Amazing Planet

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Tabletop Mountains or Tepuis of Venezuela

Tepuis are flat table-top mountains found in the Guayana Highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela. In the language of the Pemon people who live in the Gran Sabana, Tepui means ‘House of the Gods’ due to their height.
Tepuis tend to be found as isolated entities rather than in connected ranges, which makes them host to hundreds of endemic plant and animal species, some of which are found only on one tepui. Towering over the surrounding forest, the tepuis have almost sheer vertical flanks, and many rise as much as 1,000 meters above the surrounding jungle. The tallest of them are over 3,000 meters tall. The nearly vertical escarpments and dense rainforest bed on which these tepuis or mesa lie make them inaccessible by foot. Only three of the Gran Sabana's mountains can be reached by foot, among which the 2,180m-high Roraima is the most accessible.
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Tepuis are the remains of a large sandstone plateau that once covered the granite basement complex between the north border of the Amazon Basin and the Orinoco, between the Atlantic coast and the Rio Negro, during the Precambrian period. Over millions of years, the plateaus were eroded and all that were left were isolated flat-headed tepuis. Although the tepuis looks quite barren, the summit is teeming with life.
The high altitude of tepuis causes them to have a different climate from the ground forest. The top is often cooler with frequent rainfall, while the bases of the mountains have a tropical, warm and humid climate. Many extraordinary plants have adapted to the environment to form species unique to the tepui.
Some 9,400 species of higher plants have been recorded from the Venezuelan Guayana, of which 2322 are registered from the tepuis. Approximately one-third of the species occur nowhere else in the world.
There are 115 such tabletop mountains in the Gran Sabana region in the south-east of Venezuela where the highest concentration of tepuis are found. The most famous among them is Mount Roraima. Roraima, was unexplored until 1884. Today, the plateaued summit is a popular destination for backpackers and home to small waterfalls, natural quartz-lined pools and Punto Triple, the point at which the borders of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet. Mount Roraima is said to have inspired the Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle to write his novel The Lost World.
The other famous tepui is Auyantepui, home to Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world. Auyantepui is also the largest of the tepuis with a surface area of 700 km².
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Bunda Cliffs in Australia: Is this the End of the World?

Located on the Great Australian Bight in Southern Australia, is the vast, featureless Nullarbor Plain - the world’s largest single piece of limestone, covering an area of 270,000 square km and extending some 1,000 km from the east to the west. The area is so flat that the Trans Australian Railway runs across its surface for about 483 kilometers in a completely straight line. On the surface of the plain there are areas of slight depressions where sparse rainfall has slowly dissolved away some of the limestone. There are also places where underground caves or sinkholes have collapsed to form dents in the surface. But mostly, the plain is horizontally flat and devoid of trees, as its Latin name suggests. The Nullarbor Plain ends abruptly at the spectacular Bunda Cliffs, comprising a 200-kilometer-long precipice curving around the Great Australian Bight.
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Bunda Cliffs form the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain which extends far inland. The white coloured base you see near the bottom of the cliff face is Wilson Bluff Limestone. This chalky material formed as part of an ancient seabed when Australia began to separate from Antarctica 65 million years ago. This Wilson Limestone is up to 300 metres thick but only the upper portion is visible in Bunda Cliffs.
Above the white Wilson Limestone are whitish, grey or brown layers of limestone or crystalline rock. Some layers incorporate marine fossils including worms and molluscs indicating their marine origin. Other layers are made up entirely of marine sediment (foraminifera). The cliffs are capped by a hardened layer of windblown sand laid down between 1.6 million and 100,000 year ago.
The cliffs are some 60 to 120 meters high and sheer, and can be viewed from several viewing points along the Eyre Highway east of Eucla and west of Nullarbor roadhouse. But they are better appreciated from the air. The Eyre Highway, Australia’s main east–west link, follows the line of this spectacular coast less than a kilometer inland. The highway was named after Edward John Eyre, who along with John Baxter and three aboriginals, set off from Fowlers Bay in February 1841 in an attempt to reach Albany in Western Australia across the Nullarbor Plain. Lack of water and extreme hardship gave rise to a mutiny and two of the aboriginal boys shot John Baxter and absconded. Eyre and the third Aborigine, Wylie, continued on their journey and completed the crossing in June 1841. The Eyre Highway was laid exactly a century later in 1941.
Over a distance of 85 kilometers along the highway, there are five main lookouts on the cliffs with signed, gravel access roads from the highway. The western lookout is the most popular because visitors can walk to piece of rock jutting out of the cliff that offers a vantage looking point.
At the eastern end of Bunda Cliffs there is a lookout at the Head of the Bight where visitors can stay for hours watching Southern Right Whales in the ocean below the cliffs. Southern Right Whales migrate from the sub-Antarctic in the autumn and give birth to calves in inshore water along the southern Australian coast, then remain in the vicinity for months while the calves put on weight. Head of the Bight is one of these calving/mating grounds.

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Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves, located just outside the main Waitomo township on the North Island of New Zealand, is a famous attraction because of a sizeable population of glowworms that live in the caves. Glowworms or Arachnocampa luminosa are tiny, bioluminescent creatures that produce a blue-green light and are found exclusively in New Zealand.
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves were first explored in 1887 by local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau accompanied by an English surveyor Fred Mace. Local Maori people knew of the Caves existence, but the subterranean caverns had never been extensively explored until Fred and Tane went to investigate. They built a raft of flax stems and with candles in hand, floated into the cave where the stream goes underground.
As they entered the caves, they came across the Glowworm Grotto and were amazed by the twinkling glow coming from the ceiling. As they travelled further into the cave by poling themselves towards an embankment, they were also astounded by the limestone formations.


