Pinnacles: Ancient Shells Transformed into Desert Spires in Western Australia (14 photos)

Just two hours north of Perth lies one of the continent's most inexplicable and captivating sights—the Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park.





This is not just a landscape, but a natural phantasmagoria, where thousands of stone spires rise from a yellow sea of ​​sand, like the forgotten remains of an ancient city or a message from the past.



These amazing formations are not of volcanic origin or the work of man. They are the result of the quiet but persistent work of time. About 25,000 to 30,000 years ago, when sea levels were higher, the Indian Ocean lapped this spot. When the waters receded, they left behind a thick layer of seashells. Over the millennia, these remains turned into limestone. Then the wind came—the tireless sculptor of the desert—and gradually blew away the soft sand, revealing the hard cores of the future spires.





Some of them reach 3.5 meters in height, and their shapes range from smooth columns to bizarre mushroom-shaped turrets. In the sunset, they cast long shadows, turning the desert into a theater of shadows and light. On the horizon, one can see snow-white dunes, the blue ocean, and the endless sky, where eagles and falcons soar.



The Pinnacles are Western Australia's most visited natural attraction outside of Perth. Here, it's easy to feel like a time traveler or a space explorer stepping onto an alien planet. Especially in the quiet of the morning, when kangaroos cautiously wander the sands and an emu struts in the distance.



While limestone formations of this type are found in other parts of the world (for example, in Egypt or the south of France), it is the scale, density, and contrast of the landscape that make the Pinnacles unique. Nambung Park covers 17,487 hectares and is protected as an important ecosystem, home to dozens of species of birds, reptiles, and mammals, including rare nocturnal marsupials.





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