Stock photo: Virgin Falls Tofino Creek Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve British Columbia Canada

Stock photo of the Virgin Falls, which plunge 53 metres/174 feet in a fan formation down a rock escarpment along the Tofino Creek, a transition area of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

This stock photo shows Virgin Falls plunging 53 metres/174 feet in a fan formation down a rock escarpment along the Tofino Creek, a transition area of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The falls veil 53 meters into a large pool and can be accessed from the Tofino Main, at the north end of the Tofino Inlet, about 50 km north of Highway 4 at Kennedy Lake. Clayoquot Sound, (pronounced kla-kwat), on the west coast of Vancouver Island, is a wilderness so biologically diverse it's been designated by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a World Biosphere Reserve. Home to some five million species of animals, plants, and insects, including some of the world's largest and oldest trees, the 350,000 hectare (864,869 acre) reserve encompasses ancient temperate rainforest, long sandy beaches, lakes, rivers and streams, mountain peaks, rocky shores, coastal mudflats and estuaries, each with its rich population of flora and fauna. The Long Beach Unit of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the town of Tofino, as well as 16 provincial parks and ecological reserves, are all within the reserve. The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is the first of its kind on Canada's west coast and the first to have a marine component.