Spectacular wonders, part two

4. Magnetic Hill, Ladakh. About 30 km from Leh, a yellow signboard reads 'The Phenomenon That Defies Gravity'. Park in the box marked with white paint on the 'Magnetic Road', and your vehicle starts moving forward, at almost 20 km/h.

The secret: nothing defies gravity. It is an optical illusion (your eyes are tricked). The slopes around it and the line of the horizon make a downhill road look uphill. The car is really rolling down. Your eyes are wrong, not gravity.

5. The Glowing Waters of Kerala. Kumbalangi, a village 15 km from Kochi, has serene (calm, peaceful) backwaters that glow at night.

This is bioluminescence: light made inside a living thing by a chemical reaction (like a firefly). Here it is caused by huge numbers of micro-plankton (tiny water creatures). Kumbalangi is now an eco-tourism village.

6. The Sundarbans. Can a forest grow on the coast? Yes: mangrove forests, where trees take root under water, in soil with little oxygen.

Mangrove roots:

• slow down the tide;
• stabilise the coastline;
• reduce erosion (the wearing away of land).

A mangrove forest is a natural sea wall.

The Sundarbans spreads over 1,400 km in West Bengal, in the delta of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna. Its name comes from the sundari trees that grow there.

It is home to many birds, the Bengal tiger, and threatened animals like the estuarine crocodile (living where rivers meet the sea) and the Indian python.

7. The Invisible Chandipur Beach, Odisha. In Balasore district, the sea plays hide-and-seek. Every day it retreats (goes back) 2 to 5 km during ebb tide (when the water flows away from the shore, between high and low tide), and returns at high tide.

All seven show nature's artistry and enigmatic (mysterious) charm. They mix scientific intrigue (interest) with the magic of folklore. Each one has a scientific explanation, and none is less wonderful for it.