Exploration: D&D question.

To both of you who read this blog...
you know who you are.

How do you  inject a feeling of true exploration into an RPG?
I'm asking.

I'm going to give some examples of what I mean from other mediums.

Video games:
Far cry Primal:
I'm walking through the  woods I come across a cave.. I have no idea what's in it, but I know every thing in the game is out to kill me so i'm nervous as hell about going in. I mark it on the map and walk on .. saving it for latter. These are set pieces in Far Cry.

Terraria:
I am completely addicted to digging around underground and just finding cool things. There are houses built down there, and mine cart tracks and traps and all kinds of strange things. I love the  feeling of breaking into a new cave and finding something I haven't seen before. Terraria procedurally generates the world,... so things are always different.

Real Life:
My wife and I went hiking the other day  by our local river. We round a corner walk down to the river bank and sitting there is a huge piece of weathered concrete. Part of some long forgotten dock, or other bit of now defunct industry. I love that. I'm semi obsessed with the remnants of old industry that still exist in our area. There is a mystery to such things. Why is it there? Who built it? What was it used for?

I'm looking to inject just a bit of exploration into my D&D game.

The party has gotten their hands on a magic item that will allow them over time to build a sky ship roughly Mysteria style. I assume they will use it to move around. Exploration is going to become a  theme if I'm ready for it or not. I have my hex maps I know what kind of land will be below the players, and what kind of places they will be walking into when they decide to land. Sometimes just knowing  what's in an area concerning, random encounters, flora, and resources is not enough.

I want to inject a bit of mystery.

Any thoughts?

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