About two hours east of Calgary, Alberta, the gently rolling prairie grasslands suddenly drop off, plunging the visitor into a whole other world of hoodoos, pinnacles, coulees and buttes. Many who visit these badlands for the first time describe this sudden transition as if they have taken a wrong turn and somehow ended up on the moon. Strange land formations rise up on all sides, sculpted by wind and water into hauntingly beautiful shapes sunbathed in terra cotta, bronze and amber.

These almost-human figures are oddly reminiscent of another space and time, as if those who once walked these quiet valleys were suddenly transfixed in place by some unexpected and cataclysmic event that turned everything into sandstone. Those who look closely may find a camel with a pyramid in the background, the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek or a group of ladies with elaborate hats enjoying afternoon tea.

A trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park is also a 75 million-year foray back in time. This region was then a subtropical paradise populated by turtles, crocodiles and sharks -- and featuring a lush vegetation similar to the coastal plains of the south-eastern United States today. Here, on the shores of the Bearpaw Sea, dinosaurs once hunted and mated -- and ultimately met their demise, leaving an amazingly rich fossil and bone record for us to discover today.

Welcome to Dinosaur Provincial Park -- a world heritage site like nowhere else on earth!