El Yunque National Forest Puerto Rico

 Popular day trip from San Juan, El Yunque combines all the magic of a rain forest majestic trees, giant ferns, and mysterious peeps and trills emanating from the dense foliage in the rugged Luquillo Mountains. As the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System, El Yunque provides paved trails that are easy on children and inexperienced hikers. It even offers a drive-through option for windshield tourists who can enjoy the misty landscape and roadside waterfalls along Route 191, the only road through the 28,000-acre forest. But El Yunque, considered sacred by the Taino Indians, is indubitably best experienced on foot. This place is home to thousands of plants, including 240 tree species (23 of which are found nowhere else) and 70 orchids. El Yunque has 13 hiking trails covering 23 miles of varied terrain. 

The hardy can summit El Toro and take in spectacular 360-degree views of the forest, but even small children can handle the less-than-a-milelong Big Tree Trail that wends past La Mina Falls, whose cascades plummet 35 feet into a cool, refreshing pool of water the perfect plunge on a hot day. The 3-mile El Yunque Trail is considered the most rewarding. The farther away you can get from the cruise-ship crowds, the more jungle magic you’ll find. 

There are no large creatures here such as monkeys or panthers, but there are plenty of small ones that you may not see but will certainly hear. Millions of tiny coqui, the endemic tree frog that is Puerto Rico’s mascot, live here, trilling “co-KEE” sporadically until evening approaches, or after a rainfall when it turns into a full-blown chorus. The most prized sighting is the bright-green Puerto Rican SABA parrot, once abundant but now quite rare and highly endangered. After the rain forest, it’s only 8 miles north of Luquillo Beach, a much-photographed palm-lined crescent of white sand and calm turquoise waters that attracts lots of local families from San Juan. Follow them: They know which roadside stand sells the best alcapurrias, plantain fritters stuffed with seafood.

Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan

The Gates to Hell also known as “Darvaza gas crater” and Door to Hell in Turkmenistan. This is a natural gas field that accidentally collapsed into a cavern in the Darvaza drilling rig to fall in. It is believed that the geologists of Russia may have purposely set it on fire to stop the spread of methane gas. The Gates to hell having punctured pockets of gas, poisonous fumes started fumes leaking at an alarming rate.

However, many geologists think it has been burning continuously since 1971 and is expected to keep on burning. The Gates to Hell situated in the middle of Karakum Desert, approximately 160 miles from Ashgabat, the Capital city of Turkmenistan. The engineers thought, to be a substantial oil field site to access the oil quantity in this site. The closer you get, the brighter it glows. The Gates to Hell was a dot of light moments ago and is now a giant crater with fire coming out of it.

The Gates to Hell crater has an area of 5,350 m2 with a 226ft diameter and its depth is about 98 ft). It’s a popular tourist attraction in Turkmenistan. The beautiful wild desert camping is my favorite surrounding area. The fiery glowing Darvaza Gas Crater can be seen from miles. The nearby village “Derweze” captured the public imagination as a mystery named it Door to Hell due to continuous fire, boiling mud, and orange flames of the crater.

Surprisingly, regardless of the crater’s menacing name and ever-present dangerous flames, tourists still trek into the wild desert to witness the burning site in all its blazing glory.  In 2010, Turk president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow ordered the closure of the hole, to save the nearby towns from the dangerous release of poisonous gases however couldn’t due to various reasons. The Gates to Hell history is uncertain until 1960,s. After reviewing the samples of Gates of Hell soil, a crusty bacteria species discovered active at the bottom of the crater has the ability to live in high temperatures.