Category: places

Ball’s Pyramid – A giant sea stack in the Pacific Ocean

By patrickkavanagh, CC BY 2.0, Link

Ball’s Pyramid is a remnant of a shield volcano and caldera that formed about 6.4 million years ago. It lies 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. Rising 562 metres (1,844 ft) out of the water, makes it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. The pyramid is named after Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who reported discovering it in 1788.
The sea stack is an iconic climbing destinations and home to insects that were once thought to be extinct.
Continue reading Ball’s Pyramid – A giant sea stack in the Pacific Ocean

Advertisements

Bigar Waterfall

image source: PEXELS

Located in the Anina Mountains on the Mini River Bigăr is one of the most unusual waterfalls in the world and one of the most beautiful in Romania. According to The World Geography, there are a number of facts that place her as number one on the list of eight unique waterfalls around the world due to the way the water spreads and falls in tiny shreds of water.
Continue reading Bigar Waterfall

Hawa Mahal – The Palace of the Winds

By Marcin Białek – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Hawa Mahal (in English : “Palace of Winds” or “Palace of the Breeze”) is a palace in Jaipur, India. The red and pink sandstone from which it is built gives Jaipur its nickname, “The Pink City.”
The structure was built in 1799. Its unique five-story exterior is akin to the honeycomb of a beehive with its 953 small windows called jharokhas decorated with intricate latticework. The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen, since they had to obey the strict rules of “purdah”, which forbade them from appearing in public without face coverings. This architectural feature also allowed cool air from the Venturi effect (doctor breeze) to pass through, thus making the whole area more pleasant during the high temperatures in summer. Many people see the Hawa Mahal from the street view and think it is the front of the palace, but in reality it is the back of that structure.

Continue reading Hawa Mahal – The Palace of the Winds

Dong Wind and Rain Bridge in China

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The Wind and Rain Bridge is a unique minority architecture of Dong people, an ethnic group in south-western China. The most famous of these bridges is Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge.  The bridge is a combination of bridge, corridor, veranda and Chinese pavilion.  The piers are made of stone, the upper structures are mainly wooden, and the roof is covered with tiles. The bridge has wooden handrails on both sides. No nails or rivets are used. Instead, talented Dong people dove-tailed many pieces of wood. The bridge is located in Chengyang, and serves as the link between two populous villages.

Continue reading Dong Wind and Rain Bridge in China

Remarkable rocks in Kangaroo Island, Australia

By Bernard Gagnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Remarkable Rocks in Flinders Chase National Park, located at the west end of Kangaroo Island,  Australia,  is island’s signature landmarks. These rocks are the remains of an igneous intrusion that has since been weathered down into an array of bizarre boulders, sculpted by wind and rain over the course of many thousands of years. Continuous wind erosion in a relatively dry climate can result in such bizarre shapes.
Continue reading Remarkable rocks in Kangaroo Island, Australia

Germany’s ‘forgotten’ Halligen islands where houses are built on handmade mounds

The Halligen are small islands only a few feet above sea level. There are ten halligen in the North Frisian Wadden Sea, just off the northwest coast of Germany. Only five of them are inhabited. The rest are part of the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park. The name comes from the Celtic word hal, meaning “salt”, a reference to the low-lying land in the region which is often flooded over with saltwater by the tides. The very existence of the Halligen is a result of frequent floods and poor coastal protection. Dwellings and commercial buildings are built upon meter-high, man-made mounds, called Warften, to guard against storm tides.

Schleswig Holsteinisches Wattenmeer – Zitrone34 [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Continue reading Germany’s ‘forgotten’ Halligen islands where houses are built on handmade mounds