Natural wonders of South Asia

Every wonder in the atlas that sits in South Asia, across 7 countries. This region grows as the atlas expands.

Annapurna Sanctuary

Gandaki, north-central Nepal

A high glacial amphitheatre ringed by a wall of 7,000- and 8,000-metre Himalayan giants — the beating heart of one of the world's great treks, reached through rhododendron forest and terraced hills.

Mountain South Asia

Chitwan National Park

Terai lowlands, southern Nepal

Nepal's first national park — a lush lowland jungle of sal forest, tall grassland, and rivers that shelters greater one-horned rhinos, Bengal tigers, and gharial crocodiles.

Forest South Asia

Horton Plains & World's End

Central Highlands, Sri Lanka

A high, misty plateau of montane grassland and cloud forest in Sri Lanka's highlands, ending abruptly at World's End — a sheer escarpment that drops nearly 900 metres to the plains.

Mountain South Asia

Karakoram & Baltoro Glacier

Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan

The greatest concentration of high peaks on Earth — a 62-kilometre river of ice leading to K2 and a ring of granite towers, in the most extreme mountain terrain anywhere.

Glacier South Asia

Kaziranga

Assam, India

A vast floodplain of tall grass and marsh on the Brahmaputra — home to two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinos, plus tigers, elephants, and wild buffalo in astonishing numbers.

Wetland South Asia

Kerala Backwaters

Kerala, southwestern India

A 900-kilometre network of lagoons, lakes and canals running parallel to the Arabian Sea behind a chain of barrier islands — brackish, palm-fringed, and worked by rice barges converted into houseboats.

Wetland South Asia

Mount Everest

Mahalangur Himal, Nepal / Tibet (China) border

The highest point on Earth — 8,849 metres above sea level, where the Himalaya's collision-built peaks reach into the 'death zone', drawing climbers and trekkers to the roof of the world.

Mountain South Asia

Pangong Tso

Ladakh, India

A vast high-altitude lake on the Tibetan Plateau whose waters shift through unearthly blues and greens beneath the bare, colossal mountains of Ladakh at over 4,300 metres.

Lake South Asia

Phewa Lake

Pokhara, central Nepal

A serene lake at Pokhara that mirrors the snow peaks of the Annapurna range — including the sharp fishtail summit of Machapuchare — with a small temple island at its heart.

Lake South Asia

Phobjikha Valley

Wangdue Phodrang District, central Bhutan

A broad glacial valley at 3,000 metres holding Bhutan's best-known marshland — where a few hundred black-necked cranes winter each year, and where the country buried its power lines underground rather than risk them flying into the wires.

Wetland South Asia

Sigiriya

Central Province, Sri Lanka

A sheer 200-metre column of ancient volcanic rock rising abruptly from the green plains of central Sri Lanka — a natural monolith crowned by the ruins of a 5th-century sky palace.

Rock formation South Asia

Sinharaja Forest Reserve

Sabaragamuwa & Southern Provinces, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's last great stretch of primary lowland rainforest — a dense, dripping, biodiversity hotspot where more than half the island's endemic trees, birds, and mammals are found.

Forest South Asia

The Maldives Atolls

Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka

A double chain of coral atolls scattered across the Indian Ocean — nearly 1,200 low-lying islands ringed by turquoise lagoons and vibrant reefs, and the lowest-lying nation on Earth.

Island South Asia

The Sundarbans

Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta, Bangladesh (and India)

The largest mangrove forest on Earth — a vast, tidal labyrinth of channels and salt-tolerant trees at the mouth of the Ganges, and the last stronghold of the swimming Bengal tiger.

Wetland South Asia

Valley of Flowers

Uttarakhand, India

A high Himalayan valley that erupts each monsoon into a carpet of alpine wildflowers — hundreds of species blooming beneath snow peaks and glaciers in one of the world's great floral spectacles.

Mountain South Asia

Yala National Park

Southern and Uva Provinces, southeastern Sri Lanka

Dry-zone scrub, lagoons and granite outcrops on Sri Lanka's southeast coast — thought to hold the highest density of leopards per square kilometre anywhere, in a park that partly closes each year when the water runs out.

Savanna & plains South Asia