9 Incredible Places to Visit before They're Gone ...

Katherine

9 Incredible Places to Visit before They're Gone ...
9 Incredible Places to Visit before They're Gone ...

When you sit down to plan a trip, do you ever think of the places to visit before they’re gone? I didn’t until now. Most of the places that are disappearing are quite shocking and devastating since they are so rare and beautiful. These places to visit before they’re gone are places that you wouldn’t even think of.

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1. The Maldives

The Maldives When you open a travel magazine, the bungalows sitting over the open blue water are mostly taken from the islands of Maldives. It is the smallest Asian country in population and land area. The islands of Maldives also happened to be the world’s lowest nation; 80% of the islands is 1 meter above sea level. Within 100 years the Maldives will become uninhabitable because they will be underwater. The crystal blue water beckons you to put it on your list of the places to visit before they’re gone!

2. The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef The home to Nemo, Dory and Marlin, my favorite fishes in the sea! The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef. The continuing rising of ocean temperature, water pollution, coral bleaching and cyclones are destroying the reef yearly. It is estimated that 60% of the reef will be lost by 2030. That is 8,000 years of natural creation that could be gone within your lifetime or in the next 100 years. Since so much effort was put into finding Nemo, we could at least protect his home!

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3. Venice

The city of Venice has long been shrinking with rising sea levels but frequent floods have made the situation more dramatic. St. Mark’s Square's yearly flood occurrence has jumped up 60% since 1900. Venice has sunk by 9 inches in the last 100 years. 9 inches! City officials are trying to help stop the sinking but there isn’t much to be done. It is estimated that Venice has 70 years left before it will be lost. Maybe that’s why tourism since 2007 has jumped dramatically!

4. The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea The Dead Sea, known for its exotic beauty products that could make any woman look younger. In the next 50 years, women won’t be able to find Dead Sea beauty products. The sea is shrinking from the lost of its main and only water source, the Jordan River. The surrounding countries of the Jordan River are using the river as a water supply for their citizens. So the Dead Sea will continue to shrink without the Jordan River’s supply. Evidence is already clearly seen when you visit today, all hotels and resorts that once were on the coast of the sea are now a mile away from where the sea lies.

5. The Alps

The Alps Since the 1800s, temperatures here have increased two times faster than the global average. Because of increasing temperatures, the Alps have experienced an extreme ice loss. Since the 1980s alone, the Alps have lost 20% of their size. The beautiful snow caps on the Alps will be gone in the next 40 years if temperatures continue to increase. This is why the Alps are high on places to visit before they’re gone!

6. Madagascar

Home to those special singing and dancing lemurs! Okay, maybe they don’t sing and dance but Madagascar is the home of more than 20 different species of lemurs. These lemurs and the 80% of the plants and wildlife that are found in the basin are not found anywhere else on Earth. They will be lost in 35 years if nothing is done to save the island. The ecosystem is being destroyed by logging, burning for subsistence farms, and poaching.

7. The Congo Basin

The Congo Basin The Congo Basin, located across seven different African nations, is a collection of rivers, forests, savannas and swamps. It is the world’s second largest rainforest behind the Amazon’s and responsible for 40% of the worlds oxygen. The United Nations has estimated that up to two-thirds of the forest and its unique plants and wildlife could be lost by 2040. Mining, illegal logging, farming, ranching and guerrilla warfare are all causes for the disappearance of the basin.

8. Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park A hundred years ago, the Glacier National Park had over a 150 glaciers strewn throughout it. Today, only 27 glaciers remain and they are projected to disappear by 2030, if not sooner. Global warming may be to blame for the disappearance of the glaciers but without the water supply for the ecosystem, the park may change dramatically. Over 1,500 species of plants and animals could be lost without the water supply. So take a road trip and camp out at the park to experience its wonders.

9. Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal It is one of the most tourist attractions in India. Over 3-4 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year but you soon may only be able to see it from afar. The crowds and the air pollution are eating away at the white marble facade. Tourism officials are considering closing the 17th century monument to the public. The estimated time remaining to visit is 5 years! I would book a ticket now!

The places to visit before they’re gone are startling...well maybe except Venice. No matter where they are located, they are still places that won’t be around much longer and their beauty will disappear forever. Were any of the places to visit before they’re gone on your list to visit? If they weren’t, are they now?

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Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

This is not ok to read upon waking up. This just made me cry.

Wow, I need to speed up my travel bucketlist then!

Hi Katherine, Thanks for the article. Loved it ! Can you please provide me with the link to the UN article you refered to about the Congo Basin ? It will be very helpful for my research paper. And tx

Great post!!!

@Megan Some of the problems with these places are not all humans. There are businesses like Kim said. Most of the problems these places face are just mother nature.

Interesting article. Thanks :)

@Leslie, the article is depressing. I tired to make it fun and interesting but the overall mood of the article is like you said depressing. Hopefully talking about it like @Neecey said will do overall good for these places.