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Jubilant at their discovery, they returned many times to explore further, and on one independent trip, Chief Tane discovered the upper level entrance to the cave, which is now the current entrance. By 1889 Tane Tinorau had opened the cave to tourists. Tane Tinorau and his wife Huti, started leading groups through the cave for a small fee. In 1906 the administration of the cave was taken over by the government. They now receive a percentage of the cave’s revenue and are involved in the management and development of the cave.
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Wadi Al-Salaam: The Largest Cemetery in The World

Wadi us-Salaam, which literally means the Valley of Peace, is an Islamic cemetery located in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. The cemetery covers an area of 1485.5 acres and contains millions of bodies, making it one of the strongest contender for the title of the largest graveyard on earth. Najaf itself is one of Iraq's biggest cities, with a population of nearly 600,000. But the adjoining city of the dead holds the remains of millions, stretching for up to 10km along the valley. Wadi Al-Salam cemetery is also the only cemetery in the world where the process of burial is still continuing to day since more than 1,400 years.
The graveyard holds importance in Shiite belief as it has been said that the souls of all faithful men and women shall be moved there, no matter where their bodies have been buried. Many prophets, kings, princes and Sultans lie in this cemetery including that of Prophet Hud, Prophet Saleh, and Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, as well as the remains of the prince of faithfuls, Ali Ibn Abi Talib.


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Wadi Al-Salam cemetery contains graves built with baked bricks and plaster and it rises at different levels. Among the tombstones are the room-size family crypts built by the wealthy, often topped by domes. There are also underground burial vaults that can be get down by ladder. Graves from the 1930s and 1940s have their own style, soaring up 10 feet with rounded tops so that people would see them over their neighbors.
During the Iraq war in 2003, heavily-armed fighters of the Iraqi militia frequently used the cemetery to hide and ambush approaching enemy units. The Americans cannot get into the area, because it's full of winding lanes and underground mausoleums. The local gunmen who knew their way around would hit and then run and hide inside the many tombs.
When the rebels took refuge in the narrow spaces among the crowded tombs the Iraqi army ruthlessly bulldozed its way through the graves of its fellow soldiers. To this day, piles of wrecked cages from the graves remain stacked on the roadsides.
The violence that has overwhelmed Iraq since 2003 has lead to a massive expansion of the graveyard, swelling it by 40 percent to about three square miles. The cemetery has grown every year since 2004, first with the clashes against American forces, then the sectarian wars of 2006-2007 when Shiites and Sunnis were killing each other at a murderous rate, and finally in the 2008 battles with the Iraqi army. In recent years, though, its growth has slowed.


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Colorful Danxia Landforms of China

The Danxia landform is a unique type of “petrographic geomorphology” found in China, characterized by strips of red sedimentary rock in steep cliffs. According to Wikipedia, “the landforms look very much like karst topography that forms in areas underlain by limestones, but since the rocks that form danxia are sandstones and conglomerates, they have been called "pseudo-karst" landforms.” A very peculiar feature of danxia landscape is the development of numerous caves of various sizes and shapes. The caves tend to be shallow and isolated, unlike true karst terrain where caves tend to form deep, interconnecting networks.
The word “Danxia” actually comes from Mount Danxia, located in Renhua County of Guangdong Province, where the most famous examples of the Danxia landform is seen. Over the past 70 years, geologists and geographers have identified over 700 Danxia landforms in China, mostly in southeast and southwest China. Today, the study of Danxia landforms has developed into a sub-discipline of geomorphology and Danxia Mountain has become China’s research base for Danxia landforms.
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Danxia landform’s rock walls and cliffs are formed of red sandstone and conglomerate. About 100 million years ago, there used to be a huge inland basin here full of silt carried by the waters from the surrounding mountains. With the rise in global temperature the basin dried up and in these arid conditions the sediment oxidized and turned rust color. Some 30 million years later a 3,700-meter-thick red-colored layer formed on the basin, known as the chalk bed. On the top, there was a 1,300-meter-thick solid layer formed during the Cretaceous period, from which the peaks of Danxia Mountain gradually took shape. During the next 30 million years orogenic movement has lifted the whole basin many times. Water flowing down through fissures cut through and eroded the sedimentary rock, the slope broke and receded, leaving behind the red fragmentary rocks we see now. Orogenic movement is still going on in the Danxia Mountain area, with an average rise of 0.87 meter every 10,000 years over the last 500,000 years.
In 2010, six Danxia landscapes were inscribed as World Heritage Sites.
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Hanging Temple in Mount Hengshan, China

Located in a canyon at the foot of the Mountain Heng in the province of Shanxi, China, the Hanging Temple or Hanging Monastery is a rare piece of architecture. The temple is built into the cliff side about 75 meter above the ground, and stands propped up by hidden rocks corridor and wooden beams inserted into the mountain. Over 40 halls, cabinets and pavilions within an area of 152.5 square meters are connected each other by corridors, bridges and boardwalks. They are evenly distributed and well balanced in height. Inside the temple are more than 80 bronze cast statues, iron cast statues, and clay sculptured statues and stone carvings banded down from different dynasties.
According to 7wonders.org, the temple was build to avoid the terrible flood, and use the mountain as protection from rain, snow and sunshine.
The Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements.
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Fire Rainbows: A Rare Cloud Phenomenon

“Fire Rainbows” are neither fire, nor rainbows, but are so called because of their brilliant pastel colors and flame like appearance. Technically they are known as circumhorizontal arc - an ice halo formed by hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds. The halo is so large that the arc appears parallel to the horizon, hence the name.
Brightly colored circumhorizontal arc occur mostly during the summer and between particular latitudes. When the sun is very high in the sky, sunlight entering flat, hexagon shaped ice crystals gets split into individual colors just like in a prism. The conditions required to form a “fire rainbow” is very precise – the sun has to be at an elevation of 58° or greater, there must be high altitude cirrus clouds with plate-shaped ice crystals, and sunlight has to enter the ice crystals at a specific angle. This is why circumhorizontal arc is such a rare phenomenon.
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The position of the observer is also important. Circumhorizontal arcs cannot be seen in locations north of 55°N or south of 55°S. Likewise there are certain times of the year when they are visible. For example, in London, England the sun is only high enough for 140 hours between mid-May and late July. While in Los Angeles, the sun is higher than 58 degrees for 670 hours between late March and late September.
Circumhorizontal arcs should not be confused with Iridescent clouds, which can produce a similar effect. While circumhorizontal arc occur only in cirrus clouds, iridescence often occur in altocumulus, cirrocumulus clouds and lenticular clouds but very rarely in cirrus clouds.

