Category: Travel

Colombia is home to the tallest palm tree in the world, the palma de cera

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date July 6, 2020

The tallest palm tree in the world resides in the Colombian Andes in Los Nevados National Park, amid the Cocora Valley.

Colombia’s national tree, the palma de cera or wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense), stands up to nearly 200 feet tall.

Discover this mystical landscape through the tallest Wax Palms in the world. 📍 The Cocora Valley. #VisitColombia 📹 By @jacob pic.twitter.com/sOdsMuWJoW
— Colombia Travel (@colombia_travel) December 3, 2018

But seeing it is no easy trek — hikers have to walk through a cloud forest that extends six-miles long.

Hosting some of the planet’s most diverse wildlife and surreal landscapes, it’s no wonder that the Cocora Valley reminds people of a scene out of Jurassic Park.

Reaching up into the sky and nearly touching the clouds, the wax palms create a marvelous paradise.

Tags colombia, Nature, Travel, trees

Animals Travel

Say hello to the swimming pigs of the Bahamas

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date July 5, 2020

The uninhabited island of Big Major Cay in the Bahamas is populated entirely by swimming pigs.

Known as the Swimming Pigs of Exuma, Bahamas, the feral pigs there swim freely in the clear-water ocean and play amongst themselves on the beach.

Pig Beach, Bahamas 🐷🌊⛱️💕 pic.twitter.com/p6a2kv5KNn
— Violet (@Roxykkk) January 9, 2020

How the wild pigs got to the Bahamas

How the pigs got on the island is still a mystery. Some believe that they were dropped off by hungry sailors who never returned — others think the pigs survived nearby ship wrecks.

You may have already swum with dolphins but what about the ever-elusive pig on this beautiful beach?

Prepare to check off this excursion from your bucket list.

Tags animals, Bahamas, Pigs, Travel

Animals Health Travel

Giant teddy bears enforce social distancing in Paris cafe

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date June 30, 2020

While the world remains alert and anxious over the spread of COVID-19, a bookshop owner in Paris has been trying to lighten the mood.

Philippe, owner of the local bookstore, has been buying up giant bears and distributing them to his local neighborhood of Les Gobelins, Paris.

The teddy bears first appeared in cafes, restaurants, and bars but — according to the bears official Facebook page — been seen in front of the Eiffel Tower, riding the metro, and more.

The bears help make social distancing a little more bearable (see what we did there) in Paris.

*Photo: Les nounours des gobelins/Facebook*

Tags animals, bears, COVID-19, Paris

Animals Travel

A rare look at a white owl swimming through a canyon

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date June 27, 2020

Behold this rare video of a white owl or snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), swimming through a canyon in Lake Powell.

While snowy owls are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia, they can be seen in Utah and Arizona, where Lake Powell resides.

A mythical animal, the white owl looks even more elegant in this rare scene of it treading water.

Video courtesy Derrick Zuk

Tags animals, owl, Travel

Nature Travel

Abandoned ‘Into the Wild’ Bus Hoisted From Alaskan Wilderness

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date June 21, 2020

The Alaska National Guard airlifted the abandoned bus from 2007 classic Into the Wild due to public safety concerns.

Located on the Stampede Trail near Alaska’s Denali National Park in Healy, Alaska, the Fairbanks Bus 142 attracted hikers from around the world trying to reach it.

Some hikers even drowned in the attempt. The state issued 15 search and rescue operations between 2009 and 2017.

The film was an adaptation of the 1996 non-fiction book Into the Wild which tells the story of American hiker Christopher McCandless. He traveled across North American before winding up in the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1990s.

McCandless lived in the bus until starving to death in 1992 after spending 114 days there.

Tags alaska, books, film, Nature, Travel

Nature Travel

The beauty of Slovenia’s Bled Island

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date June 17, 2020

Bred Island is a small tear-shaped island floating in the middle of Lake Bled in northwestern Slovenia.

On the island sits Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary, a Baroque church established in 1534.

The mountains and forests surrounding the lake add to the picturesque view of the church. During the winter, the frost over the island looks like a scene from a Disney movie.

Bred island is the only natural island in Slovenia and is also the country’s most popular destination. Straight out of a fairy-tale, we can all see why.

Tags Nature, Slovenia, Travel

Nature Travel

Jimmy Chin joins Masterclass to teach adventure photography

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date May 31, 2020

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see the disclosure for more info.

Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Jimmy Chin is renowned for his work with National Geographic and other outdoor adventures.

