Tag: Nature
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Turkmenistan’s Darvaza gas crater, the ‘door to hell’
The Darvaza gas crater also called the Gates of Hell or Door to Hell, is a natural gas field in Turkmenistan that collapsed into an underground cavern. Soviet engineers set the 230-foot hole on fire while exploring for gas in 1971. They expected the flames to die after a few days, but the opening burned […]
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The Rock: Urup Island, Russia
Here’s the last island you’d ever want to be stranded on. This uninhabited volcanic rock formation is part of a 552 square mile Russian island called Urup, which means ‘salmon trout’ in Ainu language. Urup island sits south of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. One can […]
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Aogashima Island in Japan is a volcanic phenomenon
Aogashima is a volcanic Japanese island located in the Philippine Sea. It’s known as one of the most intriguing places globally for its unique structure and intense greenery. The island formed out of an active volcano’s crater and currently operates as a giant volcano with a mini volcano inside it. The 200 people who live […]
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Mount Bromo Crater, East Java Indonesia
Mount Bromo is an active volcano located in the Tengger mountain range of East Java, Indonesia. It is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in the rugged Indonesian province. The views from atop the mountain are extraordinary, as one can see well into the crater and the beautiful countryside surrounding it. There’s also […]
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Ireland’s impressive Dún Briste Sea Stack
Dun Briste is a 150-foot sea stack off County Mayo, Ireland, at Downpatrick Head. According to the legend, this impressive site broke off the mainland during a massive sea storm in 1393. Ships rescued those living on the cliffs who had fallen into the water. During the 1980s, a team of scientists discovered remnants of […]
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The colorful slots of Antelope Canyon
There’s a colorful slot canyon in Arizona where the interplay of light and geometric sandstone create a remarkable effect. Antelope Canyon consists of an upper and lower section, aptly named Upper Antelope Canyon (The Crack) and Lower Antelope Canyon (The Corkscrew). Both parts exist on Navajo territory in northern Arizona. Wind and rainwater eroded and smoothed out […]
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The ongoing mystery behind Poland’s ‘Crooked Forest’
Located outside Nowe Czarnowo, Poland, is an eerie-looking collection of curved pine trees nicknamed The Crooked Forest or Krzywy Las. No one knows how the original 400 pine trees got their identically bent shape — all 90-degree drops at the base, like elephant trunks. But it’s believed that a special technique was used in the […]
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Devil’s Bridge in Kromlau, Germany
The Devil’s Bridge (Rakotzbrücke) is a 19th-century stone bridge located in the 200-acre Rhododendron Park in Kromlau, Saxony, Germany. Legend says that not only did the devil build the structure, but Satan himself should be the only one to cross it. After all, it looks like a passageway to another world or even more mysteriously, a massive […]
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Climbing Austria’s Intersport Klettersteig aka “Sky Ladder to Heaven”
Austria’s 140-foot long “Sky Ladder,” or “Ladder to Heaven” via Ferrata Intersport Klettersteig 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 the ground and overlook Gosau Lake below. […]
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The edge of the Earth: Australia’s Nullarbor Cliffs
What looks like the end of the Earth is really just the end of Australia. The Bunda Cliffs of Nullarbor Plain, Southern Australia, form part of the longest uninterrupted line of coastal cliffs (62 miles long) in the world. They literally look like someone sawed off the bottom of Australia with a jigsaw. These limestone […]
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The tiny Etruscan pygmy shrew
The Etruscan pygmy shrew is a tiny mammal of the family Soricidae. It is the smallest mammal on Earth by mass, weighing just 1.8 grams on average. The adorable animal can eat twice its body weight though, feeding mostly on insects throughout the day. At night, they use their elongated nose and short whiskers to search […]
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Meet the Traelanipa “slave” cliffs of the Faroe Islands
Located on the island of Vagar in the Faroe Islands, Denmark is the beautiful Traelanipa cliffs. This chasm is the westernmost and widest in the islands. The lake above the ocean — also known as “Flying Lake” — starts from the shores of Sorvagsvatn Lake and juts out to the steep cliffs over the Atlantic […]