Balls Pyramid, World’s Tallest Volcanic Sea Stack

Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera that formed about 6.4 million years ago. Ball’s Pyramid is a sea stack, a great jagged spire rising from the Tasman Sea.  It lies 20 kilometers southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. The massive Ball’s Pyramid is one of the surviving above-ground discovered in 1788. It is 562 meters high, while measuring only 1,100 meters in length and 300 meters across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Ball's Pyramid is part of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park in Australia.

Ball's Pyramid is positioned in the center of a submarine shelf. The barren, rocky spire was believed to be devoid of life until 2001 when a group of researchers discovered what may be the world’s rarest insect. The world’s tallest sea stack of Australia’s is most remarkable diving can be found exploring the caves and waters surrounding the basalt spearhead, divers come face-to-face with a mass of spectacular sea creatures.

Ball’s Pyramid looks like a place where nothing could survive, but isn’t devoid of life. It is home to the rarest insect in the world, the Lord Howe stick insect, famous for being big as a human hand. The researchers found a colony of the huge Lord Howe Island stick insects living under a single bush, a hundred feet up the else entirely infertile rock.  

The Lord Howe Island stick insect “Dryococelus australis” known as “land lobsters” or “walking sausages,” the six-inch long insects were once common on the neighboring Lord Howe Island, but were assumed to have been eaten into extinction by the black rats introduced to the island when a supply ship ran aground on its shores in 1918. In some way a few of the wingless insects escaped and managed–by means still unidentified–to traverse over 14 miles of Open Ocean, land on Ball’s Pyramid, and survive there. Just 27 of the insects have been found on the rocky spire. So, currently they’re being bred in captivity.

From huge schools of Violet Sweep, Rainbow Runners and Amberjack, to Marlin, Dolphin, Turtles and Wahoo, the underwater world will astound. Many rare species, like Spanish Dancers and Galapagos Whalers also make these waters their home. Ball’s Pyramid is a widespread spot for fishing charters and is the only known place where the Ballina Angelfish can be sighted scuba diving. You could be forgiven for thinking it is the infamous headquarters of the Thunderbirds. In 1990, the policy was relaxed to allow some climb. The Ball’s Pyramid is protected as part of the Lord Howe Island World Heritage area and people can no longer climb the mountain without permission.

Flag Lowering Ceremony at Wagha Border Lahore

The lowering of the flag ceremony was held at Wagah Border in Lahore as a daily military practice which was attended by a large number of people including women, children, old and young on Pakistan Day. People raised slogans of Allah u Akbar and Pakistan Zindabad as the Pakistan Rangers personnel in their traditional style lowered the flag. The participants’ excitement grew higher as they witnessed the parade ceremony.

The Mysterious Stone Spheres of Champ Island

The Champ Island is a popular place among tourists who sail on a cruise to the Arctic. The island has strange objects, which is still not clear, even not expected to be solved in the near future. Champ Island is in the center of an area situated hundreds of miles north of Russia’s mainland coast, but they bagsied it forst so they own it, just like America owns the moon. No one knows with absolute certainty how these stones got here, since the island is of course uninhabited. There are no humans, and no human records, to explain what caused the stones to look like they do. Here’s seamlessly round boulders are scattered around the island, apparently growing out of the ground. Melting glaciers expose the surface of the island, washing away the rounded forms. It is one of various islands in the Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land, belongs to the most remote corners of Russia. The island hasn’t studied yet, are having relatively small grounds 375 square kilometers.

A concretion is a hard, compact mass of sedimentary rock formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between the sediment grains. This island is very attractive and picturesque, untouched by civilization. The island has mysterious stone balls of impressive size and a perfectly round shape that causes the many conjectures about their appearance on these uninhabited lands. The mysterious various size round stones from greater than human height. Even some stones are very small just like a ping-pong ball; some of them are ideal cannonballs. Due to erosion many stones have lost their round shape due to the impact of strong winds, low temperatures and water, becoming similar to the other boulders. Anyone lucky enough to take a trip to the Arctic may well stop off here to wander around and have deep look into these natural wonders. When the glaciers melt away, sun rising heat, more of these mysterious spheres get revealed. This would be a more common place to research if it wasn’t so territoriality fragmented and distanced from the mainland.

El Tatio, The Third Largest Geyser Field in the World

El Tatio is a geyser field located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile along the border between of Bolivia. Before the sun starts to rise, early morning more than 60 geysers, hot springs, mud pools, mud volcanoes and many fumaroles spew hot waters and steam. The largest geyser in the southern hemisphere is 4.320 meters above sea level. El Tatio is also third largest geyser field in the world, (after Yellowstone in the U.S. and the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia) covers an area of 12 square miles seeping steam across its surreal expanse. The El Tatio geyser field is a spectacular sight, a dreamlike high-altitude location surrounded by stratovolcanoes that form part of the local geothermal system. Geothermal power is the energy that comes from the internal heat of the Earth, and where the heat flow from the interior of the globe is sufficiently high can be used both for heating purposes and for the generation of electrical power.