His two most recent films Meru and Free Solo are some of Discvr.blog’s most favorite adventure documentary films.

Even more, the producer has now turned a teacher.

Together with the education platform Masterclass, the action photographer is now offering a once-in-a-lifetime adventure photography course.

So get ready to pack the bag and camera and hit the outdoors.

Push the limits of photography with Jimmy Chin on Masterclass

If you follow the world-renowned photographer Jimmy Chin on Instagram, you’ll know he’s a daredevil climber and mountaineer with a keen eye for landscape shots.

In this course, he’ll teach you all the techniques you need to know for capturing stunning photos.

He also details his approach for more commercial and editorial shoots as well, including the daily gear he uses to work his magic.

TAKE THE CLASS

“Things aren’t that interesting to me unless the stakes are very high,” says Chin in the intro class video.

In addition to urging his students to get out there, move, and shoot, Chin shares many of his own creative lessons along the way.

“Sometimes, it’s easy to get trapped into one lens…and I force myself to change the lens, change the perspective, and then to move,” advises Chin. “One scenario can look dramatically different just by moving,” he adds.

If one thing is certain in this course, you’ll learn the entire process of adventure photography from the initial concept of a shoot, to gear selection, to the final edit.

About MasterClass

Jimmy Chin joins other notable creators at MasterClass offering unique online courses. photography, writing, music production, filmmaking, and even cooking.

We would also encourage Discvr.blog readers buy the all-access pass ($180) and take astrophysicist Neil deDrasse Tyson’s five-star course on Scientific Thinking and Communication.

Invest in your future and see where your curiosity takes you.

Tags Jimmy Chin, Masterclass, Nature

Nature Travel

Would you climb Austria’s “Sky Ladder to Heaven”?

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date May 20, 2020

Austria’s 140-foot long “Sky Ladder,” or “Ladder to Heaven” connects a massive gorge on the way to the peak of Donnerkogel on the Gosaukamm mountain range.

Captured by adventure photographer Alexander Ladanivskyy, these insane panorama-ladder stairs (made out of steel cables) lie 2,297 feet above ground and overlook Gosau Lake below.

“[The Sky Ladder] is a challenge for the mind, but from a climbing point of view, it is actually one of the easier parts of the climb,” said the bridge’s designer Heli Putz.

If you’re looking to make the trek yourself, blogger Jess Dales offers a first-hand experience of climbing the Sky Ladder. Word of caution: you’ll need some climbing experience.

The Sky Ladder portion of the route is located approximately 2/3 of the way up the via ferrata. Although the ladder is only rated a “B,” and is not considered difficult relative to other sections of the climb, the exposure is intense and should not be underestimated. In heavy winds, or when others are on the ladder, the movement can be quite unnerving.
Jess Dales

Tags Donnerkogel, ladder, Nature, Photogarphy, Travel

Nature Travel

The reflective salt flats of Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date May 14, 2020

The high-altitude salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in southwest Bolivia create the world’s biggest natural mirror.

Considered one of the flattest surfaces on Earth (4,086 sq mi), the salt flats can be seen from outer space.

The salt itself is up to 32 feet thick at the center, hovering below a thin layer of water which emits the reflective mirror effect.

Visitors to the location are known to take pictures that play with the perspective of the viewer’s depth.

Check out some of the photoshop-looking optical illusions video after the jump.

Tags Bolivia, Nature, Travel

Architecture & Design Health Nature Travel

Beautiful apples from around the world

Post author By Wells Baum
Post date May 7, 2020

William Mullan is a photographer who specializes in taking pictures of rare apples from around the world.

The golden Knobbed Russet, the star-shaped api etoile, hard red Black Oxford apple — these are just a few of the varieties that appear in Mullan’s 200-page photo-book, Odd Apples.

Writes Atlas Obscura on how Mullan’s fascination with apples came to be:

Mullan was born in the United States, but grew up in the United Kingdom, where a teenage encounter with an Egremont Russet led to his love of apples. Its spicy, persimmon-like flavor “just blew my mind,” he says. But many of the apples he’s photographed were born in North America, including such romantic cultivars as the Black Oxford and Hidden Rose.
“There’s just this sense of infinity with [apples] that I love,” Mullan says. While he imagines he’ll move on to other subjects in the future, for now, he’s still entranced by apples.

Even better, during his exhibits, he slices the apples open and passes the edibles around for his audience to enjoy.

You can follow Mullan’s work on Instagram.

Tags apple, art, Nature, Photography