Lynchburg is a community in south-central Tennessee. It is governed by a consolidated city-county government unit whose boundaries coincide with those of Moore County, Tennessee. Lynchburg is best known as the location of the Jack Daniel's distillery, whose famous whiskey is marketed world-wide as the product of a city with only one traffic light. Despite the operational distillery, Lynchburg's home county of Moore is a dry county

Tags: Jack Daniels distillery Daniel´s Tennessee whiskey Lynchburg Moore county

Krafla is a caldera of about 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone, in the north of Iceland in the Mývatn region. Its highest peak reaches up to 818 m. Krafla includes one of the two best known Víti craters of Iceland, the second is part of Askja. The Icelandic word "víti" means "hell". In former times, people often believed Hell to be under volcanoes. The crater Víti has a green lake inside of it. The Krafla area also includes Námafjall, a geothermal area with boiling mudpools and steaming fumaroles. During the years 1724-29, there were the so-called Mývatn fires. A lot of fissure vents opened up and the lava fountains could be seen even in the south of the island. A lava flow destroyed 3 farms near the village Reykjahlíð, but nobody was harmed. The last volcanic eruption at Krafla took place in 1984. Since 1977 the geothermal energy has been put to use by means of a 60 MW power station. It has erupted 29 times and it is 2km in depth

Tags: Krafla volcano Mývatn Myvatn lava fields Námafjall fumaroles boiling mudpools

Pushkar (Hindi: पुष्कर) is a town in the state of Rajasthan in India. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. It is situated 14 Km from Ajmer and is one of the five sacred dhams (pilgrimage sites for devout Hindus.) It is often called "Tirth Raj" - the king of pilgrimage sites - and has in recent years become a popular destination for foreign tourists. Pushkar lies on the shore of Pushkar Lake. It has five principal temples, many smaller temples and 52 ghats where pilgrims descend to the lake to bathe in the sacred waters. One of the primary temples is the 14th century temple dedicated to Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. Very few temples to Lord Brahma exist anywhere in the world. Other temples of Brahma include those at Besakih in Bali, Bithoor in Uttar Pradesh, India, village asotra near balotra city of barmer district in rajasthan INDIA and Prambanan in Indonesia. Pushkar is also famous for its annual Pushkar Camel Fair. The natural environment of Pushkar and the sacred lake has become increasingly degraded in the last few decades. The problems stem mainly from overdevelopment of tourist facilities and the deforestation of the surrounding area[1]

Tags: Pushkar lake Puskar पुष्कर Rajasthan हिन्दू Brahman ब्रह्मा Ajmer Hindus pilgrimage

Dharamsala came into existence in 1849, it was selected as a site to accommodate a native regiment that was being raised in the town. Dharamsala originally formed a subsidiary cantonment for the troops stationed at Kangra Valley was fully occupied by its garrison and there was insufficient space for the civil station , a search for an alternate location was made. The ideal location for the cantonment was found at the slopes of the Dhauladhar, upon which stood an old Hindu sanctuary or 'Dharamsala' the name adopted for the town. Dharamsala has been connected with Hinduism and Buddhism for a long time, with many monasteries having been established there in the past, built by Tibetan immigrants in the 8th century, however, these monasteries are believed to have declined, with traditional Hindu building styles experiencing a revival. The local Gaddi people are now almost all Hindu, and for the most part worship many gods and goddesses, principally Durga and Shiva. In 1848, the area was annexed by the British, and a year later, a military garrison was established in the town. Dharamsala eventually became the administrative capital of Kangra District in 1852. It became a popular hill station for the British working in or near Delhi, offering a cool respite during the hot summer months. However, the town was virtually destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1905, which killed an estimated 20,000 people. Not only the town was devastated, but the nearby town Kangra was also ruined. After this, the British moved their summer headquarters to Shimla (also written Simla) which, though not far away, is off the main fault line and, therefore, less likely to experience a serious earthquake. Dharamsala still experiences frequent minor earthquakes. When the Dalai Lama left Tibet, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru offered to permit him and his followers to establish a "government-in-exile" in Dharamsala in 1960. Since then, many Tibetan exiles have settled in the town, numbering several thousand. Most of these exiles live in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, where they established monasteries, temples and schools. The town is sometimes known as "Little Lhasa", after the Tibetan capital city, and has become an important tourist destination with many hotels and restaurants, creating a resurgence in tourism and commerce. Since 2002, Dharamsala has hosted a Miss Tibet beauty contest. there. The winter capital Dharamsala has its secretariat at Sidhbari and the government would run for 2 months from there.

