Caracol Falls Brazil

Caracol Falls or Cascata do Caracol is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Brazil with 131 m tall waterfall by far is not the tallest or largest but it has a rare quality. There’re tremendous lookouts where the beauty of Caracol Falls and surrounding forests and mountains can be observed. Caracol Falls have formed on the basalt cliffs of Serra Geral volcanic formation. Caracol waterfall has two cascades one is upper cascade consists of multiple smaller cascades; its total height is approximately 10 m and after some 100 m comes the 2nd by far the largest plunge. Here the stream falls over an overhanging cliff edge. So far it is not confirmed whether the height of 131 m includes both cascades or is just the height of the main, tallest cascade. However; upper part of waterfalls starts in pine forest altitudinal zone with quite a few gorgeous araucarias and lower end is located already in the moist Atlantic Forest.

Caracol waterfall majestic beauty is harder to observe, therefore it is a lot less popular tourist destination. The area nearby Caracol Falls may seem to be unspoiled and remote but in reality this is very widespread tourist destination with nature trails, 27 m tall observation tower, cable car, tourist train, restaurant, shops. 25 ha large Caracol State Park has been established around the falls and without any doubt this is one of the most famous natural landmarks in Brazil, perhaps the second most visited after the famous Iguazu Falls. The waterfall popularity could be explained by the vicinity to major cities and definitely by the rare beauty of this waterfall which becomes particularly beautiful during the sunset.

Missile Park United States

The Missile Site Park is great opportunity to step back into the Cold War Era of national defense. White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in southern New Mexico, at nearly 8,300 square km, is one of the largest military installations in United States. The White Sands Missile Range Museum is situated within the premises of the military facility, about 100 km south of the Trinity Site. Missile Park is one of those cold war relics the static displays of handiwork. This is not a conventional park by any stretch of the imagination.  There's no large grass field, few trees and no place to play ball. 

Basically it is a test range with the main function of supporting missile development and test programs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other government agencies and private industry. Such as most large military installations in the West, White Sands was created during World War II, which is officially established in July 9, 1945, one week before the world's first nuclear explosion, the Trinity test. From several years, most of the missile systems in the United States arsenal were tested at WSMR, including the V-2, Nike, Viking, Corporal, Lance and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems. As a bonus, the park is located at the East end of the Mugu runway, so you can hang out and watch all the cool military hardware take off and land.  

The missile museum is packed with information about the origin of America’s nuclear program, its pioneering ventures into space and the development of rockets as weapons, and about the achievements of scientists like Dr.Wernher von Braun and Dr. Clyde Tombaugh. However what you do get is an awesome little snapshot of various missiles produced from the late 50's until the present, along with a couple jet aircraft (An F4 Phantom and an F14 Tomcat)? The most captivating display of the museum is the missile park. Several of these missiles were classified, state-of-the-art and were engineered and built at a feverish pace as part of a nuclear deterrence strategy.  Both sides were utterly convinced that these WMD's were essential and helped her citizens sleep at night.  It is an outdoor display of over 60 diverse rockets used in combat from WWII to the Gulf War.

These include everything from the WAC Corporal and Loon (U.S. version of the V-1) to a Pershing II, a Patriot and the V-2, the world’s first long range ballistic missiles and the first man-made thing to reach the fringe of space. These rockets are well installed outside the museum building in an acre-sized garden, and most of them are pointing towards the sky just like to ready to blast off. Aside from housing a wealth of missile related technology, the museum has sections dedicated to the local flora and fauna, the native peoples who once lived on the land, and a room of paintings by a survivor of the brutal Bataan forced march of WWII, in which up to 10,000 Filipinos and 650 Americans died at Japanese hands. For any peaceniks out there, you maybe will not appreciate the exorbitant hard working and millions of man hours invested in these now harmless displays, but at least you can observe them close up and consider one of the most exciting and frightening times in our world's history. If you like the missile park, you'll love the Seabee museum who is just 10 minutes away.

Stairs To Heaven Gate Tianmen Shan China

China’s Tianmen Shan also famous with “The Heaven's Gate” Mountain in Hunan province is named after an unbelievable cave natural arch eroded through the karst syncline. The Heaven’s Gate, as the arch is called, is situated about 8 kilometers south of the city of Zhangjiajie. The Heaven’s Gate is accessed from Zhangjiajie by what may be the world's longest passenger cableway at a length of 7.5 kilometers, followed by a bus ride along an 11 kilometers long winding road with 99 bends called the “Heaven Linking Avenue” that reaches the top of the mountain. The purpose of these huts is contested in Chinese legend, looking for to serve either as a place of rest and worship, or to relax looking out over the world. This wonderful site, Heaven’s Gate is typically shadowed by blazing sunlight or mystical fog.

From there a set of stairs with exactly 999 steps take visitor’s right underneath the 130-meters tall and 57-meters wide arch. Tianmen Shan may be distinctive among the world's great arches in that its formation is recorded in history. Documents from China's "Three Kingdoms" period report that the full opening formed in one cataclysmic event when the back of a giant cave collapsed in 263 AD. Which in  result, the name of the mountain was changed from Songliang Shan to Tianmen Shan, which is also one of the very few natural arches with a precisely known age. In the recent times Tianmen Shan has become a target for stunt fliers, because of its location adjacent to the Zhangjiajie airport as well as its large opening. Acrobatic flying teams have flown through the opening. Tianmen Shan has a span of about 55 meters and a height of about 130 meters. It is really amazing how the Chinese managed to package this entire place for tourism. A hole is the mountain is now a major RMB/dollar earner. Anyway, the walk around the mountain and finally the Tianmen Cave, it would seem to be well worth.

Blue Lake, Nelson, New Zealand

In the middle of New Zealand, which is famous as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, is a lake that will absolutely blow your mind. It’s known as the Blue Lake. The body of water is also recognized as Rotomairewhenua, and it holds the title of the world’s clearest lake. 

Blue Lake is a small fresh water lake in Nelson Lakes National Park, in New Zealand's. Researchers of NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) have found that lake has extreme visual clarity, almost up to 75 to 80 meters.  The clarity of Blue Lake has passed Te Waikoropupu Springs in Golden Bay which has visibility of 60 to 65 meters. Blue Lake is considered as “Optically Clear” as distilled water. The gorgeous Blue Lake has characterized by blue-violet hues seen only in the very clearest natural waters. The blue lake is spring fed from the neighboring glacial Lake Constance, but the water passes through landslide debris that forms a dam between the two lakes. The natural dam filters out nearly all the particles suspended in the water giving the lake the most intense natural blue-violet color.

Blue Lake recognized is optically outstanding, having observed on tramping trips that this water body appeared broadly similar to Te Waikoropupu. Several specialists believe visibility of Blue Lake has exceeded that of Te Waikoropupu. Mark Gall, The NIWA scientist in ocean optics instrumentation pays many visits by helicopter established that the horizontal visibility in the lake typically ranges from 70 to 80 metres as estimated from the best available instrumental measurements in the laboratory. So Blue Lake is a close approach to optically pure water. In some rare occasions, after torrential rain, Blue Lake can become temporarily murky, when particles washed in by surface runoff have been dispersed in the water.