Natural Wonders: lipnja 2015

srijeda, 24. lipnja 2015.

Natural wonders - Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses) is located in Maranhão state, in northeastern Brazil, just east of the Baía de São José. It is an area of low, flat, occasionally flooded land, overlaid with large, discrete sand dunes. It encompasses roughly 1,500 km2, and despite abundant rain, supports almost no vegetation. The area became a National Park on June 2, 1981.
Composed of large, white, sweeping dunes, at first glance Lençóis Maranhenses looks like an archetypal desert, but in fact it is not an actual desert. Lying just outside the Amazon Basin, the region is subject to a regular rain season during the beginning of the year.

Natural wonders - Postojna Cave Slovenia

Postojna Cave (Slovene: Postojnska jama; German: Adelsberger Grotte; Italian: Grotte di Postumia) is a 20,570 m long karst cave system near Postojna, Slovenia. It is the second-longest cave system in the country (following the Migovec Cave System) as well as one of its top tourism sites. The caves were created by the Pivka River.
The cave was first described in the 17th century by the pioneer of study of karst phenomena, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. In 1818, when the cave was being prepared for a visit by Francis I, the first Emperor of the Austria-Hungary, a new area of the cave was discovered accidentally by local Luka Čeč.

Natural wonders - Baatara Gorge Waterfall Lebanon

The Baatara gorge waterfall (Balaa gorge waterfall) is a waterfall in the Tannourine, Lebanon.The waterfall drops 255 metres into the Baatara Pothole, a cave of Jurassic limestone located on the Lebanon Mountain Trail.
Discovered in 1952 by French bio-speleologist Henri Coiffait, the waterfall and accompanying sinkhole were fully mapped in the 1980s by the Spéléo club du Liban. The cave is also known as the "Cave of the Three Bridges." Traveling from Laklouk to Tannourine one passes the village of Balaa, and the "Three Bridges Chasm" (in French "Gouffre des Trois Ponts") is a five-minute journey into the valley below where one sees three natural bridges, rising one above the other and overhanging a chasm descending into Mount Lebanon. During the spring melt, a 90–100-metre cascade falls behind the three bridges and then down into the 250-metre chasm. A 1988 fluorescent dye test demonstrated that the water emerged at the spring of Dalleh in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir.

Beautiful places in the World - Vanuatu

Vanuatu officially the Republic of Vanuatu is an Oceanian island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605; he claimed the archipelago for Spain and named it Espiritu Santo (Spanish for Holy Spirit). In the 1880s, France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was founded in 1980.

Beautiful places in the World - Sint Maarten

Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It encompasses the southern third of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, while the northern two-thirds of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin. Its capital is Philipsburg. Its population is 37,000 on 34km2.
Before 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten (Dutch: Eilandgebied Sint Maarten), and was one of five island territories (eilandgebieden) that constituted the Netherlands Antilles.

Wonders of the World - Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2, it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 kilometres in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast and far less inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89 °C.

Beautiful places in the World - Vernazza Italy

Vernazza is a town and comune located in the province of La Spezia, Liguria, northwestern Italy. It is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre region. Vernazza is the fourth town heading north, has no car traffic, and remains one of the truest "fishing villages" on the Italian Riviera.
Vernazza's name is derived from the Latin adjective verna meaning "native" and the aptly named indigenous wine, vernaccia ("local" or "ours"), helped give birth to the village's moniker.

Natural wonders - Hawaii

Hawaii is the 50th and most recent U.S. state to join the United States, having joined the Union on August 21, 1959. It is the only U.S. state located in Oceania and the only one made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii's diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches, oceanic surroundings, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, (wind) surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.

utorak, 23. lipnja 2015.

Natural wonders - Monte Fitz Roy Patagonia

Monte Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy) is a mountain located near El Chaltén village, in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. First climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone, it remains among the most technically challenging mountains on Earth for mountaineers.
Monte Fitz Roy is the basis for the Patagonia clothing logo following Yvon Chouinard's ascent and subsequent film in 1968.

subota, 20. lipnja 2015.

Wonders of the World - Bora Bora

Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island, located about 230 kilometres northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the centre of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 metres.
Bora Bora is a major international tourist destination, famous for its aqua-centric luxury resorts. The major settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main island, opposite the main channel into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained from the sea and the plentiful coconut trees, which were historically of economic importance for copra. According to a 2008 census, Bora Bora has a permanent population of 8,880.

Wonders of the World - Longsheng Rice Terrace

The Longsheng Rice Terraces, also called the Longji Rice Terraces are located in Longsheng County, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Guilin, Guangxi, China.
The terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, between 600 m to 800 m above sea level. A coiling terrace line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water in spring, layers of green rice shoots in summer, layers of rice in fall, and layers of frost in winter. The terraced fields were mostly built about 650 years ago.
Longji (Dragon's Backbone) Terraced Rice Fields received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon.In early June, water is pumped over the rice paddies and young plants are transferred to the main terraces.

Natural wonders - Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls, Iguazú Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentina province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the city of Curitiba. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil, however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Argentina and Brazil.
The name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani or Tupi words "y", meaning "water", and "ûasú", meaning "big". Legend has it that a deity planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, the deity sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to record the existence of the falls was the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541.

