Oman’s Breathtaking Forest, only Blooms for Three Months in a Year

The jungle of Oman’s revealed in a series of photographs, which is incredibly pop-up forest in desert only blooms for three months in a year. The oasis is located on a 155 mile stretch of land same to the length of Jamaica and at its deepest, the monsoon only extends about 18 miles from the shore. The Jungle of Arabia has amazing overnight transformation from arid desert to breathtaking rainforest. The sensation once in a year is really incredible to see from the end of July to the beginning of September, mainly known by Salalah Khareef, or the Salalah Monsoon, transforms a massive tract of land seemingly overnight into a striking emerald haven for locals and animals (including hundreds of camels). The average temperatures drop from a burning 50 degrees to a cool 20, however  dry conditions nine months of the year means that Salalah does not have enduring lakes or running rivers - nonetheless during the monsoon waterfalls can be seen flowing over the cliffs. Therefore, on the grassy hills of Salalah live the Jibbali people who have be inherent in there for hundreds of years.

A landscape architect Andrew Anderson at the Oman Botanic Garden sharing his experience, even the fog sometimes becomes so thick that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. The forested slopes of the escarpment are a true global marvel for 9 months of the year, although, they’re mostly barren and leafless, but during the monsoon, they turn into an amusing, green, sub-tropical forest, dense with vegetation and dripping with moisture. Indeed, this is scientifically a cloud forest but it is the only area in the world where this rich, wet cloud forest transforms to and from a dry, arid environment. After three months the land reheats and turns back into its dry and dusty former condition. 

Source: Dailymail & Charismatic Planet

Bigelow Ranch: The Strangest Place on Earth

Bigelow Ranch is probably strangest place on earth, previously recognized as “Skinwalker Ranch”, “Gorman Ranch”, “Haunted Ranch”, and “Sherman Ranch”. It’s a mysterious place, where something different happens since 1950’s. Bigelow Ranch is located in west Uintah County bordering the Ute Indian Reservation, is 480 acre property in northwest Utah that is home to myriad UFO sighting, animal mutilations and other strange occurrences. There have been so many haunted locations from Stonehenge to the Tower of London to the Bridge over River Kwai in Thailand, but never have been to a location that has a lot of stories of paranormal phenomenon. There have been to countries that have rare paranormal phenomenon like Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, but for some reason the stories from Skinwalker Ranch will stay in my mind.

There’re number of bizarre stories happened to a pair of ranchers named Terry and Gwen Sherman after they bought it in 1994. The first day, when they moved to their property, they saw a large wolf out in pasture. They even went to pet wolf as it seemed tame, and it was docile with the “Shermans”, but ended up grabbing a calf by the snout through the bars of its enclosure. However, Terry grabbed his pistol and shot at the wolf, amazingly the bullets had no effect. It lastly left after Terry brought out the shotgun, though even that didn’t do any real damage. The “Shermans” tried tracking the wolf, but its tracks stopped sharply as if it had vanished. Hence, this wasn’t the end of story. The “Shermans” were continually plagued by such events as UFO sightings, intellectual floating orbs including reputed to have incinerated three of their dogs, inexplicable cryptids, and gruesome cattle mutilations. It got so bad that the “Shermans” in fact sold their ranch to Robert Bigelow in 1996, the founder of the National Institute for Discovery Science, who wanted to research the secrecies surrounding the ranch. Bigelow owns the ranch to this day and NIDS keeps a tight lid on their findings. A movie, titled “Skinwalker Ranch”, was released in 2013, and is very loosely based on the folklore behind the ranch. Terry Sherman claimed to have actually seen aliens come out of one UFO. Because it was a human type, more than 7 ft tall, decked out in a fully black uniform and very giant, very heavyset.

