世界上最美的国家公园，桂林漓江入选（组图）

        作者：Jane Levere 2011-08-30   福布斯中文网    

国家公园的定义是：拥有壮观自然美景的地方，未经人类斧凿，向公众开放，且由政府机构进行保护。 

 

1872年，美国总统尤利西斯·辛普森·格兰特（Ulysses S. Grant）签署《黄石国家公园法》，这块占地200万英亩、充满了间歇喷泉、峡谷和大群北美野牛的土地得以成为世界上第一座国家公园。这一法律将怀俄明州广袤的土地以及蒙大拿和爱达荷州部分区域保护起来，目的是为后世留存这片土地上的自然景观。这一想法立即变得流行起来。澳大利亚、加拿大和新西兰迅速效仿，纷纷设立了自己的国家公园——国家公园的定义是：拥有壮观自然美景的地方，未经人类斧凿，向公众开放，且由政府机构进行保护。

 

幻灯片：世界上最美的国家公园

 

 

Brenda Tharp

Kakadu National Park, Australia

A World Heritage site located in Australia’s National Territory, this park has been inhabited continuously by its aboriginal owners for more than 50,000 years. Its cave paintings, rock carvings and archeological sites record the lives of both its original inhabitants, who were prehistoric hunter-gatherers, and of the aboriginal people here today. The park’s tidal flats, flood plains, lowlands and plateaus are home to hundreds of species of birds, fish, insects and reptiles, including the saltwater crocodile.

       

 

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Japan

Southwest of Tokyo, this national park is one of Japan’s most popular. A dormant volcano more than 12,000 feet high, Mt. Fuji is, according to Fodor’s, “utterly captivating in the ways it can change in different light and from different perspectives. Its symmetry and majesty have been immortalized by poets and artists for centuries.” It is also often shrouded in clouds in spring and summer.

Grand Canyon National Park, United States

Probably the world’s most famous national park, if not the most photographed, Arizona’s Grand Canyon did not achieve national park status until 1919, three years after the National Park Service was created. Some five million people visit it annually, to see its glorious canyon one-mile deep and ten miles across, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years. Visitors can take in both the South Rim, which offers the park’s renowned panoramic views, and the North Rim, which is 1,000 feet higher and features wildflower meadows, aspen and spruce.

Guilin and Lijiang River National Park, China

Located in southeastern China, this park is renowned for its karsts, limestone cones, cylinders and hills with colorful names like “Elephant Trunk,” “Dragon Head” and “Five Fingers”; these have inspired countless Chinese poets and artists and even been depicted on the country’s paper currency. The best way to drink in this breathtaking scenery is to take a 30-mile boat trip along the Lijiang River, from Guilin to Yangshuo.

 

Banff National Park, Canada

The birthplace of Canada’s national park system, Banff was established in 1885 in the Canadian Rockies, within the western province of Alberta. Lonely Planet sums its scenic wonders up best, “Mountains, big mountains, are all over the place. Fast-flowing rivers chart their own course through the hills. Enormous glaciers flow down the peaks and nearly touch the road. Lakes are the color of turquoise, so blue that you have to wonder if there is something unnatural behind their hue.”

 

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park and a World Heritage site, the Serengeti is best known for the annual migration of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle. Spectacular game-viewing—of buffalo, elephant, giraffe, topi, impala, Grant’s gazelle, lion and leopard—is also possible here. Luxury travel specialist Jack Ezon recommends the “amazing acadia trees” at Serengeti, where visitors are treated with some of the most mesmerizing sunsets in the world.

 

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile

Considered by many to be South America’s most spectacular national park, Torres del Paine is in Patagonia, Chile, at the very tip of the continent. Famous for its granite peaks, it is also home to what Lonely Planet calls “emerald forests,” “radiant blue glaciers” “azure lakes,” and “jaw-dropping lookouts." Hiking and trekking are among favorite activities here.

 

Swiss National Park, Switzerland

Founded in 1914, Swiss National Park is the oldest national park in the Alps and central Europe, and Switzerland’s only national park. t is famous for its alpine plants--such as the edelweiss, a protected flower that grows thousands of feet above sea level and was immortalized by “The Sound of Music”—and alpine animals, like the chamois, deer and marmot. Its 80-kilometer network of trails makes this park a hiker’s paradise.

