From trenches located at crushing depths to
rock formations that emerge like daggers from the ground, here are 11 places on Earth no
human has ever set foot on: Number 11 Mariana Trench, Pacific
The ocean is the least explored place on Earth, so it's no wonder that vast portions have
remained untouched by humans. One of those areas is Mariana Trench – a narrow fissure
in the sea floor, located in the western part of the Pacific. The trench is the deepest
known region on the planet and was formed millions of years ago. The Challenger Deep,
located in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, is said to be the deepest spot in
the ocean. It contains more than 20 underwater volcanoes, vents bubbling up liquid sulfur
and marine life adapted to pressures up to 10,000 times stronger than at sea level. Movie
director, explorer and ocean enthusiast James Cameron descended to 35,756 feet during his
2010 expedition – and he could have gone a little deeper. A high-resolution map published
in 2014 said that it bottoms out at 36,037 feet. This means that the deepest point still
hasn’t been seen. The US has jurisdiction over the Mariana Trench and a protected marine
reserve was created in 2009 by G. W. Bush. Number 10 Northern Patagonia, Chile
Hosting Chile's wildest landscapes, the area hides untouched rainforests, peaks, rivers,
and lakes. The field of northern Patagonia is also home to one of the largest masses
of ice found outside of the polar region. The high elevation preserves the remaining
Ice Field that once covered all of the Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia in the Andes. A team
of scientists used polar-ice monitoring satellites to determine that some of the glaciers in
Patagonia are melting faster than anywhere else in the world, receding at a rate of 21
billion tons per year. Even though it is now retreating, the frozen area is still over
1,600 square miles. Several researchers and explorers have crossed the ice field over
time, but much of its glaciers still remain unexplored. Number 9 Machapuchare Mountain
Machapuchare is a sacred peak for the Hindu religion. It’s said that Lord Shiva, an
important Hindu deity, lives here. The ‘Fish Tail Mountain’ gets its name from the shape
of the peak as seen from a certain angle. As one of the last unexplored places on Earth,
it represented a target for the western mountaineers that tried to conquer it. In 1957, Wilfrid
Noyce came the closest anybody ever has to the summit, but the king of Nepal asked him
to respect the religious customs and not set foot on it. He and his companion turned back
150 feet short of the peak, producing the only climbing record of the mountain. The
impact of alpine climbing is much more understood today, with sites like Everest being completely
overtaken by climbers. The religious status of the mountain may have had an environmental
benefit too, leaving the Machapuchare as the only pristine mountain peak in the Himalayas.
Number 8 Sarlacc Pit, Canada A giant gaping cave was found in Canada in
2018 and it was named Sarlacc Pit, after the pit-dwelling beast in Star Wars. The discovery
of the cave, concealed in the ground of the British Columbia's Provincial Park, was a
remarkable achievement for the explorers. The cave was first accidentally spotted in
April during a helicopter caribou counting flight. What’s more remarkable is that the
320 feet long and almost 200 feet wide ground hole managed to escape detection before. According
to the man whose company funded the initial survey expedition, it’s because the site
has been covered in snow year-round up until 20 to 50 years ago. Caver Lee Hollis made
the first and only known descent into the cave up to now, reaching 260 feet down, as
the deluge of the cave's waterfall prevented further exploration. Researchers estimate
that the surge of the glacier melt that courses down one side of the cave's mouth, nearly
4,000 gallons of abrasive water per second, helped the structure's formation. Number 7 New Hebrides Trench
Although we’ve reached to the sky in exploration, very few attempted to go in the other direction.
We may know more today about stars and galaxies than we know about Earth’s oceans. There
are more than 30 deep-sea trenches around the world and most can be found in the Pacific
Ocean. In 2013 an expedition to the unexplored New Hebrides trench in the Pacific has revealed,
with the help of high-tech cameras, the abundance of crustaceans and cusk eels that live more
than 23,000 feet deep. Scientists said that eels have appeared in other deep-sea trenches
around the world but in extremely low numbers. The ecology of the Hebrides differs from other
regions of the ocean that have been studied. The difference in the ecosystem is believed
to be caused by the unproductive water above the trench, where many fish species are unable
to survive. Number 6 Star Mountains, Papua New Guinea
The Star Mountains is a massive mountain range extending from the Indonesian border to the
Hinderberg wall. It’s a network of huge limestone plateaus, up to 6,000 feet tall
and 30 miles long, that protect the area. The Bluffs stretch for over 30 miles, creating
a diverse and undisturbed wildlife habitat. A survey of the region found more than 1,100
plant and animal species, 100 of which were new to scientists. The area of the Star Mountains
is believed to be one of the wettest on the planet, with rainfall being at over 10,000
mm per year. Number 5 Gamburtsev Mountains, Antarctica
Mountains the size of the Alps have been found in Antarctica, entombed in ice – suggesting
that the ice sheet formed more rapidly than scientists initially thought. Using gravity
and radar sensors, maps were created showing details of the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains.