Tags: Mc Leod McLeod Ganj Mcleodganj Dharamsala धर्मशाला Kangra India Tibet Dalai Lama Himalayas हिमालय

Amritsar (Punjabi: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ, Hindi: अमृतसर), meaning: The Ocean of the Nectar of Immortality, is the administrative headquarter of the Amritsar District in Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000 and that of the entire district to number just over 3,695,077. Amritsar is located in the northwest part of India in the State of Punjab, 32 miles (51 km) east of Lahore, Pakistan. Some have taken the name Amritsar to derive Amŗit-saagar meaning "The Ocean of the Nectar of Immortality". It is home to the Harimandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, and is the spiritual and cultural centre of the Sikh religion. This important Sikh shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal in Agra and is the number one destination for non-resident Indians (NRI) in the whole of India. It is also known for the unfortunate incidents of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre while under British Rule (1919) and Operation Bluestar in (1984) under the Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The main commercial activities include tourism, carpets and fabrics, farm produce, handicrafts, service trades and light engineering. The city is popular and known for its food and culture. It is a paradise for food lovers. Amritsar is also home to Pingalwara, the home for destitutes founded by Bhagat Puran Singh and a home to Central Khalsa Orphanage which was once a home to Shaheed Udham Singh a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement. The city is dominated by the history of the Sikhs and many of their sacred shrines are found in and around the city. It was established by Guru Ramdas. The city has highest temporal seat of Sikhs "The Harimandir Sahib" popularly known as Golden Temple. The city has central old city called walled city. It has narrow zig zag streets mostly developed in the 17th and 18th century. The city has a peculiar example of introvert planning system and has uniques areas called Katras. The Katras are self styled residential units that provided unique defence system during attacks on the city.The city lies on the main Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) from Delhi to Amritsar connecting to Lahore in Pakistan. The G. T. Road, built by Sher Shah Suri, runs through the whole of the northern half of the Indian subcontinent, connecting Peshawar, Pakistan to Sonargaon, Bangladesh. The city is also connected to most other major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta by an extensive network of rail system. The city also provides air connectivity to major Indian cities, as well as international cities such as Birmingham, Toronto, Dubai, Singapore, Tashkent, Ashgabat, London etc from the Raja Sansi International Airport. The airport is being developed for increasing demand in future; a new International inbound & outbound terminal is operational and cargo terminal is also under construction. The city is the administrative centre for the Amritsar District. Amritsar developed from a small village pool to a business centre. However, it did not become the industrial centre of Punjab due to its proximity to the volatile Indo-Pak border.

Tags: amritsar ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ अमृतसर) Punjab Harimandir Sahib Golden temple Sikh region

The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in the Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles. In total, the number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000[1] and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world.[2] Many of these features build up sinter, geyserite or travertine deposits around and within them. The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can easily percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then easily erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater.[2] Due to high elevation of the Yellowstone Plateau, the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest geyser).[3] Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. However, because of the high temperatures of the water in the features, it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs. Prehistoric Native American artifacts has been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that they used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits." The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm.The first Caucasian known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone." Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial stacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s, famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up."

Tags: West Thumb Geyser Basin Yellowstone national park Wyoming

Thermopolis is a town in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,172. As might be expected from its name and the name of its county, Thermopolis is home to numerous natural hot springs, in which mineral-laden waters are heated by geothermal processes. It claims the world's largest mineral hot spring as part of Hot Springs State Park. The springs are open to the public for free as part of an 1896 treaty signed with the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian tribes. Nearby East Thermopolis is home to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, a private organization that conducts paleontology digs in the area and maintains a visitor center. The Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center has an eclectic collection of memorabilia from local pioneers circa 1890 through 1910. It plans to focus on Tim McCoy, who lived in Hot Springs County from 1912 to 1942, during which he built the High Eagle Ranch about 45 miles west of town. He worked for many years as an actor in what are now called B westerns, or lower-budget cowboy movies in Hollywood. Hot Springs State Park is a park in Thermopolis, Wyoming famous for its hot springs. It is Wyoming's first state park. The park includes a number of businesses: Wyoming Pioneer Home, a state-run assisted-living facility Gottsche Rehabilitation Center The Plaza Hotel Holiday Inn The Star Plunge, a privately operated water-park The Tepee Pools, another private water-park Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital The park also includes bison (in a managed herd), a suspension foot bridge across the Big Horn River, the State Bath House, picnic shelters, primitive boat ramp, flower gardens, and the petroglyph site at Legend Rock (some 25 miles from the main park).

