What better way to remember your travel than collecting natural souvenirs?
As a nature lover, having such touchable memories at home really means a lot to me.
Sometimes I am just taking a certain piece of nature in my hand, and instantly it takes me back to that specific moment – more than a picture or refrigerator magnet does.
Let me show you around my humble collection!
1. Altaj mountains, Siberia, Russia (maps location)
Most of these stones I found on the same spot-- in a bend of the Katun river in the Altaj mountains. (Maps location)
For some reason, this spot was just a paradise of colorful and multicolored stones, the most beautiful ones I’ve seen anywhere.
What felt even more amazing, is that I was probably standing at lots of places where almost no people have set foot before. How amazing is that, in a world of almost 8 billion people!
Enjoy some other pictures of my trip there.
2. Vulcan El Cuervo, Lanzarote, Spain (maps location)
Lanzarote is known as the volcanic island, and there were so many gorgeous lava stones over there looking like small moons with their craters.
One of the most impressive thing in Lanzarote was the El Cuervo volcan. History has left a crater there and you can do a hike inside the crater! Phenomenal it was!!
Funny situation at the airport back home at the security check, where I had to open my luggage and they took away my biggest batch of lava stones. They said it was from protected property – I am curious what they did with the stones after that?
Luckily, I had another small bag at another compartment, which they did not take fortunately.
3. Ramla Beach, Gozo, Malta (maps location)
I couldn’t resist to take a bottle of this magnificent golden sand from Ramla beach in Malta!
Read more about where to go in Malta in my post.
4. Sequoia National Park, USA (maps location)
When I was in Sequoia National Park last year, surrounded by the big fat trees, I smuggled 2 twigs back home.
What surprised me was the carvings in the twigs. I have no idea if it is natural or not, but it looks amazing.
Have a look at my US National Park trip here.
My collection is bigger, but I recently moved and the souvenirs are spreaded around somewhere in my boxes. (For which I am too lazy to unpack 
)
Following are missing in the post: Salt stones from Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park & some other small stones from Grand Canyon.
If you made it until here, congrats! I hope you enjoyed the post.
Now it is time to ask you a question: Are you collecting natural souvenirs as well?
Stay safe and beautiful,
Stephen
Here’s my post
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