Afon Ogwen, a river in Snowdonia National Park, Wales

© Graham Eaton/Minden Pictures

Afon Ogwen, a river in Snowdonia National Park, Wales

Below the burbling surface of the Ogwen River—or Afon Ogwen, if you speak Welsh—the river rock, covered with an array of aquatic plants, echoes the terrain of Snowdonia National Park itself. Here in the northwest of Wales, some of the UK’s highest peaks nearly burst from the landscape, creating an ecosystem varied and rare enough to earn Snowdonia significant protected status.