Ever felt like experiencing a stroll through a nature reserve or a park what was suddenly submerged underwater? Well, thanks to the magic and weirdness of nature, sometimes you can!
This video shows a diver swimming through locations that have clearly been developed by humans and were recently above water: the swimmer goes through pathways, crosses a wooden bridge, films tropical plant life and huge trees, and even bumps into a crossroads, including a signpost showing where the different paths lead. What is this underwater wonderland? Is the Earth populated by a water-breathing civilisation that we had no idea about?
Sadly, the answer to this beautiful mystery is nowhere near as outlandish as that, but still magical in its own way: last February, one of the hiking trails in Brazil's Recanto Ecológico Rio de la Prata — the Natural River Park — was flooded because of unexpectedly heavy rainfall.
In this case a series of circumstances allowed the overflow to turn the path into the beautiful scene you watched in the video. The two nearby rivers that overflowed, the Olho D'Água and the Rio da Prata, perfectly filled up a bit of the Recanto Ecológico Rio de la Prata's rainforest.
The park offered more details on the phenomenon, saying that when it rains that much, the Rio de la Plata runs slower, causes damming, and increases the Olho D’Água's water level. On the day of the video, the Olho D’Agua's waters stayed crystal-clear because it is inside a private natural heritage reserve.
Sadly, this beautiful occurrence was not sustained for very long, probably because of the specific circumstances that it needed to happen in the first place. The rivers and the natural river park were back to normal by the end of that day.
A similar phenomenon happens every year in Green Lake in Tragöß, Austria, in the snow-covered Karst mountains. Normally, the lake is about a metre deep and is surrounded by pathways, benches, and small bridges. But as the snow from the Karst mountains melts, the scenery changes altogether. About 12 metres of water flood the tiny lagoon and submerge everything, doubling the lake's size from two thousand square metres to four.
A diver from Perly, Switzerland, Marc Henauer, went to explore this beautiful yearly occasion. He said: 'I felt like I was in a magical world — it was beautiful. Swimming over the flowers, grass, and trees was like we were in a fairytale.
'We were lucky that the sun created light rays through the water. My wife and I stayed there for seven days and we did three dives every day, spending an hour on each dive.'