The Hearts Of The Earth

Mangal em Voh, New Caledonia (photo by Yann Arthus-Bertrand)

This pictured travelled the world. It hasn't been airbrushed and it isn't a digital manipulation. The heart shape of this clearing was not designed by men, but is rather a natural process of vegetation elimination due to the water's salinity in the region.

It became one of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's most famous pictures and served as the symbol for his "Earth from Above" project. But our planet has other natural hearts...
Not far from New Caledonia we can find another heart-shaped land mass: the island of Tavarua, in the Fiji islands. It is a heavenly place, surrounded by a coral reef, explored for tourist purposes. You can see it in

Google Maps.

In Patagonia, in Lake Gutierrez to be more precise, there is also a small heart-shaped island (picture at Google Maps). On the other side of the world, in Croatia, the Galesnjak island has the very same shape (picture at Google Maps).
Close to Australia, in the Great Coral Barrier you can also find a coral reef in the shape of a heart. You can only see it from the sky, or at Google Maps.


At the Chembra peak, in Kerala, in India, at 2100 m of altitude, there is a small natural lake that is very sought-after by tourist for its peculiar shape: a heart (picture at Google Maps).


Two more coincidences. First, a little wood in the north of Spain, in Cantabria. It only assumes this shape when looked at from this angle though. You can see it at Google Maps. Finally, a swampy area at the Guantu natural park, in Taiwan (image at Google Maps).