Tags: Thermopolis hot springs Wyoming

Winfield, initially called Florence and then Lucknow, was founded in 1881. Two prospectors looking for a shortcut to the Gunnison country camped one night at the confluence of the North and South Forks of Clear Creek. During the night their mules strayed from camp. The next morning the men found the mules beside the creek. They looked down and saw gold flecks in the stream bed. Winfield was founded at this spot. However, copper and silver, not gold, were the primary ores removed from the area. The last ore was hauled out by stage in 1918. In its heyday in 1890 the estimated population was 1500 people. The post office existed from 1881 to 1912. Today there are 10-12 private summer cabins. The old schoolhouse and Ball cabin are maintained as museums by the Clear Creek Canyon Historical Society. The old cemetery is located approx. 1/4 mile N. of the town. Twenty-six people are buried there. However, only the grave markers for the two Aude children remain. One of the children, Fred, was the first person buried in the cemetery on June 28, 1885. Submitted by John M. Cys Vicksburg was founded after prospectors from Leadville camped out in Clear Creek Canyon and their burros wandered down to the creek. The next day the prospectors found their animals and also found good float in the creek. Many towns sprang up along the creek including Vicksburg which today has about 10 standing cabins along with a great museum that is open on the weekends.

Tags: Vicksburg Winfield ghost town Colorado Chafee county

Cripple Creek, Colorado. The historic City of Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States.[5] Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located 44 miles (71 km) southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic Landmark status in 1961, includes part or all of city and includes surrounding area. At an elevation of 9,494 feet and just below timberline, for many years Cripple Creek's high valley was considered no more important than a cattle pasture. Many prospectors avoided the area after the misnamed Mount Pisgah hoax, a mini gold rush caused by salting (adding gold to worthless rock).[6]In 1891, however, rich ore was found and the last great Colorado gold rush was on. Thousands of prospectors flocked to the region, and before long W. S. Stratton located the famous Independence lode, one of the largest gold strikes in history. By 1900 Cripple Creek and its sister city, Victor, were substantial communities. During the 1890s, many of the miners in the Cripple Creek area joined a miners' union, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). A significant strike took place in 1894, marking one of the few times in history that a sitting governor called out the national guard to protect miners from forces under the control of the mine owners. By 1903 the allegiance of the state government had shifted, however, and Governor James Peabody sent the Colorado National Guard into Cripple Creek with the goal of destroying union power in the gold camps. The WFM strike of 1903 and the governor's response precipitated the Colorado Labor Wars, a struggle that took many lives. Through 2005, the Cripple Creek district produced about 23.5 million troy ounces (731 tonnes) of gold. The old underground mines are exhausted, but open pit mining has operated since 1994 east of Cripple Creek, near its sister city of Victor, Colorado. With many empty storefronts and picturesque homes, Cripple Creek once drew interest as a ghost town. At one point the population dropped to a few hundred, although Cripple Creek was never entirely deserted. In the 1970s and 1980s travelers on photo safari might find themselves in a beautiful decaying historic town. A few restaurants and bars catered to tourists who could drive by weathered empty homes with lace curtains still hanging in broken windows. Colorado voters allowed Cripple Creek to establish legalized gambling in the early 1990s. Cripple Creek has a population of around 1500 residents and is currently more of a gambling and tourist town than a ghost town. Casinos now occupy many historic buildings. Casino gambling has been successful in bringing revenue and vitality back into the area.

