Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Barreirinhas, Brazil

White dunes, blue lagoons

From the air, the mesmerizing tapestry of sandy dunes and lagoons you see here gives Lençóis Maranhenses National Park an otherworldly, desert-like appearance. Located in the sparsely populated Northeast corner of Brazil, this park gets far too much annual rainfall — nearly 50 inches — to be considered a desert. In fact, heavy rain is part of what makes this place unique. Nearly 70% of its annual rainfall comes between January and May, filling the park's nearly 40,000 lagoons to the brim with fresh rainwater. Why doesn’t the water sink into the sand? A layer of impermeable bedrock beneath the dunes prevents that from happening.