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Circumhorizon arcs are so large that sometimes we see only parts of them where they happen to 'light' fragments of cirrus cloud. Ed Johnson (site) captured this one on June 8, 2003 on Mount Baden-Powell, California

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Circumhorizon arcs are so huge that their colours sometimes appear to be those of the sky itself rather than an ice crystal halo. In this long-lens shot the halo forms a backdrop to a seemingly tiny aircraft. Picture taken at Pilesgrove, New Jersey in July 22, 2007

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This circumhorizon display was photographed through a polarized lens above Dublin, Ohio, in May 2009.

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http://lh6.ggpht.com/-RaQAyq4dG7M/UZjxyLKBaZI/AAAAAAAAol0/blLVsOk6-N4/fire-rainbows-3%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizon Arc in Alentejo, Portugal, 2006.

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http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Y7p5qBP1xCU/UZjx1DyXlhI/AAAAAAAAol8/OpS3J_OkxcQ/fire-rainbows-4%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizontal arc in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2009

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http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3wt5vld5JjY/UZjyIeQs2HI/AAAAAAAAomM/nE3vkjBK-AU/fire-rainbows-5%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Cirrus fragments lit by a circumhorizon arc, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 3rd July 2001 with the sun 66° high.

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http://lh4.ggpht.com/-El-9EYdC1SY/UZjyJhf5L4I/AAAAAAAAomU/Y1DRLtq59tM/fire-rainbows-6%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
This peculiar 'braided' circumhorizon arc was possibly formed by plate crystals in high cirrus fibratus cloud. Pictures taken at Silver City, New Mexico, USA during August 2004.

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http://lh3.ggpht.com/-itAXC2jnFnA/UZjyKyHLiPI/AAAAAAAAomc/J-RGrTJ7NVc/fire-rainbows-7%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizontal arc seen over Switzerland in June 2007

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http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GEU8AeTgQVo/UZjyMax5H7I/AAAAAAAAomk/sZXamP4AF44/fire-rainbows-8%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizon arcs are often seen between lower obscuring clouds. This one was seen in Redding, CA in June 2004.

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http://lh5.ggpht.com/-CzrX4YKCEIM/UZjyN7nly7I/AAAAAAAAoms/8AQnPJ4--x0/fire-rainbows-10%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizontal arc in Spokane Valley in June 2006

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http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ccw0epfE0_8/UZjyQL_GqhI/AAAAAAAAom0/ptp6jCl84Fw/fire-rainbows-11%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
Circumhorizontal arc seen in Spokane Washington State, in June 3, 2006 when the sun was 64° high

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The Green Belt Along The World’s Longest Desert Highway

The Tarim Desert Highway across the Taklamakan desert, in China, links the cities of Luntai and Minfeng on the northern and southern edges of the Tarim basin. The total length of the highway is 552 km, of which approximately 446 km is built across uninhabited areas covered by shifting sand dunes, 20 metes tall, that frequently bury the highway.
To prevent the highway from getting buried by the encroaching sand dunes, rows of vegetation were planted on both sides of the road to anchor the sand with their roots. A massive irrigation system was constructed that pump water from underground reservoirs to sustain the artificial ecosystem. Hundreds of workers were employed, housed every four kilometers along the road who tend to the short, small-leaved rose willows, sacsaoul and buckthorn and make sure they do not die. The water comes from wells, bored 100 meters deep into an aquifer which sits under the desert, which in turn is fed by the rivers that flow down from the surrounding mountains. Despite the high saline content in the water, the green belt continues to thrive.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Wq8Cj2u43mc/UYaTqyxeLqI/AAAAAAAAoIs/hGBkau77TTU/tarim-desert-highway%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
A lone pumping station by the side of the Tarim Desert Highway. Photo by George Steinmetz

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For five years the government experimented with various plants that could survive desert conditions. In 1999, a pilot project of sand protection afforestation belt along a 6.3-kilometer section of the highway was completed. In 2001, the project was expanded until a 30.8-km stretch along the highway was afforested. The project was finally approved by the state in 2003. Today, nearly four-fifth of the highway is flanked by 72 to 78 meter-wide tree belt, covering a total area of more than 3,000 hectares.
The Tarim Desert Highway has great economic significance, which is why such expensive and elaborate measures had to be adopted just to keep the highway usable. The highway was built in 1995 to service an essential north-south oil pipeline, that lies underneath the Taklamakan desert. Beneath the shifting sands contains the largest oil-gas field in China. The highway not only allows direct access to resources that lie underneath the Tarim Basin, but also allows transport of goods and resources from the Lunnan Oilfield to the south of the country rather than take a detour around the desert that would encompass hundreds of kilometers. Because the region is entirely uninhabited, a gas station and a few restaurants were built at the halfway point along the desert highway to service travellers.


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Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serthar, Tibet

Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, also known as Serthar Buddhist Institute, sits in the Larung Valley at an elevation of 4,000 meters, about 15 km from the town Sêrtar, in Sertar County, Garze Prefecture in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham. The academy was founded in 1980 in an entirely uninhabited valley by Jigme Phuntsok, an influential lama of the Nyingma tradition. Despite its remote location, Larung Gar grew from a handful of disciples to be one of the largest and most influential centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Today it is home to over 40,000 monks, nuns and lay-students.
The campus of Larung Gar is enormous. Houses for monks and nuns sprawl all over the valley and up the surrounding mountains. A huge wall through the middle of Larung Gar separates the monk side from the nun side. Monks and nuns are not allowed out of their designated areas except in front of the main monastery assembly hall which is common to both nuns and monks. The houses are all built in a wood style that is traditionally found in this region, and built so close together that they appear almost on top of each other.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KIVth3R3A1c/UYZbfVOwZxI/AAAAAAAAoGE/rBrguwAOLpo/larung-gar-22%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wulingyun/5997266977/in/set-72157624105890458)