Tags: Cripple Creek Colorado pikes peak Springs

Sanli Urfa. East Turkey. Şanlıurfa (often simply known as Ourfa, Urfa or Urhai in Armenian, formerly Edessa or in Kurdish: Riha) is a city in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain under big open skies, about eighty kilometres east of the Euphrates River. The climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The urban population of Urfa is mainly Turkish while the outlying regions are mixed Kurdish and to a lesser degree Arabian. The history of Şanlıurfa is recorded from the 4th century BC, but may date back to the 8th century BC, when there is ample evidence for the surrounding sites at Duru, Harran and Nevali Cori.[1] It was one of several cities in the Euphrates-Tigris basin, the cradle of the Mesopotamian civilization. According to Turkish Muslim traditions Urfa (its name since Byzantine days) is the biblical city of Ur, due to its proximity to the biblical village of Harran. However, the Iraqis also claim the city of Ur in southern Iraq, as do many historians and archaeologists. Urfa is also known as the birthplace of Abraham, commemorated by a mosque in the city and the birthplace of Job. Urfa was conquered repeatedly throughout history, and has been dominated by many civilizations, including the Ebla, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hurris, Armenians, Mittannis, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Macedonians (under Alexander the Great), Seleucids, Arameans, Osrhoenes, Romans, Sassanids, Byzantines, Crusaders. Modern Şanlıurfa presents stark contrasts between its old and new quarters. The old town is one of the most evocative and romantic in Turkey, with an ancient bazaar still visited by local people to buy fruit and vegetables, where traditionally dressed and scarfed Arab and Kurdish villagers arrive in the early morning to sell their produce. Much of the old town consists of traditional Middle Eastern houses built around courtyards, invisible from the dusty streets, many of which are impassable to motor vehicles. In the narrow streets of the bazaar people scurry to and fro carrying trays of food, which is eaten on newspapers spread on low tables in a corner of the little shops, many people drinking water from the same cup. This very oriental atmosphere is bewitching but below the surface parts of the old city are very poor indeed, with people still living in cave houses (built into the side of the rock).

Tags: Sanli Urfa Şanlıurfa Sanliurfa Sanli-Urfa Ourfa Urhai Riha Euphrates نهر الفرات Nahr ul-Furāt Fırat ܦܪܬ פרת Turkey.

Pamukkale hot springs, Turkey. Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site and attraction in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province. Pamukkale is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which enjoys a temperate climate over the greater part of the year. The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2700 meters long and 160m high. It can be seen from a great distance, eg. when driving down the hills on the opposite side of the valley to the town of Denizli, which is 20 km away. The tectonic movements that took place in the fault depression of the Menderes river basin did not only cause frequent earthquakes, but also gave rise to the emergence of a number of very hot springs. It is the water from one of these springs, with its large mineral content — chalk in particular — that created Pamukkale. Apart from some radioactive material, the water contains large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, which leads to the precipitation of calcium bi-carbonate. Every second 250 l hot water rises from this spring, precipitating for every liter of water 2.20 g chalk or for every second 0.55 kg of chalk. In the course of time some sources dried up because of earthquakes, while new ones arose in the neighbourhood. The effect of this natural phenomenon leaves thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall. One form of these formations consists of crescent-shaped travertine terraces with a shallow layer of water, lying in a step-like arrangement down the upper one-third of the slope, with the steps ranging from 1m to 6 m in height. The other form consists of stalactites, propping up and connecting these terraces. The oldest of these rocks are crystalline marbles, quartzites and schists. The oldest date back to the Pliocene period, while the top layer is Quaternary in age. Fresh deposits of calcium carbonate give the site a dazzling white look. These sources were well-known in the Antiquity. They were described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. The Phrygian Greeks built Hierapolis on top of the hill. They ascribed medical properties to the spring water, bestowed by the gods, especially Asklepios (demigod of medicine) and his daughter Hygieia (goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation), under the protection of Apollo (god of medicine and healing). Pamukkale is a famous tourist attraction of Turkey. Tourists travel from the coast of Antalya and the Aegean Sea to Pamukkale, it is also recognized as a World Heritage Sites together with Hierapolis. Only a few other places in the world resemble it, including the Mammoth Hot Springs in the USA and Huanglong in Sichuan Province of China (another UNESCO World Heritage Site). Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988. The ruins of Greek temples and baths can be seen here.[1] Before the World Heritage designation, Pamukkale went unprotected for decades in the late 20th century and hotels were built on top of the site, destroying parts of the remains of Hierapolis. Hot water from the springs was taken to fill the hotel pools and the waste water was spilled over the monument itself, turning it brownish. A tarmac road ramp was built into the main part. People walked around with shoes, washed themselves with soap and shampoo in the pools and rode bikes and motorbikes up and down the slopes. By the time UNESCO turned its attention to Pamukkale, the site was losing its attraction. Officials made attempts to restore the site. The hotels were demolished, and the road ramp was covered with artificial pools which today are accessible to bare-footed tourists, unlike most other parts of the site. Tadpoles can be found in the pools. A small trench was carved along the outside of the ramp to collect the water and prevent it from spilling. The brownish parts have been left to be bleached by the sun without being covered by water to lessen the problem. Many pools are thus empty. Others parts are covered with water for an hour or two according to a schedule which is on display on top of the hill. The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also caused carbon dioxide to seep into a cave which as a result was called the Plutonium meaning place of the god, Pluto

