Category Social Sciences

The Bastei Bridge, a wooden bridge that links several rocks of the Bastei rock formation was built in 1824. Since then, it is a major tourist attraction and is the most famous landmark of the Saxon Switzerland National Park.

Bastei is a steep rock formation that towers upto a height of 194 metres above the Elbe River. This rock canyon was formed around one million years ago entirely due to the constant erosion by wind and water.

Saxon Switzerland National Park borders Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic. The Park has an intensely fissured rocky landscape and therefore, has a stark vertical division in topography. This is the reason for several different habitats and microclimate zones in the Park. The Park has steep mountains, ravines, and extensive forests. It also hosts some forms of forest without human intervention, something which is unusual in Europe.

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Goreme National Park is a rare site where nature meets history. It is a rocky, eroded volcanic region. The place is full of plateaus and valleys dissected by gushing rivers and streams.

Millions of years ago, the volcanic ash had solidified to form tuffs, big and small. These tuffs have undergone erosion for millions of years more to from multi-coloured cliffs, rock towers, pillars, tent rocks and fairy chimney rock formations. The ‘fairy chimneys’ are often highlighted as a unique feature formed by the wind and water.

In the Byzantine era, there were interconnected underground settlements here. This can be found in an area called Cappadocia.

Some of the earliest monasteries here date back to the fourth century, founded by monks who came here following the teachings of Basileios the Great. They began carving out cells from the rock. They later linked these cells and created underground communities, wit chapels, store rooms and living quarters in order to resist the attack of bandits.

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Tongariro National Park is famous not only for being the oldest national park in New Zealand. It is also famous for being a dual World Heritage area.

Tongariro National park is centred around three active volcanoes – Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. A variety of flora and fauna thrive in this acidic environment. Along with volcanic vents, one could also see several glaciers in the park. The plant and animal life in the park include the endangered whio or blue duck, North Island brown kiwi, tomtit, robin, tui, grey warbler, native falcon, golden and red tussocks, white foxgloves, podocarp trees, mountain cedars and sundews. Because of these outstanding natural characteristics, Tongariro National Park was declared a World Heritage site in 1990.

Three years later, the Park was also granted Cultural World Heriatge status under the revised criteria in recognition of its cultural significance and history. The Park is also famous for Maori cultural and spiritual associations.

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The Nelson Lakes National Park supports a honeydew ecosystem. Honeydew is a sweet sticky substance that forms a rich source of food for many birds, bats, lizards and insects.

Honeydew is produced by small scale insects that live inside the bark of beech trees; it is a sugar-rich sticky substance formed in droplets that protrudes from each tree trunk.

The Nelson Lakes National Park is centred around two large lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa; these lakes are the largest in this area. Both the lakes are surrounded by steep mountains and the shores of the lakes are lined by native honeydew beech forest, which feed a variety of tuneful nectar-eating native birds.

Apart from the red and silver beech trees, the forests around the lakes are abundant with a range of shrubs. These shrubs have an unusual wiry form. This feature is thought to have evolved as a defence against browsing by moa, a flightless bird now extinct.

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How can anyone compare rocks to pancakes? But we do have rocks shaped like pancakes stacked together in a giant heap. This curious structure is found in Paproa National Park. The Pancake Rocks are one of the most visited tourist destinations in New Zealand.

The Pancake Rocks are in fact a heavily eroded limestone area that forms surge pools and blow holes. Apart from the Pancake Rocks, the Paparoa National Park has a variety of landforms including mountains, high cliffs, lowlands, glacial valleys and coastal terrains.

Due to the mild climate and high fertility of the soil, a variety og organisms thrive in Paparoa National Park. One could find colonies of the Westland petrel, a rare seabird, in the densely forested terraces south of the Punakaiki river. Seals including the fur seal, elephant seal and leopard seal are also found here in abundance.

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Locked between Golden Bay and Tasman Bay at the north end of the South Island, Abel Tasman National Park is the smallest national park in New Zealand. The park is named after a European explorer Abel Tasman. Tasman was the first person to sight New Zealand in 1642 and anchored near the Golden Bay.

Abel Tasman National Park is a forested hilly area with considerable flora and fauna. Petrels, shags, penguins, gulls, terns, and herons are the birds that frequent this area.

A private funded trust named Project Janszoon works to conserve and restore the Park’s ecosystem. This name too has got something to do with the European explorer; Janszoon is Tasman’s middle name!

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