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One of the most surprising elements of Serthar is that more than half of those who come to study are women. Entry into the relatively small number of nunneries that exist in other areas of Tibet is limited, but Serthar was open to virtually anyone who genuinely sought to become a student of Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok’s ecumenical vision. Another surprise at Serthar is that it attracts ethnic Chinese students as well as students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, who attend separate classes taught in Mandarin, while larger classes are taught in Tibetan.
Reaching Larung Gar is not an easy task. It is quite remote and the nearest large city is Chengdu, which is 650 kilometers away and takes 13 to 15 hours to reach by vehicle. Sertar is also a sensitive area that is often closed to foreign travelers.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-nR_74nVon2o/UYZbhDgVogI/AAAAAAAAoGM/V4eQ1Hk91TQ/larung-gar-5%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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http://lh4.ggpht.com/-fph2jbONGKY/UYZcDpYXCWI/AAAAAAAAoH8/hJRncRfx5yc/larung-gar-14.jpg?imgmax=800

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Crude Oil Spas of Naftalan, Azerbaijan

In the Azerbaijan city of Naftalan, 320 kilometers north-west of the capital Baku, crude oil is found in such abundance that people literally bath in it. During the Soviet era, Naftalan’s famous crude oil baths used to draw tourists from all over the Soviet Union. It is believed that Naftalan crude oil has medicinal properties and is good for treating skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, easing joint pains and generally calming the nerves. At their peak in the 1980s, Naftalan spas had 75,000 visitors a year. This reduced to a trickle when war broke out between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians in nearby Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988, and many resorts were converted into camps for housing refugees. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, petroleum baths closed down entirely. Now nearly two decades later, crude oil spas have started opening up again.
The qualities of Naftalan oil has been known since ancient times. In the 13th centaury AD, the famous explorer Marko Polo who was passing through Azerbaijan on his way from Venice to China mentioned about Naftalan oil which he saw being loaded on to camels. He noted the oil’s therapeutic properties and how it could treat humans and animals with skin diseases. Modern use of the oil started during the 1870s under Czarist Russia. By 1912, a German joint-stock company was founded to export and trade the oil, which was used as a treatment in the Russo-Japanese War.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-L3MrcSfOOF8/UYYFTWKGr0I/AAAAAAAAoE0/sPctpEfV5NY/naftalan-crude-oil-baths-7%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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Naftalan oil’s magical properties were discovered way back in the 6th century BC. According to legends, a passing merchants' caravan left a sick camel to die in the muddy waters of a lake near the town. One their way back, the merchants found the camel happily bathing in the waters of the lake apparently cured of its sickness. Upon inspecting the lake, the caravan’s people found black oily liquid beneath the muddy waters and understood that the sick animal was cured by it. They covered their hand’s and feet’s sores with the black oil and were convinced of its healing powers. After that the people from nearby villages stared to use the miracle liquid as medicine.
Naftalan crude oil is indeed different from the commercial grade variety used to make petroleum. Naftalan crude contains about 50 percent naphthalene, a hydrocarbon used in mothballs. It is also an active ingredient in coal tar soaps, which are used by dermatologists to treat psoriasis. Although the National Agency for Research on Cancer, an American government agency, classifies naphthalene as a possible carcinogen, no one has concluded whether regular baths in Naftalan oil cause cancer. Gyultikin Suleymanova, the lead doctor at Health Center, a spa that opened in 2005, said the therapeutic benefits are a product of natural antibiotic and anti-inflammatory agents that seep into the skin.
A crude oil bath usually lasts for 10 minutes during which visitors lie naked in a pool of thick, black, lukewarm oil up to their neck, followed by almost 40 minutes of scrubbing with a wooden spatula and paper towels and multiple trips to the shower. For three days after a bath, the saturated skin continue to ooze crude oil.
The gross part is that the oil is recycled, which is no surprise, given the cost of oil these day. Each bath uses about a barrel of crude, and after the bath is over, the oil goes back to a communal tank for future bathers.
A single bath costs between $200 to $240.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2_s4VdaoNIc/UYYFVO2NSKI/AAAAAAAAoE8/zHIv0zjUd6U/naftalan-crude-oil-baths-5%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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Greece Meteora Valley



Meteora, "air" means. It was also significantly higher monasteries. Pindus Mountains is 549-meter-high summit of Greece who look at the valley of the river in the center of the city of Volos in Thessaly. Until the 1920s, visitors, or 30.5 meters already installed on this hillside dangerous stairs (up they retracted in the event of an invasion) or on a net and rope are forced exit fled when up. Describing the rope, but whenever you become the subject of a joke between the public had come now.



http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WVt-uMoEFJQ/UZ9NZIYBRfI/AAAAAAAAtFM/qlX5TpzK2IM/s1600/16781197-lg.jpg

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Fileyle up still shot from materials in a way facilitating access by Kalambaka'dan performed, the First World War,
especially after the 1960s seen a huge increase the number of visitors who come here.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lcXDf0b9KTg/UZ9NXZ23E8I/AAAAAAAAtFE/rZzsLyfKoFI/s1600/16781200-lg.jpg

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Today transportation, steps carved into the rock, and by passing on yachts and bridges. Lots of monk, moved here in order to achieve privacy again. Today it serves as a museum rather than a locality. Since time immemorial, away from the pleasures of everyday life, has been one of the elements of Christianity to worship God often in isolated places. Aztecs 12 century, this region also lives in caves in the rocks, arrive at the year 1350, the main monastery finds the first coming of the founder of the Max Metereon'un. Meteora, Atos from Mount St. Atanasios judicial crossed. According to legend, the cliff was once a convent, today, on top of an angel or eagle that was out riding. Student Joasaph Serbiya son of the king, 30, or 40 years after the vakfi magnified.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6yuUhkn-8tw/UZ9Nayj3e3I/AAAAAAAAtFU/JCv0DAVdjeU/s1600/16781210-lg.jpg

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15th and 16 century, the Turks after the conquest of Thessaly, was born in the community also lives here, over 30, 17 and 18 of the but most of the century, there was no decline. 19th century, monasteries, and Burak nami would be the interest of researchers and inatci Word spread of travelers.