El Tatio has extremophile microorganisms, which is possible of analogous example of life on early Earth and potential past life on Mars. The exclusive environment of El Tatio “provides a better environmental analog for Mars than those of Yellowstone National Park and other well-known geothermal sites on Earth.” Depending on the season, the hot springs yield 0.25–0.5 cubic meters per second of water at temperatures reaching the local boiling point. The Chilean government and private companies are looking the idea of harnessing the geothermal energy, but could not succeed due to El Tatio’s remote location and environmental concerns have stalled any geothermal power projects. In 2010, the site was declared a protected area, however tourism remains the main business at El Tatio. The el Tatio, geyser field is also known as the Copacoya geysers.

The first geothermal prospecting of the field occurred in the 1920s particularly noticeable in cold weather. The field once numbered 67 geysers and more than 300 hot springs, as some geyser fountains reached heights of over 10 meters usually however they do not exceed 1 meter.  The hydrothermal activities are main reason of discoloring the several volcanoes of El Tatio volcanic group. El Tatio is a tourism destination, with substantial amounts of travelers both from Chile and other countries play an integral part of economic resource for the region, as more than 400 daily visitors comes here to see these exclusive geysers.

The water is rich in minerals, especially sodium chloride, rubidium, strontium, bromine, magnesium, cesium, lithium, arsenic, sulfate, boron, potassium, silica and calcium. Hydrothermal alteration at El Tatio, has also yielded large deposits of alteration minerals such as illite, nobleite, smectite, teruggite and ulexite. Moreover, El Tatio and a number of other geothermal fields have been dominated by andesitic volcanism producing lava flows until the late Miocene, large scale ignimbrite activity took place between 10 and 1 million years ago. The toxic minerals like arsenic which pollutes a numbers of waters in this area, causing health issues in the population. The climate is dry falling between December and March, rather windy, which influences the hot springs by enhancing evaporation. This region has extreme temperature variations between day and night. El Tatio lies at high altitude, regularly leading to altitude sickness, and the cold dry climate creates further danger.

Further El Tatio area has exposure to the hot gases and water can result in burn injuries, and both sudden eruptions of geysers and fountains and fragile ground above vents and above boiling water, concealed beneath thin covers of solid ground, increase the risk to unwary travelers. The hot spring waters enter the ground east and south east of El Tatio is controlled by the permeability of the volcanic material. Unlike geothermal fields in wetter parts of the world, given the dry climate of the area local precipitation does have little influence on the hot springs hydrology at El Tatio. The time the water takes to traverse the whole path from precipitation to the springs is about 15 years.

The water travels through a number of aquifers which correspond to permeable rock formations through faults and fractures in the rock. Magmatic brine is mixed into this water and the mixture ultimately becomes the water that emerges at El Tatio. This area dry grassland vegetation are  Tussock grasses like Anatherostipa, Festuca, Stipa while rosette and cushion plants, Azorella, Chaetanthera, Mulinum, Senecio, Lenzia, Pycnophyllum and Valeriana. El Tatio geyser field, one of San Pedro de Atacama’s most popular surrounding attractions, so don’t miss whenever you go Chile. The natural marveling at the geothermal wonders provides breathtaking views for taking pictures.

First Ever Undersea Villa of Maldives

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island will soon offer the dream comes into reality by sleep with the fishes but there's nothing at all sinister about it. The incredible images show that it’s potentially going to be one of the most sought-after hotel rooms in the world. The swanky resort is opening what is believed to be the world’s first-ever undersea villa. The suite, named the Muraka, has cost $15million to build and will give guests unparalleled views of the Indian Ocean.  The Muraka undersea suite is set to open at the end of 2018.

It's a two-deck affair, with the lower deck sitting 16 feet beneath the waves. The villas has a bedroom, living space and bathroom and, of course, swathes of glass so that guests can gaze at the colorful local sea life swimming past, wherever they are in the complex. The residence was designed by architects the Crown Company and is being built by New Zealand-based MJ Murphy Limited, which specializes in aquarium technology. The undersea suite is connected to the top deck by a spiral staircase.

