World's Longest Suspension Bridge in Sochi, Russia

The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge opened this summer in Sochi National Park, Russia. The pedestrian bridge is located on the extreme corner of the National Park. The beautiful 1,800-foot-long bridge was built over a striking 650 foot gorge, and provides tourist a spectacular view of the mountains and the river below. Moreover theirs is another attraction is bungee jumping. There’re many diverse points on the bridge from which you can bungee. The bridge is part of the AJ Hackett Sochi Sky-park that was opened around the similar time as this bridge. The Sochi Sky-park Bridge was developed in collaboration with New Zealand, and it took two years, used 740 tons of metal and 2,000 cubic meters of concrete to construct. The Bridge is designed to withstand a 9-magnitude earthquake and the concurrent presence of 3,000 people over it.

Mir Diamond Mine Russia

Mir Mine is actually a diamond mine located in Mirny Eastern Siberia Russia. It is also called Mirny Mine, and when it was decided to close in 2004, the mine was 525 meters deep and 1,200 meters across making it the 2nd largest excavated hole in the world, after “Bingham Canyon Mine”. In the first look everyone gets amazed about the hole of mine, because it is really too massive hole. The airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow.

In 1957, mining started due to extreme harsh climate conditions. The Siberian winter seasons lasted more than seven months which have frozen the ground, but making it extremely difficult to mine. However; during the brief summer seasons which is lasted only few months, permafrost would become mud turning the whole mining operation into a land of sludge. Buildings had to be raised on piles, so that they would not sink.

The main processing plant had to be built on better ground, found 20 kilometers away from the mine. The winter temperatures are extremely low that car tires and steel would shatter and oil would freeze. During the winter, workers used jet engines to burn through the layer of permafrost or blasted it with dynamite to get access to the underlying kimberlite. The whole mine had to be covered at night to prevent the machinery from freezing.

When the Mining is on peak, it produced about 10 million carats of diamond per year, of which a relatively high fraction (20%) were of gem quality. This has worried to De Beers Company, which at that time was distributing most of the world's diamonds. The company was pushed to buy larger and larger shipments of high-quality Russian diamonds in order to control the market price.

For De Beers, Mir mine was a puzzling mystery. The mine’s massive output was not consistent with the fairly small size of the mine. However in the 1970’s when the mine producing small quantities of diamonds, the Soviets were producing an increasing quantity of gem diamonds. In conclusion, in 1976, De Beers requested a tour of the Mir mine to fulfill their curiosity. Therefore; permission was well granted, but the Russians kept delaying the visit and by the time and the team of delegates reached the Mir mine, just before their visas were expired, so that they could have only 20 minutes at the Mir mine.

But the visit did a little to shed light on the secret of the Mir’s diamond production. When USSR was collapsed in 1990s, the mine was operated by a few local companies and they had worked until 2004 when the mine was enduringly closed.

Colorful cave underneath the city of Yekaterinburg in Russia

Probably you may have heard about colorful cave underneath the city of Yekaterinburg in Russia lies you have ever laid your eyes upon. The walls of abandoned salt mine are covered with psychedelic patterns, caused by the natural layers of carnallite, a mineral used in the production of plant fertilizers, and is most often yellow to white or reddish, but can sometimes be blue or even entirely colorless. A little portion of the carnallite mines remain in use, but many of the passageways are now closed and off-limits to the public without a special government permit. 

These gorgeous pictures were taken by photographer Mikhail Mishainik, who spent more than 20 hours exploring the dimly lit labyrinth and has stayed overnight on at least three occasions. The mines are massive and stretches on several kilometers in width and length, a single tunnel can be more than four miles long. It is extremely hard to describe how it feels being so far down, you lose all track of time and the air was very dry, you always feel thirsty,” said Mikhail Mishainik to The Daily Mail. 

The air is filled with small particles of salt and if we didn't have our torches switched on it would be pitch black. It is easy to get lost as many of the passageways look the same; we navigate our way around very carefully. Many people know about the mines but it is very difficult to access them if you don't have an official permit. We take our safety very seriously but of course there are always dangers. There is a chance of a gas leak from chemicals such as methane, hydrogen sulphide carbon dioxide as well the jeopardy of a landslide. The danger element is part of the fun and it’s an exceptional feeling being somewhere very few people have seen.

Fort Zverev Russia

Fort Zverev is situated on the shores of the Baltic Sea in northern Kronstadt lies completely ruins nowadays. But Fort Zverev tranquil inspires the imaginations of tourists to the artificial island, just north of Kronstadt, nearby St Petersburg, where the remains stand overlooking the sea. Fort Zverev was actually built in the middle of 18^th century (1860s) by engineer Konstantin Zverev. Later on, Fort named was associated with him in order to strengthen the northern fairway of Gulf of Finland. The Zverev fort had a mushroom shape with curved ceiling a new design different from all Konstantin Zverev had built before. Zverev Fort was successfully applied asphalt as a building material completely floors was covered with natural asphalt solution, and this was first in Russia at that time. In the start of 20^th century the fort was transformed into sea mines warehouse and ammunition dump, and continued to remain on duty long after World War II ended and used as military training and practical shooting.

In 1970’s the fort was described as 'hell on earth' the rusting bunker was destroyed by a savage fire that tore through the structure and blaze ignited with massive fire and spread to engulf a network that raged for many weeks and tThe blast swept through the basement, sparking an uncontrollable inferno as the fuel lit and fire finally subsided and fort cooled down enough to enter in the basement, which was entirely unrecognizable the smooth chamber walls once stood, a dark and rough cave was left in its wake. The inferno was too much hot that it factually melted the bricks above which dripped down like stalactites. It’s was not figured what kind of material fueled the fire but from the nature of the damage, it was apparent that it was something that burned penetratingly hot. Even though normal household fire, strong brick does not melt, and requires too much temperature perhaps less than 1,800 degrees centigrade. 

For comparison, a large gasoline fire produces temperature of around 1,100 degrees. Various speculates that the Russians were testing a innovative kind of weapon perhaps a high phosphorus containing compound alike to napalm that burned which is  reaching temperatures of 2,000C, the fire was so hot the brick walls and ceiling melted, leaving strange icicle-like formations hanging from the ceiling. According to another version, the fort was a cesspool of lubricants and decommissioned ammunition, bilge water and waste from ships that was accidentally set fire by careless tourists. But actual truth will never be known. Source: Charismatic Planet