Lakes, meadows, islands and other landscapes have a very irregular shape when viewed from above. However, some of them have interesting shapes and above these places are often organized airplane flights. Heart-shaped landscapes (natural and man-made) are quite rare and very popular among professional photographers and tourists.
1. Heart-Shaped Mangrove, New Caledonia
Probably the most well-known heart-shaped piece of land is this incredible mangrove in New Caledonia, made famous by aerial photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand and featured on the front cover of his book, Earth From Above. Mangrove swamps such as this one seen near Voh, New Caledonia cover nearly 25 percent of the world's coastal areas. That's just half their original range; exploitation of resources, agricultural and urban sprawl, and pollution have caused their demise. Vegetation gives way to bare spots, such as this heart-shaped one, where seawater rarely reaches. [link, map]
2. Heart Reef, Australia
Heart Reef, in the Great Barrier Reef of the Whitsundays, is a stunning composition of coral that has naturally formed into the shape of a heart. Located in Hardy Reef, Heart Reef is best experienced from the air by helicopter or seaplane, as visitors are unable to snorkel or dive there due it's protected status.
Heart Reef was discovered in 1975 by one of Air Whitsunday's pilots and is now an internationally-recognised attraction of the Whitsundays and features on many postcards and brochures promoting the Whitsunday region and the Great Barrier Reef. Many an amateur photographer has been amazed by the fact that their own photos look just like the brochures. [link, map]
3. Isla Corazón, Ecuador
Isla Corazon is a naturally heart-shaped mangrove island, located on the Chone River estuary off the city of Bahía de Caráquez in Ecuador's coastal province of Manabi. The uninhabited island is a nesting site to one of the largest frigate bird colonies in the Pacific, along with a host of other bird species.
The island was expanded through the mangrove restoration efforts of the local fishermen and was named a National Wildlife Refuge shortly thereafter. This group of fishermen started Isla Corazon Tours and now give canoe-led tours of the mangrove ecosystem. [link, map]
4. Heart-Shaped Meadow, UK
An English farmer created a heart-shaped meadow surrounded by oak trees in memory of his wife (he lost her 17 years ago), that was unknown to the world until a balloonist spotted it. This beautiful meadow is located in the south English countryside.
Winston Howes (farmer) spent a week planting
6,000 oak saplings and also planted a hedge for added privacy. He designed the monument so the point of the heart is toward Wotton Hill, where his wife was born. The hidden meadow was a family secret until July 2012. [
link]
5. Heart-Shaped Island, Brasil
The Vaza-Barris River is a river in northeastern Brazil. This river originates in northeastern Bahia state, and flows east through Bahia and Sergipe states to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near São Cristóvão. Just in the mangrove delta of this river is located heart-shaped island from picture.
6. Meadow in Trittau, Germany
This meadow really does look like a heart, although it’s not that impressive from the ground. The destination is just another wasteland located nearby
Hamburg and it’s ideal for couples and honeymooners to admire. [
link]
7. Galešnjak, Croatia
Galešnjak is located in the Pašman channel of the Adriatic, between the islands of Pašman and the town of Turanj on mainland Croatia. It is one of the worlds few naturally occurring heart-shaped objects. The island has a surface area of 0.132 sq km (32.6 acres), with its beach measuring 1.55 km (1 mi) in length. The island features two peaks, the highest of which is 36 m (120 ft) high above sea level.
Galešnjak is privately owned and contains only wild plants and trees. Human activity recorded on this island are three known Illyrian burial mounds and remains of an ancient building's foundations. The island's unusual shape was first recorded in the early 19th century by Napoleon's cartographer Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré, who included it in his 1806 atlas of the Dalmatian coast. This island was highlighted on Google Earth in February 2009, which brought the island to worldwide attention. [link, map]
8. Lake in the Amazon Jungle, Brasil
Here is an aerial view of a natural lake fed by a spring in the Amazon River basin near Manaus. Of course, this destination is accessible only by plane, and probably was also discovered in this way.
9. Lake McKenzie, Australia
Lake McKenzie (Boorangoora) is a heart-shaped lake on
Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia. The lake is located 6.2 km (3.9 mi)
southeast of Kingfisher Resort. It is 1200 m (3.940 ft) long; up to 930 m (3.050 ft) wide and approximately 80 hectares (0.3 sq mi) in area. The sands around the lake are composed of pure,
white silica and the water in the lake is also so pure it is unsuitable for many species. [
link,
map]
10. Heart-Shaped Wood, UK
This heart shaped wood grows along side the motorway near Tebay in Cumbria, England. Its real name is Brokengill plantation. There are some romantic stories attached to this, but the truth is it was planted to commemorate the marriage of Ruth Wakefield to Harvey Goodwin in 1879.
The trees (mostly deciduous) grow between two walls, in a wedge-shaped piece of land making it look like a heart. 50 years ago, when buzzards had almost disappeared from England because of pesticide use, a pair used to nest towards the top end of this wood. [link]
The most useful form of time travel would be to go back a year or two and rectify the mistakes we made.
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4. Heart-Shaped Meadow, UK - See in Google Maps:
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