The coral reefs in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, known as the “underwater Amazon” were irreparably damaged when a 4.2-ton cruise ship filled with tourists crashed into them. The reefs are some of the most beautiful and bio-diverse in the world and have suffered damage to a square mile area.
According to experts, it will take the reef at least 100 years to repair itself, which means we will not get to enjoy this amazing site unless we live far longer than currently expected.
The Twelve Apostles
A collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park in Victoria Australia were nicknamed the Twelve Apostles. The stacks were formed by erosion and their close proximity to each other, making them inviting to tourists. These days, only eight apostles are left standing after the ninth collapsed in 2005.
Visitors still come to the site to witness the remaining rock stacks and the rubble left behind, but the view is not nearly as impressive as it used to be. Despite the name, no one has ever gotten to see twelve apostles, the stacks started with just nine.
The Dharahara Tower and Other Nepalese Landmarks
A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed some of the most famous and culturally significant landmarks in the city of Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal in April 2015. The most famous landmark destroyed was the Dharahara Tower. The white candle-shaped tower was originally 100-foot tall but turned into a 30-foot pile of rubble.
A number of UNESCO World Heritage sites were also impacted by the quake, some of which were at least 1,700 years old.
The Tree of Ténéré
The Tree of Ténéré in Niger withstood the test of time and stood for centuries in the Sahara Desert. It was the only living tree in a 200-mile radius and a fixture on the paths of nomads for hundreds of years. Due to its unbelievable survivable in the desert, tourists used to travel through 250 miles of scorching desert just to see it. In 1973, a Libyan truck driver drove through the desert on an ancient caravan route that passed near the tree.
He was drinking while driving and struck the tree head-on. The tree died instantly, but its remains were moved to a museum and a sculpture of the tree was erected in its place.
Guaira Falls
The Guaira Falls were a series of waterfalls that used to sit on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The falls, which were part of the Parana River, were wiped out of existence in 1982 by the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant and dam.
The falls contained one of the largest volumes of falling water in the world, flowing at about 470,000 cubic feet per second, and were a major tourist attraction. These days, they are completely submerged.