USA National Parks

The US has got some 64 designated national parks. These parks are home to more than 60% of the nation's endangered species, and represent some of the best remaining habitat for the country's wildlife heritage. They are also seen as "touchstones of shared history and culture." Visitors can opt for fragile coral reefs to complex wetlands while some of the most fascinating national parks are found underwater.

Badlands National Park: The Park, located in southwestern South Dakota, is home to the black-footed ferret, the endangered land mammal in North America. The park, which covers 64,000 sq kilometre consists of 244,000 acres of buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the mixed grass prairie. The Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, which are 23 to 35 million years old.

Yellowstone National Park: President Ulysses S. Grant designated this national park in 1872. A cataclysmic volcanic eruption that occurred about 640,000 years ago formed the Yellowstone National Park, which has geothermal wonders like Old Faithful. At this park you can view wildlife, try backcountry hiking, camping, horseback riding or join in a ranger-led nature walk.

Death Valley National Park: This is a land of extremes yet it is also a land of subtle beauties: Morning light creeping across the eroded badlands of Zabriskie Point to strike Manly Beacon, the setting sun and lengthening shadows on the Sand Dunes at Stovepipe Wells, and the colors of myriad wildflowers on the golden hills above Harmony Borax on a warm spring day, are some of the must-sees.

Yosemite National Park: The Park, located in the Sierra Nevada region, has beautiful waterfalls, meadows, and forests that include groves of giant sequoias, the world's largest living things. Don't miss: Yosemite Valley; Wawona's history center and historic hotel; the Mariposa Grove; Glacier Point and Tuolumne Meadows during summers.