The Bigelow ranch has a rich history because of the Native Americans that inhabited the region and passed down the tales of what they saw. Therefore a family owned the ranch at one time and had investigators come in to support them because they were being anguished by poltergeists, shape shifters, and other forms of paranormal harassment. Due to this family has left the ranch, and then Robert Bigelow set up shop there for unidentified reasons. Bigelow is a famous name because he started the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) which finally transformed into Bigelow Aerospace (BAASS) which makes low Earth orbiting inflatable structures. Well, there’re so many of the weird phenomena at the ranch were detailed in the book Hunt for the Skinwalker by Colm Kelleher and George Knapp.

The Mysterious Magnet Hill in India

Well, its sound quite unbelievable, that your vehicle is moving up at a speed of 20 KM/ hour whiles its ignition off? Off course, you’d be amazed with the start of this story. Yes, it if fact, that magnet mystic can be observed while you’re traveling to Leh-Ladakh, a part of Jammu & Kashmir. Every year, thousands of tourist visit Ladakh to witness the mystery phenomenon of the 'Magnetic Hill' where it is said vehicles are pulled uphill automatically. The mysterious Magnetic Hill located on the Leh-Kargil-Baltik National Highway, 30 kilometer away from Leh-Town at an elevation of 14,000 feet above sea level. On its south side, Indus River flows, originates in Tibet and goes into Pakistan. The magnetic hill has become a popular attraction for domestic tourists on car journeys. The road alignment with the slope of the background can give the illusion that vehicles are able to drift upwards. Travelers normally park their vehicles in the white-marked box on the road to witness the phenomenon.

Therefore, Magnetic Hill is a site, where the layout of the surrounding land creates the optical illusion that a very slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Therefore, a car left out of gear will appear to be rolling uphill. There are hundreds of gravity hill locations around the world. The slope of gravity hills is an optical illusion, although several others may claim natural or even supernatural forces are at work. The most important factor contributing to the illusion is a completely or mostly obstructed horizon; without a horizon, judging the slope of a surface is hard as a trustworthy reference is missing. Objects such as trees one would normally assume to be more-or-less perpendicular to the ground perhaps actually be leaning, offsetting the visual reference. The illusion is alike to the famous Ames room, in which balls can also appear to roll against gravity. This is a strangely common illusion that is found in various locations around the world. Generally it is a stretch of road in a hilly area where the level horizon is obscured. Objects such as trees and walls that usually offer visual clues to the true vertical perhaps leaning slightly. This creates an optical illusion making a slight downhill look like an uphill slope. Thus, objects could appear to roll uphill, and sometimes rivers even seem to flow against gravity. Although there are quite a lot of things that empower us to sense which way are up. Thus, the balance mechanism in our inner ears is one system we have, but visual clues are also vital and can be superseding.

In one day, five undergraduate (all were 2^nd & 3^rd Year of Mechanical engineering) students conducted investigation and their research verifies gravity does the trick of “pulling' vehicles uphill”. They went there to know what exactly happening at this place. They investigate by using magnetometer in various different sites along the hill and made efforts to check the scientific accuracy of the claims. Therefore, if someone imagines that a massive bar magnet underneath our feet and the field produced by that magnet is what we have measured at the hill. However, earth's surface magnetic field differs from place to place, mostly depending upon the magnetic properties of the soil or rocks. Usually, the magnitude of the earth's magnetic field is different at the surface from 25 microtesla to 65 microtesla. The magnetic field of the earth interacts & differs not because of magnetic properties of the soil, but at a high altitude, this can be affected by space weather as well. Henceforth the student team conducted many experiments; first to measure the road magnetic intensity and then the Magnetic Hill itself and also at nearby hills. We’ve observed relatively high magnetic intensity readings and found from the data that it fluctuates at comparatively higher rate at other places closer to the sea level. However, the magnetic intensity generate by the refrigerator at home is about 100 T which is not too strong to influence any motion. Hence, we measured the highest magnetic intensity of about 60 microtesla which is about a million times weaker than the strong magnet found in the refrigerator or likewise. Hence, it is physically impossible for the magnetic field intensity measured at the hill to produce sufficient force to have any accelerating effect on automobiles. The magnitude of magnetic field in upward direction is relatively fluctuating. But again, this is not strong enough. Thus, the claims such as a turbulence experienced by planes, in all odds, are caused by wind and air molecules which rise steeply due to the mountain terrain which reasons rapid cooling and pressure variations which give rise to various weather anomalies. We were not able to find any evidence of magnetic interference with the flight instruments.