Tags: Pamukkale Pamukale hot springs Denizli Hierapolis Turkey

Battle of Gallipoli Main article: Battle of Gallipoli The Allied landing and subsequent campaign on the peninsula during World War I is usually known in Britain as the Dardanelles Campaign and in Turkey as the Battle of Çanakkale. In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland, the term Gallipoli alone is used to describe the 8 month campaign. In early 1915 Russia was fighting a multi front war against Germany, Austria/Hungary, and Turkey. While it had a sizable army it struggled to deliver sufficient supplies to the troops. The landings at Gallipoli were an Allied attempt to clear a supply path through the Dardanelles to Russia. This would also assist them by putting pressure on Turkey by threatening Constantinople (now Istanbul). On April 25, 1915, after failed attempts to force a passage through the Dardanelles by naval forces alone, a force of British Empire and French troops landed at multiple places along the peninsula. The battles over the next 8 months saw high casualties on both sides due to the exposed terrain, weather and closeness of the front lines. The invasion forces were successfully blocked by the Turkish troops and the subsequent Allied withdrawal meant the Russians would not be receiving supplies through the Dardanelles. The battle is often referred to for its successful stealthy retreat which was completed with minimal casualties, the ANZAC forces completely retreating by December 19, 1915 and the remaining British elements by January 9, 1916. Overall, there were around 140,000 Allied casualties including around 45,000 deaths and 250,000 Turkish casualties including around 85,000 deaths. This campaign has become a "founding myth" for both Australia and New Zealand, and Anzac Day is still commemorated as a holiday in both countries. In fact, it is one of those rare battles that both sides seem to remember proudly. The Turks consider it a great turning point for their (future) nation and Australians and New Zealanders see it as the beginnings of the ANZAC spirit. Many mementos of the Gallipoli campaign can be seen in the museum at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia, and at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Auckland, New Zealand. This campaign also put a dent in the armour of Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, who had commissioned the plans to invade the Dardanelles. He talks about this campaign vividly in his memoirs. On April 25, 2005, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, government officials from Australia and New Zealand, most of the last surviving Gallipoli veterans, and many Australian and New Zealand tourists travelled to Turkey for a special dawn service at Gallipoli. ANZAC Day is the most important national day of commemoration for Australians. The then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark were also in attendance, and Clark was accompanied by the official NZ defence force party, veterans of several past wars and 10 New Zealand college students who won the New Zealand 'Prime Minister's Essay Competition' with their work on Gallipoli. Attendance at the ANZAC Day dawn service at Gallipoli has become popular since the 75th anniversary. Upwards of 10,000 people have attended services in Gallipoli. Until 1999 the Gallipoli dawn service was held at the Ari Burnu war cemetery at Anzac Cove, but the growing numbers of people attending resulted in the construction of a more spacious site on North Beach, known as the "Anzac Commemorative Site". In the run up to the 2007 Anzac Day service, the Turkish authorities said that they would be expecting about 15,000 Australian and New Zealand Citizens for the ceremonies which would take place in the Gallipoli Peninsula Historical National Park. Extensive preparatory works had been undertaken prior to then.

