The Rock Piller of Krasnoyarsk Stolby Nature Reserve

Krasnoyarsk Stolby Nature Reserve is situated on the southern bank of the Yenisei River, bordering the city of Krasnoyarsk, in Russia. The foremost attraction of the park is its towering stone pillars that have peculiar curved forms and reach up to 100 meters in height. These rocks are mostly of sedimentary and volcanic origin, aged from the Cambrian period, almost over 600 million years ago, to the Carbon period. They were shaped when molten magma penetrated the surface from a depth of 500 to 1500 meters into a layer of peneplain where it formed a system of cracks that spread naturally across the whole layer. Selective weathering along those cracks led to the formation of mattress-like prismatic detachments, which caused unique shapes on the rock outcrops. The place was discovered in 1624 by Russian kozaks - the explorers of Siberia, who built a small fortress at the influx of the Kacha River into the Yenisei. They wondered at the enormous intricately shaped stony blocks rising amid a thick forest and gave them the biblical name "Stolpy", abridged later to the widespread "Stolby", plural for “stolb” which means “pillar” in Russian. Since then the name came into use for these and any similar rocky features in Siberia and the Russian Far East and was accepted as a geological term. Stolby is also a major rock climbing site. A lot of local climbers deliberately do not use any belaying equipment, an ability the Krasnoyarsk rock climbers have mastered over the years. They call their exciting sport stolbism, famous elsewhere as solo climbing.

Kungur Ice Cave Russia

Kungur Ice Cave is a lovely karst cave situated in the Urals, near the town Kungur in Perm Krai, Russia, on the banks of the Sylva River. This remarkable cave has a length of explored passages over 5 kilometers. Though this is one of Russia’s biggest karst caves and the only one in the country equipped for visits by travelers. Over thousands of years rainwater dissolved the soft rocks and formed a system of capacious underground halls, filled with rocks of unusual shapes. Therefore; snow-melt dripping through the porous rocks had frozen in the cold interior of the cave to turn into ice stalactites that hang from the ceiling in entirely impulsive forms and extraordinary sizes. Amazingly some of the hanging icicles have reached the floor and formed spectacular ice columns shaped like giant hourglasses .One of the most beautiful places in the cave is right near the entrance “The Diamond Grotto”. Layers of ancient ice in these chambers overflow under spotlights, bringing to mind a frozen waterfall, while vaults cover large crystals. Diamond grotto adjoins Polar grotto where it is possible to observe ice stalactites and stalagmites.

 In the grotto of Pompeii Ruins visitors can see rocks of strange shape some of them resembling silhouettes of animal and fantastic characters, thanks to the special system of illumination. Well overall, Kungur Cave encompasses 48 grottoes, but each having their own story and exclusive name. i.e. there’re  the Coral and Sea Bottom chambers, which’re beautifully ornamented with stone lace that water wore away for 12,000 years. In the Meteorite chamber, a spectator has the illusion that massive celestial bodies are lying under the earth. The history tells us, that the first plan of the ice cave was made in 1703 when Peter the Great issued the decree sending the famous geographer Simeon Remezov. When they’ve used the materials of Remezov drawings, Stralenberge made one of the first schemes of the cave which we can see now. 

The first regular excursions of the ice cave were made by Alexey Timofeevich Hlebnikov, the grandnephew of the Russian America researcher K.T.Hlebnikov. Hence in 1914 Hlebnikov, having rented the cave from a local community of peasants, started to arrange paid excursions for inhabitants of Kungur and visitors of the city. Owing to Alexey Hlebnikov's diligence, the news about Kungur’s outstanding ice cave speedily scattered to diverse corners of the country. Nowadays the cave is a popular destination and every year thousands of visitors pay the visit to this cave. Source: Charismatic Planet

Manjanggul Lava Tube Cave in Jeju Island

The volcanic island of Jeju, is well located 130 kilometers from the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, has a widespread system of lava tubes. These natural conduits through which magma once flowed are now empty caves that are some of the largest in the world. However these caves, apart from providing opportunities for scientific research, are popular sightseer destinations.

The most inspiring is the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System formed by the flow of basaltic lava when the Geomunoreum volcano erupted more than 250 thousand years ago. Amazingly the volcano has an elevation of 456 meters and lava flowed down to the coastline 13 km away, and while doing so, created plentiful lava tubes. The Manjanggul Lava Tube represents the largest cave in this system. Because it is stretches 8,928 meters and its passages are up to 30 meters high and 23 meters wide.

manjanggul-lava-tube-4The insides of the tube is ornamented with multi-colored carbonate decorations and countless cave formations commonly found in lava tubes. They’ve included lava stalactites and lava stalagmites, lava columns, lava flowstone, lava helictites and lava blister, cave corals, benches, lava raft, lava bridges, lava shelves and striations. So at the end of the one of the passageways open for tourists, is a gigantic lava column shaped when a large amount of lava spilled from the upper level down to the lower level. This menacing column stands 7.6 meters high and is the biggest known in the world.

Moreover some 30,000 common bent-wing bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) have taken eternal residence inside the tube, establishing the largest colony of bats so far recognized to be living in Korea. Almost 38 types of cave creatures have been recognized inside the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, the most common of which is the Jeju cave spider (Nesticella quelpartensis).

 Source: Charismatic Planet

The Pearl-Qatar in Doha, Qatar

The Pearl-Qatar in Doha, Qatar, is an expensive residential complex that is being crafty developed on an artificial island, off the coast of Doha’s West Bay. The four-square-kilometers island formed on reclaimed land has 32 KM of new coastline lined with private villas, dozens of apartment’s towers and hundreds of homes, along with extravagance hotels and luxurious stores and restaurants. Since from 2012, over 5,000 inhabitants have already moved in, although construction work will complete in 2015, the island will have room for 41,000. Therefore The Pearl-Qatar is one of the most aspiring development project in Qatar, and the first development to offer freehold and residential rights to international clients.

The development’s name “Pearl” refers to the main pearl-diving industry that used to be based on the shallow seabed where the island is being built. Qatar was one of the major pearl traders of Asia before the Japanese introduced cheaper more inexpensive pearls just before Qatar's oil boom. The island is beautifully design & resembles a string of pearls. The Pearl-Qatar’s first phase and gateway to the Island boasts of the world’s longest waterfront extravagance retail walkway, the 3.5 KM marina-front pedestrian boardwalk “La Croisette”, actually home to international hospitality brands and high-end boutiques. The big Porto Arabia district comprises 31 apartment towers around a circular lagoon with a central island and a marina with space for 750 boats.

There’re also over 400 town homes, and more than 6,000 parking spaces and widespread space for retail stores including a multitude of internationally famous outlets. These also include brands like Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavalli and Elie Saab. There’ll also be a “Venice-like community” with extensive canal system, pedestrian-friendly squares and plazas and beachfront townhouses. There is even a replica of Venice’s Rialto Bridge. Well, when this huge project was first revealed in 2004, the estimated initial cost of constructing the island stood at $2.5 billion. However, now it is believed the project cost will touch $15 billion upon completion.