 

Lake District National Park, England

Located in a region that inspired artists and writers like J.M.W. Turner, William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, Lake District National Park, founded in 1951, has plunging valleys, granite boulders and 16 pretty lakes. The birthplace of British mountaineering, it is also heaven for bikers of all sorts, and for water sports enthusiasts, who can row, sail, windsurf, kayak and fish.

 

Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

Located on New Zealand’s South Island, Fiordland is the country’s largest national park, encompassing rugged mountain ranges, 14 gorgeous fiords and a world-renowned collection of waterfalls. Two of its most famous sights are Milford Sound--whose abruptly carved peaks, particularly Mitre Peak, are iconic--and Doubtful Sound, whose rounded hills are more subdued. Activities here include bird watching, hunting, jet boating, kayaking, diving and mountain biking and hiking.

 

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

A century younger than Yosemite, the world’s first national park, Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica’s smallest national parks. Despite its size, it is also one of the country’s most popular national parks, thanks to its dazzling variety of sights: tropical rainforest, beaches and rocky headlands. Wildlife--including sloths, iguanas and squirrel monkeys--is abundant in the rainforest. Sports enthusiasts can indulge in everything from snorkeling and sea kayaking to horseback riding.

 

Kakadu National Park, Australia

A World Heritage site located in Australia’s National Territory, this park has been inhabited continuously by its aboriginal owners for more than 50,000 years. Its cave paintings, rock carvings and archeological sites record the lives of both its original inhabitants, who were prehistoric hunter-gatherers, and of the aboriginal people here today. The park’s tidal flats, flood plains, lowlands and plateaus are home to hundreds of species of birds, fish, insects and reptiles, including the saltwater crocodile.

 

据国际自然保护联合会（International Union for Conservation of Nature）的数据，现今全球共有约7,000座国家公园。在探险旅行家兼作家马特·魏兰诺（Matt Villano）、国家公园专家、豪华旅游公司Ovation Vacations总裁杰克·艾宗（Jack Ezon）的帮助下，我们评选出了全球12座景色最美的国家公园。尽管有句老话说，各花入各眼，但我们挑选出的这些国家公园的壮丽景色、地理奇观和种类繁多的植被都是数一数二的。

 

20世纪初，在毫无节制的狩猎活动致使狮子数量急剧减少之后，英国在现坦桑尼亚境内设立了面积为800英亩的部分野生动物保护区。该保护区后来成为了塞伦盖蒂国家公园。今天，该公园以其一年一度的大规模动物迁移活动闻名于世。这场年度盛事的主角们包括成千上万的斑马、瞪羚、牛羚，它们为了追逐新鲜牧草不惜艰苦长途跋涉。令人望而顿生敬畏之心的落日照亮了非洲地平线，婀娜多姿的金合欢树点缀其上，水牛、大象、狮子、美洲豹和其他野兽在一望无垠的土地上玩闹嬉戏。

 

如果想要观赏苍翠繁茂的美景和具有异域色彩的动物，不妨前往新西兰峡湾地带国家公园一探究竟。这个公园位于新西兰南岛，距皇后镇两个半小时车程。这里有山有水，还有热带雨林和峡湾——包括米尔福德湾（Milford）和神奇湾（Doubtful Sounds）两大景色壮丽的峡湾——以及全球独一无二的大量动植物。它是新西兰最大的国家公园，堪称户外爱好者的天堂，你可以在此坐上皮划艇探索原始溪流，或脚蹬山地自行车穿行在悬崖陡壁之上，亦或是徒步在风景如画的林中小径中。哥斯达黎加的安东尼奥国家公园是相对较新的一家国家公园，它成立于黄石国家公园一个世纪之后。这里有各种令人惊叹的海滩和珊瑚礁，是浮潜和探索该地区著名红树林的理想场所。未经开垦的热带丛林中，栖息着褐喉三趾树懒、鬣蜥、中美洲松鼠猴和色彩各异的鸟类。安东尼奥国家公园是哥斯达黎加最小的国家公园之一，但却是最受欢迎的，它常年举办各类活动，从白水漂流、海上独木舟到在园中4片海滩上骑马等不一而足。