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His older brother, tile-roofed galleries overlooking the dizzying tastan monasteries the monks' cells are narrow, the church and the refectory was taking place. Were gathering rain water cisterns carved into the rocks. Agios Varlaam'daki translated into a cafeteria at the museum in the 1960s. Large cap and bucket, pass Meteoron'daki awkward kitchen. In both cases, the churches ucurulurken head hell and suffering of the martyrs, cekiclenirken, stabbed, while the frescoes depicting full. An isolated monastery of Agios Nikolaos, made ​​by an artist named Cretel 16 Theophanis century frescoes are found. Monasteries exclusive only to men, although there was also where the nuns. One of them, the last bridge Booted Agios Stephanos yielded an alarming canyon.

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Floating Phumdis of Loktak Lake, India

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in northeast India, also called the only Floating lake in the world due to the large amount of floating phumdis on its surface. Phumdis are heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil, and organic matters at various stages of decomposition that has been thickened into a solid form. They cover a substantial part of the lake area. The largest single mass of phumdi is in the southeastern part of the lake, covering an area of 40 square kilometer. This mass constitutes the world’s largest and the only floating park, named Keibul Lamjao National Park, that is home to the endangered Brow-antlered Deer also called Sangai in the Manipuri language, indigenous to this area.
This ancient lake plays an important role in the economy of Manipur. It serves as a source of water for hydropower generation, irrigation and drinking water supply. The lake is also a source of livelihood for the rural fisherman who live in the surrounding areas and on phumdis, also known as “phumshongs”. Phumdis are used by the local people for constructing huts, for fishing and other livelihood uses. The villagers create artificial circular enclosures out of phumids for fish farming. These are the structures you see in the picture below. Nearly 100,000 people depends on the lake for their livelihood.
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Based on the presence or absence of phumids and the pressure of human activities, the lake is broadly divided into northern, central and southern zones. The northern zone is separated from the central zone by large phumdis of varying thickness between 0.4 to 4.5 meters that stretches from the northwest to the southeast. During January to March, phumdis in this area are usually burnt for construction of fish cum paddy farms.
The Central Zone is the main open water zone of the lake, which was relatively free from phumdis in the past, but over the years villagers have constructed artificially created phumdis for fishing, called 'athaphums'. These have proliferated choking the entire lake. The Keibul Lamjao National Park lies in the southern zone.
Loktak lake has a rich biodiversity with 233 species of aquatic plants. More than a hundred species of birds live in the lake, and 425 species of animals including rare animals such as the Indian python, sambhar and barking deer.
Loktak lake is located 39 km from Imphal, the capita city of Manipur which is well connected by road and air. The lake is a unique destination for tourism, offering visitors excellent opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the lake and its several islands of floating phumdis of different geometrical shapes. The Sendra Tourist Home itself is located on a large Phumdi in Loktak Lake.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ELNSW3lfnjM/UaCbowBERpI/AAAAAAAAoxs/D22uVs9wRBc/loktak-lake-1%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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The Katskhi Pillar, Georgia
The Katskhi pillar is an imposing limestone monolith, 40 meters tall, located in the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, about 10 kilometers from the mining town of Chiatura. In pagan times, before the advent of Christianity, the towering Katskhi Pillar was thought to represent a local god of fertility. With the arrival of Christianity in Georgia in the 4th century, the rock came to represent seclusion. The locals call it the Pillar of Life.
At the summit of the Katskhi pillar, are the remains of a small church built between the 6th and 8th centuries. The church was probably built by the Stylites, who were early Christian ascetics who stood on top of pillars and preaching and praying. The only written record of the Katskhi pillar occur in the text of an 18th-century Georgian scholar, who noted the church for its inaccessibility. There is however, a number of local legends surrounding the pillar, one of which says that the top of the rock was connected by a long iron chain to the dome of the Katskhi church, located at a distance of around 1.5 km from the pillar.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-hSdR7dW7Eq4/UYiqxEQQ2JI/AAAAAAAAoKc/XSWc6ZmjpaQ/katskhi-pillar-3%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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The Katskhi pillar remained unclimbed by researchers and unsurveyed until 1944. Following more systematic research after 1999, researchers concluded that complex was composed of a monastery church and cells for hermits. Discovery of the remnants of a wine cellar also undermined the idea of extreme ascetism flourishing on the pillar. In 2007, a small limestone plate with the asomtavruli Georgian inscriptions was found, paleographically dated to the 13th century and revealing the name of a certain "Giorgi", responsible for the construction of three hermit cells. The inscription also makes mention of the Pillar of Life, echoing the popular tradition of veneration of the rock as a symbol of the True Cross.
The monastery building on the top of the pillar is now restored and the rock is accessible through an iron ladder running from its base to the top.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-aInLd5b7a6Y/UYiqz8AUgUI/AAAAAAAAoKk/zYI0EP2QrEg/katskhi-pillar-4%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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The Majestic Tufa Towers of Mono Lake, California

Mono Lake is a shallow salt water lake located in the high desert on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in California in the United States. The lake has no outlet to the ocean causing high levels of salts to accumulate in the waters. As a consequence of its high salinity, no fish live in Mono Lake, but there are plenty of brine shrimp that thrive in its waters. Over two million annual migratory birds use Mono Lake as a stop over and resting place as they fly to South America or the tropical oceans. They feed on the shrimps, lay eggs and hatch their young ones here.
The most unusual feature of Mono Lake are its dramatic tufa towers emerging from the surface. These rock towers form when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with the waters of the lake, which are rich in carbonates. The resulting reaction forms limestone. Over time the buildup of limestone formed towers, and when the water level of the lake dropped the towers became exposed.
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But the drop in surface level was not a natural phenomenon. It started in 1941 when the city of Los Angeles began diverting the streams that fed Mono Lake. So much water was drawn away from the lake that the surface level of Mono Lake fell by 45 feet. By 1982 the lake was reduced to 37,688 acres (15,252 ha) having lost 31 percent of its 1941 surface area. As a result, alkaline sands and the once submerged tufa towers became exposed and a land bridge between the shoreline and an island was formed. The island served as a major breeding area for migratory birds. Until now, the island was a safe haven protected by waters all around, but the newly formed land bridge invited predators such as coyotes to the island, who fed on eggs and chicks forcing the breeding colony of birds to abandon the site.
In addition to migratory birds, several other species spend months nesting at Mono Lake, among which are California gulls. After the land bridge to the Negit Island became exposed in the late 1970s, the California gulls have also moved to nearby islets and have established new, and less protected, nesting sites.
A study conducted in 1988 predicted that if the drying of Mono Lake was allowed to continue, by 1999 the salinity of the lake would increase to a level where the productivity of the brine shrimp would begin to decline. Finally by 2012, the existing lake ecosystem could cease to function because the lake salinities would reach such high levels that brine shrimp and brine flies could no longer survive, thus depriving 1.3 million birds of their food source at the lake.
Based on the report, in 1994, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued an order to protect Mono Lake. The goal is to return the lake to the level of 6,392 feet above sea level. As of July 2012, Mono Lake was at 6,383.3 feet above sea level but frequent droughts in the region have made achieving the goal more and more difficult.
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Ducks Rule at Peabody Hotel, Memphis