Expecting to find flat plateaus eroded over time, they were amazed to discover an area
with peaks and valleys, looking similar to the European Alps. The presence of the ridged
peaks suggests the ice formed quickly, burying the landscape under up to 2.5 miles of ice.
Hidden beneath Angus dome, one of the coldest places on Earth, no one has ever even seen
the Gamburtsev Mountains. However, if all the ice in Antarctica melted, their ridges
and peaks would become one of the continent’s highest mountain ranges. The mountaintops
now measure almost 9,000 feet above sea level and would bounce back to more than 10,800
feet without the ice sheet. Number 4 Yucatan Cenotes, Mexico
There are thousands of cenotes all across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, places that once
were revered by the Mayans as sacred wells, and still an attraction for people worldwide.
The Yucatan is characterized mainly by its limestone bedrock, a soluble type of rock
that can dissolve after being exposed to water for millennia. The collapse of limestones
sometimes reveals the cave underneath, thus marking the birth of a cenote. The caves fill
over time with water filtered directly by the earth, creating lakes and stunning views.
Since there aren’t many rivers in the Yucatan, they were once the primary source of water
for the Mayans. They were also considered gateways to the afterlife – now making a
magical place for swimming and snorkeling. Located in remote mountain areas, most of
the cenotes are difficult to access and sometimes undisturbed even by wildlife. Estimates suggest
that there are more than 6,000 such places and less than half of them have been studied
or even registered. Number 3 Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan
Gangkhar Puensum, in translation ‘White Peak of the Three Spiritual Brothers’, is
the highest mountain in Bhutan, with its peak reaching almost 25,000 feet. Most of the sources
say that it’s located at the border with China. However, for many years, different
maps would show it as various heights and even place it in completely different locations.
It’s said to be the highest mountain in the world that has still not been fully summited
by man. There have been four expeditions, none of them successful due to impassable
terrain and sudden weather changes. The villagers say it was the spirits of the mountain that
prevented the climbers from summiting it. The peak has been unreachable to climbers
since 1994 when all mountaineering above 20,000 feet was prohibited in the country due to
spiritual beliefs. In 2003, mountaineering was completely forbidden. Gangkhar Puensum
still remains a mystery to man, with ghostly apparitions and strange disappearances reported
there. Number 2 Sahka Federal Republic, Russia
One-fifth of Russia is covered by the Siberian Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia. The
major part is located above the Arctic Circle. The hard soil which is covered by permafrost,
make Yakutia a deadly place to live. In July, some parts of Yakutia can reach up to 100
degrees Fahrenheit, whilst the average recorded temperature is as low as -50 degrees. Sahka
is one of the few places on Earth where the mountains, rivers, and lakes are still untouched
by civilization. The largest river system can be found there, preserving more than 10%
of the world's wildlife. It’s also the least populated area of its size and the entire
population can fit into one district of Tokyo. Fauna and flora that exist dating back to
the ice age were preserved here. With 1,850 species of higher plants, over a hundred are
considered medicinal and used in traditional medicine. Also unique are the horses of Yakutia,
which can easily withstand -50 degrees and find food under the snow.
Number 1 Tsingy de Bemahara National Park, Madagascar
Tsingy de Bemahara, translating as ‘Where one cannot walk barefoot’, is a national
park located in Madagascar covered in huge rock formations shaped like needles, protruding
from the ground. Formed millions of years ago by groundwater erosion into deep caverns,
the combination of rounded surfaces and jagged spires certainly look like a daunting climb.
This has provided the local wildlife with protection against human intrusion. The national
park has a length of 930 square miles and is today one of the Unesco World Heritage
sites. Escalating the Tsingy seems far easier for the Sifaka lemur, a primate that evolved
there and can easily jump between the spires. In the 1990s, a French speleologist founded
an organization to help preserve and explore the area. With the help of the locals, a set
of suspended bridges and steel cables was built, allowing the landscape to be seen from
the air. However, getting to the park is still no easy feat. Located on the remote west coast
of Madagascar, Tsingy de Bemahara is only accessible by a dirt road, which becomes unnavigable
for six months a year during the rainy season. One can also opt for one of the two river
routes but it’s worth knowing that they’re both infested with crocodiles.
Thanks for watching! Do you know other places on Earth that are untouched by humans? Tell
us about them in the comment section below!