We believe the geographical location of the hill, at a high altitude of about 14,000 feet, confirms that a suggestively high dosage of radiation is received. According to our records, Leh receives the highest radiation for any place on Earth; hence the effects are also noteworthy. So we can attribute the fluctuations in magnetic intensities to the geomagnetic interactions with radiation. In support of the above, we observed noticeable fluctuations of magnetic fields especially during the day, relative to the night at the same place. The team conducted experiments with a bike and observed that the bike reached a speed of about 22 km/h on the first attempt and 19 km/h on the second. The average experiment was reported around 20 km/h. The magnetic intensity variation along the length of the bike, we have found that it doesn't vary and remains constant. However, seeing a possibility that the bike can be attracted by Magnetic Hill, the magnitude of the magnetic field along the bike should change and noticeable difference in the magnitude of magnetic intensity in the front of the bike and the rear.

However, we didn't find anything as such. So, the magician here is the gravity. We’ve also observed that the terminal speed reached by the automobiles irrespective of its size is about 20 km/h on an average. Henceforth automobiles are influenced by gravity. There’s a negative gradient, though very less in magnitude, which affects the body to slide under the influence of gravity. While the other contributing factors to the speed of the automobile are gusts of wind which are recognized to reach up to 15 km/h. Therefore, the so called “Magnetic Hill Effect” observed, is not gravity-defying as claimed but in fact due to gravity coupled with minor influences from its geographical position and altitude. But we do admit that the magnetic intensity is fairly higher but within the normal range hence nothing unusual is to be assumed. Although, tourist visiting the place claim to experience some sort of an influence of the magnetic field. Though, we are not sure whether it is a psychological illusion being at such high altitude..Source: Gconnect.in & Wikipedia and CP

Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque, Grozny, Russia

In 1818, Grozny was founded, when the defense line was no longer required.  In 1870, Grozny became a regional center, and experiences a larger migration of workers for oil industry development. The newly built railroad in the end of 18^th century, made Grozny largest industrial center of Caucasus region. As the time passes, the town of Grozny grows in terms of everything. Now, from last 10 to 15 years, Muslims culture has been flourished and lot of Mosque (Masjid) built. The famous official known "Heart of Chechnya" Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque was built, along with a large Islamic complex, a religious school, an Islamic university, a hotel, a religious library, a soccer stadium, the Grozny-City Towers. Indeed the amazing beauty of Mosque has captivating people hearts. The exterior walls are adorned in travertine marble, as well as interior walls are decorated with white marble especially brought from Turkish Marmara Island. On October 16, 2008, the Masjid was officially opened for public in a ceremony. The “Heart of Chechnya” Masjid contains one of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) relics, a 1,400 year old bowl used by Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).

The "Heart of Chechnya" is the largest mosque in Europe & Russia. The dome diameter is 16 meters with a height of 32 meters. The mosque minarets are 62 meters tall, actually makes them tallest minarets in Russia. Though, it is strictly prohibited to climb up on minarets, but an “Airpano” team has given special sanctions to view from top. The dizzying ascent steep stairs will take you on top to see the marvelous view of city. It is incredible that a Muezzin used to climb up to a minaret five times a day to call for prayer, often called Azan or Adhan). Imagine, going to top of minaret for Azan, the person must be physically fit, equal to 20^th floor of building over and over again. But these days, technology has get the job easier for Muezzin by using loudspeakers installed on the minarets and microphone is connected to the lower level of Masjid. The "Heart of Chechnya" Masjid can accommodate more than 10,000 people, and almost equal number of peoples can pray on the square in front of the Mosque as well as in the summer gallery. The Mosque walls and the dome are competently painted by master artisans from Turkey. Moreover, the inner surface of the main dome is majestically decorated by Surat al-Ikhlas ("The Purity of Faith", the 112th Sura of the Qur'an): "He is Allah, who is one, the eternal God. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent".