Peabody Hotel is not just another luxury hotel in downtown Memphis in Tennessee, USA. This one has a peculiar attraction – ducks. Every day at 11 in the morning, a parade of five mallard ducks makes its way from their penthouse home on the roof of the hotel down to the lobby via the elevator. Red carpet is rolled out all the way from the elevator door to the hotel fountain made of a solid block of Italian travertine marble. The ducks frolic in the waters the entire day. At exactly 5 in the evening, the ducks are ceremoniously led back to their penthouse.
The unique tradition started in 1932, when the general manager of the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. He and his friends thought it would be amusing to leave three of their live English Call Duck decoys in the hotel fountain. The ducks became immediately popular with hotel guests, and since then, five Mallard ducks (one male and four females) have played in the fountain every day.
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In 1940, a Bellman by the name of Edward Pembroke volunteered to care for the ducks. Pembroke was a circus animal trainer and he taught the ducks to march into the hotel lobby, which started the famous Peabody Duck March. He served as the "Duckmaster" until his retirement in 1991.
The ducks, themselves, have been rotated over the years. In fact, each team of five ducks only work for three months before they are replaced by another set. The ducks are raised by a local farmer and are returned to the farm when they retire.
The custom of keeping ducks in the lobby fountain may date back even further than the 1930s. Researchers found a pre-1915 postcard that highlights the ducks playing in the fountain, and one source claims the custom goes back to the hotel's opening in 1869.
However, the Peabody itself claims the duck tradition to have started in 1933. On December 3, 2008 they unveiled a new "Duck Palace" located on the rooftop, for the 75th anniversary of the duck tradition. The 24 by 12 foot enclosure features granite flooring, ceiling fans, a scale replica of the hotel, a fountain decorated with a pair of bronze ducks, and a large viewing window for guests to see them in their new home. The Duck Palace cost approximately $200,000 to construct.
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Ol Doinyo Lengai: The Coolest Volcano in the World

Ol Doinyo Lengai is an active volcano located in Arusha Region, Tanzania, rising majestically from the East African Rift Valley depression to a summit of 2890 meters. To the indigenous Maasai people, it is the "The Mountain of God”.
The lava produced at Ol Doinyo Lengai is unlike any other lava on earth. Most volcanoes produce basaltic lava, but Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only one in the world that produces natrocarbonatite lava - a type of lava rich in the rare sodium and potassium carbonate minerals - nyerereite and gregoryite. These minerals are quite uncommon in the geologic record, and even less common at the surface as a liquid. Due to this unusual composition, the lava is erupted at relatively low temperatures - approximately 500-600 °C, which is half the temperature of typical glowing basaltic lava you see in pictures of volcanoes. This temperature is so low that the molten lava appears black in sunlight, rather than having the red glow common to most lavas. The sodium and potassium carbonate minerals contained in the lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai are anhydrous and react very rapidly when they come into contact with moisture in the atmosphere. The black or dark brown lava and ash begins to turn white within a few hours of eruption as the minerals absorb water. After about six months, with the help of the elements, the lava decomposes to yellow-brown sand. The resulting volcanic landscape is quite different from any other in the world.
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The lack of bulky silica molecules in the lava at Ol Doinyo Lengai allows the melt to flow extremely easily, making it the least viscous lava on earth. The low temperatures of natrocarbonatites means they can be studied closely without protective gear. This is one of the most intriguing aspects of Ol Doinyo Lengai to geologists. This doesn’t mean you can get up, close and personal with the lava as its substantially hot to burn through your clothes and skin. Besides, being unusually fluid it can encroach the explorer in a matter of seconds.
Compared to other destructive volcanoes, Oldoinyo Lengai is considerably benign and sometimes described as a "toy volcano" because the small cones inside the crater often seem to produce harmless miniature eruptions and cute little spatters of lava. The activity is usually centred in one or more of the small hornitos, or cones, that have been formed on the crater floor by previous eruptions of lava.
Eruptions typically occur in open lava ponds that may or may not be overflowing. Lava flows issues from holes or cracks inside or near the base of the cones, or lava splashes or fountains from the summit vents of the hornitos. This activity is thought to be a function of the plumbing of the crater, the level of the lava within the plumbing, and the gas content of the magma.
This strange lava was identified for the first time only in the 1960s because Oldoinyo Lengai is so steep and the hike so arduous, that scientific expeditions have been extremely rare. It was only in 1966, two geologists - J. B. Dawson and G. C. Clark - made the first successful attempt to reach the active crater.
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Star-Shaped Fort Bourtange in Netherlands