Natural wonders - Aogashima Volcano

Aogashima is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea. The island is administered by Tokyo and located approximately 358 kilometres south of Tokyo and 64 kilometres south of Hachijō-jima. It is the southernmost and most isolated inhabited island of the Izu archipelago.
The village of Aogashima administers the island under Hachijō Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis. As of 2014, the island's population was 170 on almost 9 km2. Aogashima is also within the boundaries of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

Natural wonders - Uluru (Ayers Rock) Australia

Uluru also known as Ayers Rock and officially gazetted as Uluru / Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road.
Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

četvrtak, 4. lipnja 2015.

Natural wonders - Hạ Long Bay

Hạ Long Bay "descending dragon bay" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Long City, Cẩm Phả town, and part of Vân Đồn District. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Hạ Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.

Natural wonders - Ice cave Vatnajokull (Iceland)

This glacier cave has been excavated by a hot spring underneath a snow field in south central Iceland, a country where such formations are common due to the high geothermal and volcanic activity, plus the high latitude, cold weather, and frequent snowfall.

Natural wonders - Reed Flute Cave

The Reed Flute Cave is a landmark and tourist attraction in Guilin, Guangxi, China. It is a natural limestone cave with multicolored lighting and has been one of Guilin’s most interesting attractions for over 1200 years. It is over 180 million years old. The cave got its name from the type of reed growing outside, which can be made into melodious flutes. Reed Flute Cave is filled with a large number of stalactites, stalagmites and rock formations in weird and wonderful shapes. Inside, there are more than 70 inscriptions written in ink, which can be dated back as far as 792 AD in the Tang Dynasty. These aged inscriptions tell us that it has been an attraction in Guilin since ancient times. It was rediscovered in the 1940s by a group of refugees fleeing the Japanese troops. Nowadays, multicolored lightning artificially illuminates the cave.

Natural wonders of Madagascar

Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean, and is the home of over 10,000 species of plants of which 90% is endemic. A trip to this African wild haven will satisfy tourists who enjoy the gifts of flora and fauna plus the white beaches that is perfect for a week-long holiday. Madagascar is not only about animals, plants and biodiversity; it is an icon of the beauty of nature.

Natural wonders - Underwater forest of Lake Kaindy

Kaindy Lake is a 400 meter long lake in Kazakhstan’s portion of the Tian Shan Mountains located 129 km from the city of Almaty. The lake was created after an earthquake in 1911 that triggered a large landslide blocking the gorge and forming a natural dam. Subsequently, rainwater filled the valley and created the lake.
The lake is famous for its scenic beauty particularly the submerged forest and the imposing trunks of spruce trees that rises out of the lake water. Above water, the sunken trees appear as large masts from lost ghost ships, or perhaps the spears of a mysterious army hiding and waiting for the right time to emerge.

Natural wonders - Red beach Panjin China

Red Seabeach located in Dawa County, Panjin, China, is famous for its landscape featuring the red plant of Chenopodiaceae, Suaeda salsa. It is based in the biggest wetland and reed marsh in the world. The landscape is composed of shallow seas and tide-lands.
The Sueda species is one of the few species of grass that can live in highly alkaline soil. Its growth cycle starts in April when it is coloured light red, while the colour of the mature species is deep red.
Panjin Shuangtaizi River mouth state-level nature protection area preserves the most completed ecosystem and the biggest wetland in the world. More than 260 kinds of birds and 399 kinds of wild animals live in it. It was promoted to the state-level nature protection area in 1988 has applied to join the International person and biosphere protectorate network

Naturalt wonders - Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatian: Nacionalni park Plitvička jezera, colloquial Plitvice, pronounced is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia.
The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The important north-south road connection, which passes through the national park area, connects the Croatian inland with the Adriatic coastal region.
The protected area extends over 296.85 square kilometres. About 90% of this area is part of Lika-Senj County, while the remaining 10% is part of Karlovac County. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register among the first natural sites worldwide. Each year, more than 1,200,000 visitors are recorded.

Natural wonders - Great Blue Hole

The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m across and 124 m deep. It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000; 66,000; 60,000; and 15,000 years ago. As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded. The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Natural wonders - Tunnel of Love

Tunnel of Love is a beautiful spot in Klevan, Ukraine. A three kilometer railway section leads to the fibreboard factory.
The train goes three times a day and delivers wood to the factory. However, the trees make a green corridor, which attracts many couples, as well as photographers for its eye catching avenue.
It is said that if you and your beloved come to the Tunnel of Love and sincerely make a wish, it will come true. This might be a new romantic place to discover.

Natural wonders - Putorana Plateau

The Putorana Plateau (Russian: плато Путорана) or the Putorana Mountains is a high-lying basalt plateau, a mountainous area at the northwestern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau, to the south from Taymyr Peninsula. The highest mountain in the range is Mount Kamen which stands 1,700 metres above sea level.
The plateau is composed of Siberian Traps. The nearest large settlement is the closed city of Norilsk. The area contains some of the largest known nickel deposits in the world. Russia's geographical center, Lake Vivi, is situated on the plateau, as is the Talnikovy Waterfall, touted as the highest waterfall in Asia.

Natural Wonders