Bizarre Tourist Destinations: Dead Vlei, Namibia
In the middle of the Namib-Naukluft National Park in the central Namibian desert lies the dead marshes of Sossusvlei. Surrounded by 1000 feet high sand dunes and the skeleton of 9000-year-old trees, the Dead Vlei is a spectacular and eerie tourist attraction.
Thousands of years ago the area was overflowing with the waters of the Tsauchab River, ebbing and flowing, creating patterned clay pan crusts and shallow pools for the trees to flourish.
However, severe drought struck the region that dried up the riverbed and killed the trees, creating a blackened, withered graveyard where a wide-expanse of verdant land once stood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBEsvHBNGi8
Bizarre Tourist Destinations: The Ice Aquarium, Japan
In northeastern Japan, the city of Kesennuma is home to the bizarrely beautiful Ice Aquarium. Here, eighty species of sea critters are immaculately preserved in blocks of ice. The aquarium uses flash-freeze technology to preserve the variety of creatures unloaded from the Kesennuma port. The interior of the aquarium is negative 20 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) and tourists have to don parkas for their visit.
