China: Stone Forest (Shilin), Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. Shilin (The Stone Forest) is an otherworldly fantasy of twisted limestone formations that comprise the world’s largest natural stone maze. Geologists say the structures originated 200 million years ago with the interaction of limestone, sea water, rainwater and seismic upheavals. The bizarre pinnacles that resulted are of the distinctive type of limestone called karst, the same geology that one finds in Guilin.

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