This beautiful Masjid is shine in night with 36 chandeliers (a chandelier alone is 8 meters high) and modeled after other famous mosques: “Al-Kubbat Sahra” in Jerusalem, Roza-Nabevi in Medina, and the Kaa’bah shrine in Makkah. In fact, Masjid itself and all its elements are extremely impressive, especially air lightness of the structure. As everybody knows, Muslims are strongly believer of One Allah, and during the month of Ramzan, when Muslims are with fasting, offering Namaz or Salat,  and Tarawhe means (Rest), the atmospheres are extremely impressive and eye-catching. Moreover, in the Ramadan month, hundreds of men, shoulder to shoulder praying together without any hassel. They lined up in an impressive way, without feeling of cast, colors, offer prayers, and even teach other to stay on Allah’s path. In the time of sunsets, the “Heart of Chechnya” Masjid beautifully glows in the descending ascending darkness, and surrounding park, fountains are illuminated as well, which makes it an inviting place for an evening stroll. Source: Airpano

Courtesy of www.AirPano.com

Courtesy of www.AirPano.com

Velley of Butterfly in Switzerland

“Petaloudes” in Switzerland is well known as “valley of Butterflies”, is located on the western side of the Greek island of Rhods, almost 25 KM away from the city near the Village Kalamonas. Well, Thousands of multicolor butterflies covering the entire landscape in a thick but delicate blanket at the end of May. The Petaloudes valley is home of Rhodes subspecies of the Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria rhodosensis), who make their annual appearance after the rainy season. Therefore, in the rainy season, the butterflies habitually live in the Mediterranean thicket in the caterpillar stage feeding on foliage, and when the rainy season finished, the caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies.

So, as the dry season approaches, the butterflies naturally migrate, and travelling at night in search of humidity, following the water course, and end up in the valley. The aroma of Oriental Sweet gum trees prevailing in the valley actually attracted the butterflies.  Once they reach their endpoint, they’re settled lightly on the trunks of trees & rocks or whatever surface is available, in great numbers. As the butterflies like the humid habitat of the valley, they spend their entire summer season in this cool valley. Thus, they mate during the last weeks of August and early in September. Most females fly away from the valley, or in few cases they fly for over 25 kilometers, to lay their eggs in safe dark places, preferably among plants and bushes, and then die. Then in the next spring season the baby butterflies pop out of their cocoons in spreading throughout the surrounding area. Consequently in June they grow into full-blown butterflies, and then the heat and smell of the gum trees entices them back to the valley, and the entire cycle repeats all over again.

The Valley of the Butterflies is a unique natural Park, is also a nice place to walk, under the shade of the trees. Unluckily, the Petaloudes valley is open to tourists and the increased foot traffic is spraining the butterfly population. Unfortunately “Euplagia” has no stomach; in its place they entirely live on their body fat which they had stored during their preceding lives as caterpillars. Although visitors are cheered to visit the valley but they’re highly advised not to disturb the butterflies or make loud noises. 

Though continuous disturbance from visitors such as clapping or whistling startle the butterflies, and they become panic easily and forcing them to fly away habitually from their resting place. So, the activity consumes valuable energy that cannot be replenished, and countless butterflies run out of their energy and die before they could reproduce. The valley is one of the nature’s most beautiful gifts to Rhodes, a short drive inland with a scenic gorge is home to eye-catching valley. Without any doubt the valley of butterflies is worth a visit, with a lush green Valley and a small river running through it. The valley is beautifully arranged, with little wooden Bridges, stone, steps, and an uphill path which leads to the Monastery of the Virgin of Kalopetra.

 Source: Charismatic Planet