In the 15th century, during the age of gunpowder when the cannon came to dominate the battlefield, a new style of fortification evolved in Europe. Roughly resembling the shape of a star, these fortifications had many triangular bastions, specifically designed to cover each other, and a wide ditch. In order to counteract the cannon balls, defensive walls were made lower and thicker and were protected by gently sloping banks of earth called glacis in front of ditches so that the walls were almost totally hidden from horizontal artillery fire. The new fortification became so popular that the design was swiftly adopted by other nations as far as India and Japan.
Fort Bourtange is such a star fort located in the village of Bourtange, Groningen, Netherlands. It was built in 1593 under the orders of William the I of Orange, to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen, which was controlled by the Spaniards during the time of the Eighty Years' War.
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During the Eighty Years' War, the Spaniards had control over Groningen and the road leading from there to Germany. William, the leader of the Netherlands, saw it necessary to break off communications between Groningen and Germany. He decided that it would be optimal to build a fortification on the Bourtange passage, which was the main road leading to Germany. The fort was completed in 1593 in the design of a star with a network of canals and lakes which were used as moats. At its heart was a central square with streets that led directly to various bastions within the protective moat. At the very year of its completion, Spanish forces tried to besiege it but the attack ended in failure.
Fort Bourtange faced another battle in 1672 against a marauding German army. After capturing 28 cities and towns in the northern Netherlands, they demanded that the Fort be surrendered. Legend states that the Germans offered the fort's governor, Captain Protts, 20,000 guilders to surrender. Captain Prott refused saying he had an equal number of bullets for his foe. The Germans attacked but the fort’s trusted defense once again successfully repelled the attack.
Eventually, in 1851 the fort town of Bourtange was converted into a village. Over 100 years later in 1960, the local government decided to restore the old Fort to its 1740-1750 appearance and made into a historical museum.
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Houtong Cat Village, Taiwan
Houtong is a small mining town located in Rueifang District of Taiwan, a district renowned for its rich, well-preserved railway culture with the old Yilan Line which was built during the Japanese colonial period for transporting resources out of northern Taiwan. Houtong was a train stop on the Yilan Line and one of Taiwan’s biggest coal-mining sites up until the 1970s. During its most prosperous years, Houtong’s mines produced some 220,000 tons of coal, the largest amount of coal yielded in a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many residents to migrate to Houtong, and the town grew to as many as 900 households and population of more than 6,000.
As the coal mining industry began to fall into decline in 1990, development in Houtong became progressively worse. Young residents started to move out of town to look for other opportunities, and only a few hundred residents remained. The once prosperous mining industry fell into ruins and was lying so for decades.
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Things took an unexpected turn sometime around 2008, when a cat lover organized a team of volunteers to give the neighborhood’s abandoned cats a better living environment. They posted the cats’ pictures on the web and received an overwhelming response from other cat lovers. Visitors' raves on local blogs drew more cat lovers to this place who came to photograph the cats or fondle and frolic with them. Soon Houtong became a hotbed for cat lovers and amateur photographers. Today, the dilapidated mining town and the 100-odd felines that roam the streets are drawing thousands of tourists during weekends.
Houtong residents are cashing in on the tourist influx by opening souvenir shops and selling cat-shaped pineapple pastries. Even the footbridge leading from the station’s exit across the tracks to the hillside cat village has recently been beautified and given a distinct “cat-look,” complete with ears at one end and a tail at the other. The bridge now even includes an elevated “catwalk,” allowing the cats to come down from the village and greet visitors who arrive by train.
The cats are looked after by the town’s residents. Chan Bi-yun, a 58-year-old retiree takes a lot of the credit for Houtong's feline-induced rebirth.
"I started raising five cats that belonged to a neighbor who passed away nine years ago and they gave birth to more and more kitties," she said. "Now I feed about half of Houtong's cat population."
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Houtong was originally called Hou Dong, that literally translates to “monkey cave”, because there was a cave inhabited by a group of wild monkeys in the area during the early days. This sign is located in Houtong’s railway station. The doodle of a cat, a miner, a monkey and a railway bridge indicates the four major attraction in Houtong.
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Chand Baori Step Well in Rajasthan, India

Chand Baori in Abhaneri village in eastern Rajasthan, India, is one of the most overlooked landmarks in the country. It is one of the oldest stepwell in Rajasthan, and is considered to be among the biggest in the world. Chand Baori looks like anything but a well. This incredible square structure is 13 stories deep, and lined along the walls on three sides are double flight of steps. 3,500 narrow steps arranged in perfect symmetry descends to the bottom of the well 20 meters deep to a murky green puddle of water. Built during the 8th and 9th century by King Chanda of Nikumbha Dynasty, provided the surrounding areas with a dependable water source for centuries before modern water delivery systems were introduced. As the green water at the base attests, the well is no longer in use, but it makes for an interesting stop-over to an architecturally impressive structure that is over 1000 years old. There’s also a temple adjoining the well for visitors to explore.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-i037RLYt8JA/UHPUQw05GYI/AAAAAAAAeus/Zq4ra3ZYU5A/chand-baori-212%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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Chand Baori Step Well in Rajasthan, India

Chand Baori in Abhaneri village in eastern Rajasthan, India, is one of the most overlooked landmarks in the country. It is one of the oldest stepwell in Rajasthan, and is considered to be among the biggest in the world. Chand Baori looks like anything but a well. This incredible square structure is 13 stories deep, and lined along the walls on three sides are double flight of steps. 3,500 narrow steps arranged in perfect symmetry descends to the bottom of the well 20 meters deep to a murky green puddle of water. Built during the 8th and 9th century by King Chanda of Nikumbha Dynasty, provided the surrounding areas with a dependable water source for centuries before modern water delivery systems were introduced. As the green water at the base attests, the well is no longer in use, but it makes for an interesting stop-over to an architecturally impressive structure that is over 1000 years old. There’s also a temple adjoining the well for visitors to explore.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-i037RLYt8JA/UHPUQw05GYI/AAAAAAAAeus/Zq4ra3ZYU5A/chand-baori-212%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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Stepwells, also called bawdi or baori, are unique to India. These wells have steps built into the sides that can be descended to reach the water at the bottom. Stepwells are generally larger than common wells and are often of architectural significance, just like Chand Baori.
The well’s sheer endlessly appearing geometric complexity made of stairs and steps ensured that Rajput people had access to water at any time of the year, and from all sides. The reasons behind building such an elaborate step well is not fully clear. Some believe it was used as a water harvesting site. Rajasthan is a dry place, and hence, every ounce of water is precious. The large mouth of the well functioned as a rain catching funnel that contributed to the water seeping in from the porous rock at the bottom. In addition to conserving water, Chand baori also became a community gathering place for the Abhaneri locals. The townsfolk used to sit around the step well and cool off during the summer days. At the bottom the well the air is always about 5-6 degrees cooler than at the top.
The steps surround the well on three sides while the fourth side has a set of pavilions built one atop another. The side that has the pavilions have niches with beautiful sculptures including religious carvings. There is even a royal residence with rooms for the King and the Queen and a stage for the performing arts.
Chand Baori was featured in the movie The Fall and also made a small appearance in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises.
The well is now a treasure managed by the Archeological Survey of India.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-WgetJ6_Pz1o/UHPUVsk9xUI/AAAAAAAAeu0/U3n2Yxliir0/chand-baori-12.jpg?imgmax=800

