Travel

10 BEAUTIFUL FORESTS TO CONSIDER NOW

Ile des Pins. New Caledonia by Philippe AMIOT.

by Philippe AMIOT. Ile des Pins. New Caledonia.

Forests are Earth’s dominant terrestrial ecosystem. They’ve become largely taken for granted and, unfortunately, hugely compromised.

Check out 10 very special forests we’ve curated for you below. Many are considered “hotspots” because they contain endemic species, found nowhere else on Earth. They are important. And they are magnificent.

1. NEW CALEDONIA -- ASIA-PACIFIC

New Caledonia is an archipelago in the Melanesia subregion. It is part of Zealandia, a fragment of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent that separated from Australia about 66 million years ago and drifted to its current location, 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia.

Most of the main island of Grand Terre is covered by wet evergreen forests. The climate is tropical, often with close to 80% humidity.

The forest here has many unique taxa, especially among birds and plants. It has the richest diversity in the world per square kilometre. There are species, genera, and entire families that are unique to the island, thanks to a variety of niches, unique landforms, and micro-climates.

The New Caledonian crow, whose intelligence and tool-making ability rival most primates, is one of the many amazing creatures that hails from this forest.

While you are there, check out the New Caledonian Lagoon, listed as a World Heritage Site, covers 24,000 square kilometres (9,300 sq mi) and is one of the largest lagoons in the world. It is surrounded by the New Caledonia Barrier Reef.

2. DAINTREE RAINFOREST -- QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Daintree Rainforest, in Queensland, Australia, is a total blast from the past. It is the oldest surviving rainforest in the world.

This ancient forest contains the broadest range of rare plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, much of it endangered.

Much of the forest is now protected, listed by UNESCO as part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site.

3. CALEDONIAN FOREST -- CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK, SCOTLAND

You can’t help but feel the power of the universe when you experience the Caledonian Forest, in northern Scotland. The thick tall pine groves you walk through are direct descendents of the first pines to arrive, following the ice-age, about 7,000 BC.

This is one of Earth’s most ancient and most unique forests, with an unbroken, 9,000 year chain of evolution. Everything from its soils, to its vegetation and animals, is distinctive.

The Caledonian Forest is one of the last remaining wildernesses. Its ecosystem is unique, with rare species of birds, deer, fox, and other wildlife. There is a growing movement to reintroduce extinct endemic species to this forest, such as Eurasian lynx, grey wolves, and brown bear.

Once spanning 3.7 million acres, climate change and human encroachment have reduced the forest to 44,000 acres. They are mostly fully protected, sitting within Cairngorms National Park, the largest mountainscape in the UK.

4. EASTERN AFROMONTANE -- SAUDI ARABIA - ZIMBABWE, AFRICA

The Eastern Afromontane, stretches over a curving arc of widely scattered but biogeographically similar mountains along the eastern edge of Africa, from Saudi Arabia, all the way south to Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The forests are home to 10,856 plant and animal species live here, and almost a third of them which are endemic to the region. Once vast, human encroachment has reduced the forest to 11% of its original footprint, making it one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots.

5. MADAGASCAR & INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS -- AFRICA

Beyond their sheer extraordinary beauty, the forests of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands, off the eastern coast of Africa, are among the most unique and biodiverse in the world.

Like the Galapagos Islands, off the east coast of Ecuador, these land masses support some of the highest levels of endemism in the world -- a result of 10’s of millions of years of isolation from the African mainland.

A remarkable 8 plant, 5 bird, and 5 primate families living here are found nowhere else on this planet. Impressively, over 90% of the almost 16,000 species of plant life here are endemic.

Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands are the world leaders in primate endemism and are of the highest priority conservationists. These forests are lemur central -- home to more than 50 species.

6. CALIFORNIA FLORISTIC PROVINCE -- CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

The California Floristic Province, spanning over 100,000 square miles, encompasses about 70% of California, spilling over to northern Baja, western Nevada, and southeastern Oregon.

The tallest forest trees on the planet, giant sequoias and coastal redwoods, live here. You will also find a wide variety of ecosystems, such as juniper-pine woodlands, upper montane, alpine, cypress, and Douglas fir forests.

Today, only about 80,000 km2 (19,768,431 acres) of the forests remain in pristine condition. They are considered to be biodiversity hotspots, home to over 3,500 different species of plants, 61% of which are endemic. There are more bird species than any other place in the country.