Moreover, on the top, guests will find a twin-size bedroom, bathroom, powder room, gym, butler’s quarters, private security quarters, integrated living room, kitchen, bar and a dining room with a deck that faces the direction of the sunset. On the other side of the villa sits a relaxation deck that faces the direction of sunrise and an infinity swimming pool. Further the upper level also contains an extra king-size bedroom and bathroom, which boasts an ocean-facing bathtub, ideal for soaking in views of the endless horizon.

On the whole, Muraka can accommodate up to nine guests. Ahmed Saleem, the chief designer of the residence, driven by our inspiration to deliver innovative and transformative experiences to our global travelers, the world’s first undersea residence inspires visitors to explore the Maldives from a completely new perspective below the surface of the sea.

The Gorgeous Heavenly Lake, Xinjiang China

Tianchi is an alpine lake in Xinjiang, Northwest China, its means Heavenly Lake and can refer to several lakes in mainland China and Taiwan. This Tianchi lies about 30KM south of Fukang and 45KM east of Ürümqi. It is an alpine drift lake shaped in the Quaternary Glacier period. The lake is classified as a highest level scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. This crescent-shaped water area deserves its name, Pearl of Heavenly Mountain with melted snow as its source, enjoys crystal water. Besides the lake, one of the most visited spots in the Tianchi Scenic Zone is Mount Bogda, whose spectacular natural features include glaciers and canyons, winding brooks and falls, and dense forests and meadows.

In the previous centuries the lake was known with Yaochi. The Tianchi Lake covering area is 4.9 square kilometers.  The surface of the lake itself is at an altitude of about 2,000 meters or about 6,600 feet, and it is about 100 meters at the deepest point. In summer, the lake is an ideal place to see changing silvery mountains soaring into the blue sky. The lakes slopes highlighted with verdant pasture and flamboyant wild flowers, fishing at dusk has its own special charm. A decade ago, the lake area was increased 158 km² to 548 km², to increase the tourism. The lake is accessible by Provincial Highway 111 from Fukang. From Mid-June till September, the lake has high season and there will be sea of local/global people. There will be long queues everywhere, particularly transports to the summit.

The Heavenly Lake is surrounded by various rugged and forested valleys that lead down to the lake from closely surrounding peaks that reach about 2,400 meters. There is a hiking trail that goes around it. Moreover, there’s obvious difference in temperature in day and in night in Xinjiang and temperature in some scenic spots is maybe lower due to the high elevation or weather change. Thus, it is still essential to take along a coat or woolen sweater to keep warm in summer. In 1982 Heavenly Lake and Heavenly Mountain Scenic Area became one of the first national-level scenic spots and in 1990 it was added on the list of Bogda Nature Preserve of Man and the Biosphere by the UNESCO. There are many interesting spots around the lake; there are more than ten ancient temples. Moreover, they are many valuable herb medicines grow on Mt. Heavenly. The mountain is also called treasure bowl, due to more than 20 kinds of animals, 40 different kind of birds and over 100 kind of insects can be find here.

The Changing Beauty of Kotisaari Island in Finland through All Four Seasons

The nature photographer “Jani Ylinampa” based in Rovaniemi, a legendary lumberjack town. He‘s a real master of capturing the breathtaking sunsets, dancing Northern Lights, Amazing forests, Landscapes, lakes and other wonders of nature. The Ounas- and Kemi rivers were used as floating channels for the log industry from the late 1800 century until end of 1980 when the floating channels were replaced by the more modern use of trucks.

Ylinampa is passionate photographer, and he’s been doing it for almost 15 years. He has vast experience of nature, how, when and where to capture. So, one of his magical objects that caught Ylinampa‘s eye was a beautiful Kotisaari island in Rovaniemi, that used to be a traditional stronghold of the Lumberjacks in Kemijoki. In the good old days the Kotisaari Island was a traditional stronghold of the Lumberjacks in Kemijoki, and enters this idyllic island. 

 

Well, it makes sense, because in autumn the grass is just begin to dry out after its growth spurt during summer, whereas in spring it's already dried from having been under snow for a couple of months and just beginning to regain its color. Interestingly, in southern Europe the colors are inverted - the grass is greener in spring as it dries out due to strong sunlight at the height of summer, though winter comes with humidity but little (if any) snow which allows it to regain its color.

Floating in the scenic Kemi River, it became just the right place to fulfil photographer’s wish to capture the varying attractiveness of nature. Ylinampa documented the Kotisaari Island from a drone through all four seasons, which resulted in four really different but spellbinding pictures of this wonderful piece of land. The Lumberjacks’ history still lives on in the buildings of the island. The old boathouse has been revamped and it is now used as a tavern. You can only reach the island by boat along the scenic Kemi River to spend a peaceable summer day on this small island or an atmospheric autumn evening when the lights of the city flicker on the river.

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Winter