The world’s only public park where visitors find real diamonds in the dirt – and it has a mining-themed water park too
A PUBLIC park in America is the only place in the world where people can search for real diamonds and take them home.
Crater of Diamonds located in Diamond State Park, Murfreesboro, Arkansas, is a volcanic crater where visitors can hunt for rocks, minerals and gemstones and whatever they find, they can keep.
Visitors can bring their own equipment or rent equipment at the site to hunt for precious stones, which include diamonds, amethysts, garnets, jasper, agate, quartz and other precious rocks and minerals.
Diamonds at the park are usually yellow, brown or white.
One recent visitor thought he spotted an empty wrapper but actually found it to be a 3.81-carat brown diamond worth thousands.
Over 35,000 diamonds have been found since Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972.
There are three main ways to find the diamonds – and other stones.
The first way is to essentially just scour the surface – which means walking slowly through the plowed rows, bent over and looking for anything that glistens.
The second method is wet sifting, which is where visitors haul gravel through troughs of water to wash away the mud and see what is left behind.
The third way is dry sifting, which entrails the same as wet sifting just without the water.
Inside the park’s visitor centre, visitors can inspect real, uncut diamonds and interact with exhibits that show the area’s history and geology.
There is also a Diamond Discovery Centre where visitors can learn more about rocks and minerals found at the park and how to search for diamonds.
In total, the park spans 37-and-a-half acres and staff provide complimentary identification and registration of diamonds, if you are lucky enough to find any.
The site also has a number of other amenities including walking trails, picnic sites, a campsite, a fishing lake, a gift shop and a waterpark.
The Diamond Springs waterpark is mining-themed, with a wading pool featuring spray geysers, sprayers, water jets, animated waterspouts, cascades, two water slides and waterfall hideaways.
The diamond-hunting park costs $15 (£11.36) per adult and $7 (£5.30) per child to enter and the waterpark costs between $10 and $12 (£7.59 to £9.10) to enter.
The nearest city is Murfreesboro, Arkansas, which has a population of just over 1,600 and is home to a number of places to stay or eat, and antiques shops.
The closest bigger city is Texarkana, on the Texas-Arkansas border.
The city is known for being a spot where Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash performed and the only Federal Building and post office that straddle a state line.
Lake Greeson is also just six miles from Diamond State Park, and is a popular spot for boating, swimming, hiking and fishing.
Back in the UK, there is a stretch of coastline that has some of the world’s best fossil hunting.
Plus, the UK beach parents say is a hidden gem where kids can go ‘dinosaur-hunting’.