7. PHILIPPINE FORESTS -- PHILIPPINES, ASIA-PACIFIC

Beautiful tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests once blanketed the more than 7,100 islands that make up the Phillippines. Now, only between 3% and 6% of their original vegetation remains.

Still, these forests are home to over almost 12,000 plant species, half of which are endemic-- found nowhere else on earth. And 895 species of butterflies, 352 unique to the Philippines. All of this makes this one of the top 5 biodiversity hotspot priorities in the world.

8. SAGANO BAMBOO FOREST -- KYOTO, JAPAN

Japan’s Sagano Bamboo Forest, in the Arashiyama district of western Kyoto, is one of the most tranquil forests in the world.

Long, lithe bamboo trees sway in the breeze, as sunlight peeks through the dense groves. This forest is listed on the Japan Ministry of Environment’s “100 Soundscapes of Japan”, because of the wonderfully calming, rustling sounds that the bamboo stalks create as they sway in the breeze.

Tenryu-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Kyoto-gazan (5 major temples of Kyoto), is situated right outside of the Sagano forest.

And check out the nearby Iwatayama Monkey Park, home to over 100 Japanese macaques.

9. JIUZHAIGOU VALLEY -- SICHUAN, CHINA

The forests of Jiuzhaigou Valley, in Sichuan, China, are extraordinarily beautiful. Over 180,000 acres of lush forests, with turquoise lakes, snow-topped mountains, and tumbling, multi-level waterfalls deliver quite a rush. Look out for endangered giant pandas and golden snub-nosed monkeys, as well as over 140 bird species.

The valley is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and World Biosphere Reserve.

10. CADDO LAKE STATE PARK -- TEXAS, UNITED STATES

Caddo Lake is a spectacular phenomenon that sits in the middle of the forest in the 8,253 acre Caddo Lake State Park, in eastern Texas. It was created by a gigantic log jam, known as the Great Raft.

Bald cypress trees and a proliferation of aquatic plants thrive in the waters, creating a maze of sloughs, bayous and ponds. It’s a great fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking spot.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow

us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week! Now, it’s even easier to enter with the new BeautifulNow App!

Plus check out the rest of our App’s beautiful features. It’s free to download here.

IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: by Philippe AMIOT. Ile des Pins. New Caledonia.
Image: by Philippe AMIOT. Ile des Pins. New Caledonia.
Image: by Stephan Roletto. THIO ' S RIVER - NEW CALEDONIA. New Caledonia.
Image: by Christophe / saturnino Iaïchouchen. A LIFOU. JINEK bay (natural fish tank) Lifou, Loyalty islands, New Caledonia.
Image: by Paul D'Ambra. Daintree Rainforest. Daintree Rainforest. Queensland, Australia.
Image: by spodzone. Sunlight on ferns and trees. Caledonian Forest. Cairngorms National Forest, Scotland.
Image: by Tim Haynes. Loch Affric. Caledonian Forest. Scotland.
Image: by Rafael Medina. Colobo en la niebla. Harenna Forest in the Bale Mountains National Park in Eastern Afromontane. Ethiopia.
Image: by nomis-simon. Diademed Sifaka. Madagascar.
Image: by bass_nroll. [morning ride]. Dawn @ Ile St. Marie.Madagascar. Madagascar.
Image: by Vicente Villamón. Secuoyas gigantes, giant sequoias. Sequoia National Park. Floristic Province, California.
Image: by Phil. sequoia rays. Sequoia National Park. Floristic Province, California.
Image: by NoahElhardt. Darlingtonia californica. Sierra Nevada. Floristic Province, California.
Image: by jojo nicdao. Pantalan. Northern Mindanao, Philippines.
Image: by CLF. Bamboo forest 竹林. Sagano Bamboo Forest. Kyoto, Japan.
Image: by Alex Chen. サガノ　チクリン • Sagano Bamboo Forest (嵯峨野竹林). Kyoto, Japan.
Image: by Christopher. Mountains of Five Flowered Lake. Jiuzhaigou Valley. Sichuan, China.
Image: by Dave Hensley. Spanish Moss. Caddo Lake, Texas.
Image: by rduta. Underwater Forest. Jiuzhaigou Valley. Sichuan, China.
Image: by xiaotwotoo. Jiuzhaigou Valley. Sichuan, China.
Image: by BN App - Download now!
Image: by facebook.com/YouAreBeauuutiful. Jiuzhaigou Valley. Sichuan, China.