White dunes, blue lagoons

From the air, the mesmerising tapestry of sandy dunes and lagoons gives Lençóis Maranhenses National Park an otherworldly, desert-like appearance. Located in the sparsely populated north-east corner of Brazil, this park gets far too much rain to be considered a desert. In fact, heavy rain is part of what makes this place unique: Nearly 70% of its 1,270mm (50in) annual rainfall comes between January and May, filling nearly 40,000 lagoons in the park to the brim. A layer of impermeable bedrock beneath the dunes then stops the water from sinking into the sand.
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