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Psychotria Elata or Hooker’s Lips: The Most Kissable Plant
These gorgeous pair of red, luscious lips belong to a plant known as Psychotria elata, a tropical tree found in the rain forests of Central and South American countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador. Affectionately, Psychotria elata is called Hooker’s Lips or the Hot Lips Plants. The plant has apparently evolved into its current shape to attract pollinators including hummingbirds and butterflies.
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Intriguing Biodiversity at El Angel Ecological Reserve in Ecuador
El Angel is a small village located in the province of Carchi, in Ecuador, approximately 170 km north of Quito and situated on the border with Colombia. The village is located in a unique type of high altitude, humid moorland called “paramo” characteristically found in the Andes of northern Ecuador and southern Colombia. The El Angel Ecological Reserve lies at nearly 12,000 to 15,600 feet above sea level and covers an area of 15,700 hectares of the paramo. A diverse range of plants grow in this region, 60% of which are found nowhere else in the world. The most notable among them is frailejones (Espeletia pychnophyla) a giant member of the daisy family, endemic to the area. The frailejon is a treelike shrub with broad, gray-white, hairy leaves and yellow flowers, which may reach a height of up to six feet over the course of its lifetime. They cover 85% of the reserve, lending the paramo of El Angel its striking appearance and gray-green color.
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The Paramo of El Angel remains frigid throughout the year even though it is only 80 km from the equator. In summer months (June - September), days can be warm - up to 18 ° C, but in the winter even in daytime the temperature is around 0° C. Due to the cold weather organic remnants in paramos do not decompose - they accumulate. The moist climate turns this all into a giant natural sponge, trapping moisture deposited by the regular rains and mists and letting it out slowly into the surrounding foothills in the form of streams and small rivers, which eventually join to make up the basin of the Mira and El Angel rivers.
Plants growing in the paramo have developed specific methods to protect themselves from the cold. One method is growing in rosettes, so the wind can not chill the centre of the plant. Many plants have developed very soft, "plumy" leaves and flowers which serve as mini-sponges. In some plants the old leaves do not fall off - they enclose the stem and allow development of new roots along the stem.
The reserve is also home to numerous animals including highlights, rainbow trout, the frog marsupial, the jambato, duck dotted, the condor, gli-gli coot, moor Partridge, the curiquingues, the Andean gull, the giant heath, the Quilico, deer, dirty, wild rabbits, the Chucuri, the brocket, the fox, the buzzer and the turtle and other species.
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Jabuticaba: The Tree That Bear Fruits on its Trunk

Jabuticaba is a Brazilian grape tree found in the states of Minas Gerias and Sao Paulo, in the south of Brazil. The fruit grows directly from the trunk and branches of the tree, which gives the Jabuticaba tree a very unusual appearance. The fruit itself is a small and round, about 3 to 4 cm in diameter, with one to four large seeds, a thick, deep purple colored skin and a sweet, white or rosy pink gelatinous flesh. Naturally the tree may flower and fruit only once or twice a year, but when continuously irrigated it flowers frequently, and fresh fruit can be available year round in tropical regions. During Jabuticaba season in Minas Gerais, thousands of street vendors sell fresh Jabuticaba in small net bags, and the sidewalks and streets are stained the same deep purple by discarded Jabuticaba skins.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jCz6DZbe78E/UdO7w-lOc4I/AAAAAAAAp_E/Cl8oYvjsIKM/jabuticaba-1%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

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Jabuticaba is largely eaten fresh, but because the fruit starts to ferment just 3-4 days after harvest, they are often used to make jams, tarts, strong wines, and liqueurs. Due to the extremely short shelf-life, fresh Jabuticaba fruit is very rare in markets outside of areas of cultivation. The fruit also has many medicinal uses. Traditionally, an astringent decoction of the sun-dried skins has been used as a treatment for hemoptysis, asthma, diarrhoea, and gargled for chronic inflammation of the tonsils. It also has several potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory anti-cancer compounds.
Although the Jabuticaba grows in most regions of Brazil, it’s found mostly in Minas Gerias. It’s association with the state is so strong that the Jabuticaba tree appears on the coat of arms of the city of Contagem, and another city in Minas Gerais, Sabará, hosts a Jabuticaba festival annually.
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Most Spectacular Spits on Earth

In geography, spit is a landform made by the deposition of sand by the movement of tides. Spits are narrow and elongated – one end is attached to the mainland and the other is out in open water. A spit develops when waves meet the beach at an oblique angle, moving sediment down the beach and into the open waters where it is deposited in a narrow strip. As a spit grows, it might become stable and fertile and even support habitation. Here are some spectacular and scenic spits around the world.
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Spurn Point

Spurn Point is one of the most striking feature of Britain's coastline – a narrow spit just 46 meters across, on the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, jutting out into the sea for five and a half kilometers across the Humber Estuary. On the tip is an enlarged head wherein lies a disused lighthouse and a lifeboat station.
Spurn Head covers 280 acres and composed of sand and shingle banks held together by Marram grass and Seabuckthorn. Spurn is a relatively small place, yet an important wildlife haven for migrant birds, lizards, roe deer and numerous species of insects. Being open to the ravages of the North Sea, this narrow strip of land has a very delicate ecosystem. On one side, plants have learned to adapt themselves to being immersed in water every 12 hours, while on the other side, where the sand is moving around, you’ll find plants designed to retain moisture.
Spurn Point is a nice place for birdwatchers – there are even accommodation for overnight stay. On a good autumn morning one can see 15,000 birds fly past with 3,000 quite normal.
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