• Tagged bizarre, Brazil, desert, Lençois Maranhenses, National Park, sand

In Brazil, there is an very unusual national park in the desert. While you might expect to see rolling white sand dunes, you would not expect to see the area dotted with lagoons created by rainwater. Here’s a look at those dunes and lagoons in Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. [29 Photos]

• Tagged beaches, black sand beach, colored sand, colorful beaches, gray sand beach, nature, orange sand beach, pink sand beach, purple sand beach, Rainbow Beach, red sand beach, sand, white sand beach

When you think about summer and visiting a beach, do you visualize a seashore with golden-brown sand? That may depend upon where you live and what beach you are picturing. We are constantly amazed and appreciate seeing the diversity in nature, such as the extremely colorful sandy beaches that nature painted from a palette of rainbow-like shades. These unique-colored beaches are located all around the world and come in varying sandy shades of green, red, orange, pink, purple, black, gray, brown, golden-yellow and white. Here is a sampling of some of those beautiful beaches with spectacular sand in incredible colors. [43 Photos]

• Tagged architecture, art, beaches, bizarre, culture, nature, sand, sand art, sand castle, sand sculpting, sand sculpture, sand sculpture competition, sand sculpture festival, sandcastles, travel

When a person builds a castle, it’s a strong fortress meant to last hundreds of years. Yet some people build temporary, fragile castles of sand. In fact, most sandcastles are not castles at all but, amazing works of sand sculpture art. This is a mixture of nature, of art, of science. Physicists theorize that even more massive sand castles could be built underwater. While that would be cool, it would be much harder for the masses to enjoy the sandy works of art by masters of sand sculpting. We really liked these and imagined what it might be like to walk along the beach, enjoying nature, but taking in giant cultural pieces of sand art at the same time. While it’s still summer hot in the USA and some “kids” will soon start school, let’s globe hop and enjoy a summer day on the beach and these sensational sand sculptures. [47 Photos]

• Tagged adventure, desert, dunes, Jordan, Lawrence of Arabia, nature, photos, pics, pictures, rock climbing, sand, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Wadi Run

When people visit Petra – the rose red city half as old as time – they often trek through the stunning desert of Wadi Rum. This spectacularly scenic desert valley in the Kingdom of Jordan is where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Other movies shot here were Red Planet and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Some of the beautiful highlights in Wadi Rum include Red Sand Dunes, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and huge mountains. People say the best way to see Wadi Rum is by riding a camel or by way of hiring a four-wheel drive. While there are Lawrence of Arabia historical areas, experiencing nature is the biggest attraction of Wadi Rum. People come to camp under the stars, to ride Arab horses, to hike and for rock-climbing on the massive rock formations. We love these pics! [41 Pictures]

• Tagged abandoned, Africa, architecture, desert, diamonds, environment, ghost town, ghosts, haunted, images, Kolmanskop, nature, photos, pics, pictures, sand

There is a slowly sinking city in the desert of southern Namibia, Africa, a ghost town called Kolmanskop. In the 1900s, diamonds were discovered just sitting upon the sand, waiting to be found, so people from all over the world with diamond fever flocked from the port of Lüderitz to the once desolated lonely desert. Kolmanskop became a mining town, but after the First World War when diamonds sales dropped, the sand-clearing squad failed to show up. That was the beginning of the end; Kolmanskop turned into a ghost town being buried by sand and trapped in time. The TV show Destination Truth visited this ghost town since it is highly rumored to be haunted. They were not disappointed, having captured EVPs of ghosts whispering, seeing shadows, hearing footsteps, and having the fluff scared of out them in Kolmanskop. [21 pictures]