This one-of-a-kind documentary covers natural wonders of the seven continents:Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
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Despite it’s natural and captivating beauty, K2 is known as the Savage Mountain. This title is due to the difficulty of ascent, severe weather and the 2nd highest fatality rate of climber. In fact, one in every four people who reached the summit died trying to climb it.
It is typically climbed in June, July, or August. The weather near the summit is very unpredictable and dangerous, especially during winter season. So dangerous that K2 has never been climbed in winter.
There are six major routes to have been climbed on the south side of the mountain: West Ridge, West Face, Southwest Pillar, South Face, South-southeast Spur, Abruzzi Spur. The north side is the steepest where is rises 10,499 ft in only 9,843 ft of horizontal distance.
K2′s very first successful climb to the summit was done by Italians named Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli in July 31, 1954.
The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. The area was part of a giant prehistoric lake called Lake Minchin some 30,000–42,000 years ago. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50% to 70% of the world”s lithium reserves and is yet to be extracted.
The salt is the Salar is being mined and the salt block is also use to make construction materials like walls for hotels.
When covered with water, the Salar becomes one of the largest mirrors on Earth.
One major tourist attraction is an antique train cemetery which is 3 kilometers outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals enroute to Pacific Ocean ports. The rail lines were built by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni.
Despite having salt everywhere, has a variety of plants and animals.
The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites. The Salar also serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos.
Lake Titicaca is fed by rainfall and meltwater from glaciers on the sierras that lie adjacent the Altiplano. The five major river systems, Ramis, Coata, Ilave, Huancané, and Suchez and 20 other smaller streams, also fed the lake.
A view from space show the lake and glaciers on the sierras that feeds it.
Lake Titicaca has 41 islands, some of which are densely populated. It is notable for a population of people who live on the Uros – a group of 42 or so artificial islands made of floating reeds called totora (a reed that abounds in the shallows of the lake). These islands have become a major tourist attraction for Peru, drawing excursions from the lakeside city of Puno. Their original purpose was defensive, and they could be moved if a threat arose. Many of the islands contain watchtowers largely constructed of reeds.
The Bolivian Naval Force uses the lake to carry out naval exercises, maintaining an active navy despite being a landlocked country.
The Phong Nha-Ke Bang area is noted for its cave and grotto systems. It is composed of 300 caves and grottos with a total length of about 70 km, of which only 20 have been surveyed by Vietnamese and British scientists – 17 of these are in located in the Phong Nha area and three in the Ke Bang area. After April 2009, total length of caves and grottoes are 126 km.
Before discovery of Son Doong Cave in April 2009, Phong Nha held several world cave records, as it has the longest underground river, as well as the largest caverns and passageways. Son Doong Cave is the world”s largest cave Son Doong Cave, was discovered by a team of British cave explorers of British Caving Association.
The park contains many fascinating rock formations, and Ke Bang forest. The plateau on which the park is situated is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia.
Due to it”s high elevation, Fansipan is dubbed “the Roof of Indochina”. With about 2,024 floral varieties and 327 faunal species, it is to be approved as one of the very few ecotourist spots of Vietnam.
The topography of Fansipan is varied. Muong Hoa Valley, at the lowest altitude at 950 to 1 000m, is created by a narrow strip of land at the base on the east side of the mountain. It can be climbed in a steep and fairly strenuous hike. Many tour companies in the area offers arrange hikes to the summit taking from one to three days.
The Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem. It stretches over 1,240 miles along the coast of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea. It has more than 1,100 species of fish – this includes 42 species of deepwater fish – and nearly 10% of these are exclusive to this region and cannot be found anywhere in the world. The rich diversity of species found here is due to the 2,000 km of coral reef extending along its coastline. These fringing reefs are 5000–7000 years old and are largely formed of stony acropora and porites corals. The reef features include abundant aquatic life, platforms, lagoons, and cylinders. It was recognized by the Egyptian government, who set up the Ras Mohammed National Park in 1983.
Mount Damavand has a special place in Persian mythology and folklore. It is regarded the Mount Olympus of Persian mythology.
Due to it volcanic activity, Monut Damavand has some thermal springs with therapeutic qualities. These mineral hot springs are mainly located on the volcano’s flanks and at the base. It’s most important hot springs are located in Abe Garm Larijan in a village by the name Larijan in the district of Larijan in Lar Valley . The water from this spring is useful in the treatment of chronic wounds and skin diseases. Near these springs there are public baths with small pools for public use.
If you are planning to climb this mountain, there about 16 known routes you can take. There routes has varying difficulties, some of them are very dangerous and requires rock climbing.
The best major settlement for mountain climbers is the new Iranian Mountain Federation Camp in Polour village, located on the south of the mountain. The most popular route is the Southern Route which has step stamps and also a camp midway called Bargah Sevom Camp/Shelter at about 13,845 ft. The longest route is the Northeastern and it takes two whole days to reach the summit while the western route is famous for its sunset view.
]]>Most often the sound created by this singing dune is in single musical note, either G, E or F.
There are approximately 30 sites in the world where the sand produces sound naturally. Certain conditions have to come together to create singing sand:
- the sand grains have to be round and between 0.1 and 0.5 mm in diameter.
- the sand has to contain silica.
- the sand needs to be a certain humidity
The sound have been described as “roaring” or “booming”, as you can hear in this video.
]]>Kaieteur Falls’ amazing characteristic is it’s combination of height and high-volume of water. Due to the volume of water – averaging 663 cubic meters per second, it is considered as one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world.
Kaieteur Falls is about five times higher than the more well known Niagara Falls.
The lookout rock in Kaieteur Falls is one of the favorite tourists spot to take pictures with the waterfalls as the background
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