Friday, 20 March 2015

Amazing Penthouse Located at the Top of a Historic Ski Jump in Norway




This historic ski jump will soon be serving overnight visitors reaching new heights with an astonishing, modernized penthouse apartment that is suspended around 200 feet in the air. The lofty living space at the top of the Holmenkollen competitive arena in Norway was before a waiting room for the participants of 1952 Winter Olympics. Now it has been emerged in an apartment set to open at the end of March. Therefore adventure lovers and ski passionate can relish the remarkable vantage point overlooking snowcapped mountains with all the comforts of home. Hence from the rooftop terrace, visitors can even take glimpses of the “Northern Lights” on a clear night. Moreover the lodging company AirBnB commissioned the project as part of a promotional contest, in which the company will give away the first night’s stay to the winner of an essay competition. The progressively popular website that coordinates “places to stay from local hosts in 190+ countries” is famous for providing accommodations in strange venues.Without any doubt the ski jump lodge ranks among the most exclusive. The apartment’s webpage amusingly advises would-be guests, “Please do not apply if you are scared of heights.”

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Fly Through Human Powered Sky Bike at Mashpi Lodge in Quito, Ecuador



Sky Bike is tucked away amongst the cloud forest in the protected 3,212-acre Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve, around 3 hours northwest of Quito, in Ecuador, is Mashpi Lodge and a classy and contemporary lodge. You can described as a “luxury cocoon in the clouds”, Mashpi Lodge is perched 900 meters above sea level surrounded by magnificence rainforest crisscrossed with waterfalls between dramatic, verdant hills, and a profusion of plant species, from ferns and bromeliads to hundreds of orchid species, visible through its floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The Lodge, built with the latest techniques in sustainable building, is designed to blend beautifully with its surroundings that are inhabited by a staggering 500 species of bird, hundreds of amphibian and reptilian species, and animals such as monkeys, peccaries and even puma.

The slow pace bike let take the peoples to much more than you’d have streaming by on a zip line or bouncing along on the suspension bridges common to most canopy walks. But then pedaling up the last bit of the parabola reminding the powering the craft after all.  The wonders of sky bike will delight the worldliest nature lover surrounded by a profusion of plant species, from ferns and bromeliads to hundreds of orchid species, several newly-discovered. A staggering more than five hundred species of bird including some 36 endemics are likely to inhabit the forest, fluttering through the canopy.

It is situated close to the lodge is a Sky Bike that permits visitors to explore the beauty of forest canopy from above and through. The sky bike is dangled from a 656-foot cable car and it is stretched between two points in the forest crossing a gorge above a river at an insane height of 196 feet. Sky bike has the capacity of two people and one of them uses the pedal the push the bike along at leisure. The Sky Bike at Mashpi Lodge is similar to the Sky Cycle a pedal-powered roller coaster located in Washuzan Highland Amusement Park in Okayama city in Japan. The Sky Bike also lets tourists to view the wildlife up close on their terms. Animals are often less afraid and appear more tame when humans appear in unexpected places, which Masphi guests have been doing on the Sky Bike since 2012.

The current bike is the result of five prototypes inspired by an article in Popular Mechanics. One of the special things about the Sky Bike is that you control the pace of your excursion and can zoom through the forest for an exciting ride or take a more leisurely approach and admire the sights. With an offering like the Sky Bike, it’s no uncertainty that the Mashpi Lodge is itself a distinctive place. National Geographic even considers the glass-walled getaway.

Monday, 16 March 2015

The Kirstenbosch Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway in South Africa

Kirstenbosch is a world popular botanical garden and a special jewel for Capetonians and nature lovers alike. The stunning views, of flora and fauna, the paths and facilities are all of great quality and enjoyment. However, this is possible now to walk above the trees? The Kirstenbosch Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway in Cape Town is a raised walkway that allows visitors to view the forest and the trees the way a bird or a monkey might.

The canopy elegantly snakes its way along the treetops in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in South Africa. The striking walkway spreads a maximum height of 12 meters from the ground and only touches the ground twice. It has more than a few observation points from which visitors can relish the surrounding view, but it also descends among the tree canopy in a some places so that they can relish the foliage as well. Kirstenbosch is lovely and worth a visit. The "boomslang" is great, because it is unusual vantage point and the rather surreal feeling that comes with standing atop tree crowns that’s surely the raised boulevard’s greatest drawcard.

Well, you can look out for labels on the trees that document their family and common names as well as information boards along the path that provide details about the birds, animals and mountain peaks visible from the boardwalk. The good looking 427 feet walkway is open now and involves no extra charge, so if you’re ever in South Africa or plant to visit Cape town, then you should definitely consider paying the park a visit! Therefore the Botanical Society of SA has supported the project from the start. A number of similar projects were researched in other renowned botanical gardens such as Kew in London and Kings Park in Perth.

This project construction costs is almost R5 m are met entirely from bequests from many benefactors - in particular, R1m from the late Mary Mullins. The planning of the walkway started in 2012, and foundations were laid down in June 2013 and it was completed on 16 May and opened to the public on 17 May 2014.

Explore the World Largest Cave (Hang Son Doong)



Experience the world’s largest cave, Vitenam’s Hang Son Doong, from a quadcopter’s POV. The video was filmed by Ryan Deboodt near the entrance and the first and second dolines (skylights), which are 2.5 and 3.5 km inside the cave respectively. Ryan Deboodt used the following stuff: Canon 6D, Canon 16-35mm f4, DJI Phantom 2, GoPro Hero 4 Black. If you are really passionate about to learn more about the cave, there’s a great feature by National Geographic from 2011. In fact this is epic effort, and I’m sure you’d really enjoyed this video. Amazingly beautiful shot, our mother nature is extremely beautiful.  Thank you for your work!.


Hang Son Doong from Ryan Deboodt on Vimeo.