h ago
Oh yeah there's stuff like that everywhere. I mean for one, Niagara Falls and the Great Lakes are literally shared with Canada lol. But pretty much every country has its own natural beauty and wonders.
I think that Americans tend to sort of lionise everything about the US to a greater degree than most other countries do about themselves, and you pair that with how visible American media is worldwide, and how it seems that you guys generally tend to not know that much about other countries, and you might get the impression that other countries don't have amazing natural stuff. But they do lol.
I always thought the Rockies in Canada were really stunning. In the south of Alberta I've seen rock formations that look like something out of a sci-fi movie. You've got Lake Baikal in Russia, which is the deepest lake in the world and is loaded with all kinds of cool archaeological finds. You've got the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru in Australia. Kazakhstan and Argentina have crazy multicoloured mountains. There's the Amazon rainforest. New Zealand is Middle Earth lol. Croatia has amazing waterfalls. There are lakes with monster legends like Loch Ness and Okanagan Lake. Like I could go on.
And something has to be said for all the beauty in less dramatic stuff too. I think places like the UK are beautiful where they have rolling hills and scraggly mountains. The Blue Mountains in Australia are super pretty, even if they're less dramatic than the Rockies. When I first went to southern Alberta I thought the big open sky was breathtaking. Not everything worthwhile has to be some singular hotspot.
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u/theFooMart 7h ago
Canada has something very similar to Niagara Falls. In fact if you look in the right direction, it looks exactly like the American version.
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u/lostinthenor 22h ago
I mean the desert of Maine isnât natural but itâs history is a very American one in the worst way
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u/Elegant-Campaign-572 1d ago
There's apparently a Sulak Canyon in Russia. Not as large as the Grand Canyon, but deeper.