Tags: Gallipoli Galipoli Gelibolu Yarımadası Dardanelles battlefield Çanakkale Boğazı Δαρδανέλλια Dardanellia Turkey

Pilanesberg game reserve. Southern Africa. The Pilanesberg National Park is located in North West Province in South Africa, west of Pretoria. The park borders with the entertainment complex Sun City. The park was originally owned by three local tribes, and now by the north west parks board. This leads to confusion regularly as it is expected that the park is managed by the South African governments National Park Service as almost all other national parks in South Africa are. The area is fringed by three concentric ridges or rings of hills, of which the formation rises from the surrounding plains, this is the parks primary geological feature named the Pilanesberg National Park Alkaline Ring Complex. This vast circular geological feature is ancient even by geological standards as it is the crater of a long extinct volcano and the result of eruptions some 1,200 million years ago. It is one of the largest volcanic complexes of its type in the world, the rare rock types and formations make it a unique geological feature. A number of rare minerals occur in the park. Pilanesberg National Park rates high amongst the world's outstanding geological phenomena. The scenic terrain lies in the transition zone between Kalahari and Lowveld, and both types of vegetation are found here. As a result of the park being on a trasition zone there are overlaps in mammals, birds and vegetation. Today, Pilanesberg National Park accommodates almost every mammal of southern Africa. The park has a rich array of southern African wildlife including the Big Five, the five most dangerous game animals in Africa. In the Pilanesberg National Park today live most of the animal species of southern Africa these include lions, elephants, white and black rhinos, buffaloes, leopards, zebras, hyenas, giraffes, hippos and crocodiles. Over 360 bird species were counted. The Pilanesberg is not in a location which the Big Five animals would naturally inhabit, however they have been brought into the 550 square kilometres of African bushland.As of December 2006 the total count of animals was approximately 6,000 including: 35 Lions 12 Cheetah 167 Elephant 90 Black Rhinoceros 300 White Rhino 8 Sable Antelope 150 Buffalo

Tags: Pilanesberg national park Pretoria Southern Africa Sun City.

Ndbele village near the Pretoria, Southern Africa.

Tags: tribes Ndbele village art people African tribe Pretoria Southern Africa

Kamchatka, Bystraya river. Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian: полуо́стров Камча́тка) including the Volcanoes of Kamchatka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a 1,250-kilometer long peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of 472,300 km². It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west.[1] Immediately offshore along the Pacific coast of the peninsula runs the 10,500 meter deep Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. The Kamchatka Peninsula, the Commander Islands, and Karaginsky Island constitute the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation. The majority of the 402,500 inhabitants are Russians, but there are also about 13,000 Koryaks. More than half of the population lives in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (198,028 people) and Yelizovo (41,533. The Kamchatka River and the surrounding central valley are flanked by large volcanic belts containing around 160 volcanoes, 29 of them still active. The peninsula has a high density of volcanoes and associated volcanic phenomena, with 19 active volcanoes being included in the six UNESCO World Heritage List sites in the Volcanoes of Kamchatka group, most of them on the Kamchatka Peninsula.[2] The highest volcano is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4,750 m or 15,584 ft), while the most striking is Kronotsky, whose perfect cone was said by celebrated volcanologists Robert and Barbara Decker to be a prime candidate for the world's most beautiful volcano.

Tags: Kamchatka Bystraya river Камча́тка Kamčatka Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky Е́лизово

Boundary fortification on the Limpopo river. Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. The capital is Polokwane, former called Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of the Transvaal province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal. The following year, it was renamed Northern Province, which remained the name until 11 June 2003, when the name of the province was formally changed to the name of its most important river, on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana, after deliberation by the provincial government. Another notable consideration for the name was Mapungubwe, the area where the most ancient gold-using civilisation of the province was discovered a few years earlier. 97.3% of the population is Black, 2.4% is White, 0.2% is Coloured, and 0.1% is Indian/Asian. The most common spoken languages are Tsonga, Northern Sotho (Sepedi), Venda and Afrikaans

Tags: Limpopo Polokwane Zimbabwe Southern Africa Northern Province Transvaal

The Hill of Crosses (Lithuanian: Kryžių kalnas is a site of pilgrimage about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania. The exact origins are unknown, but it is considered that the first crosses were placed on the former Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort after the 1831 Uprising. Over the centuries, not only crosses, but giant crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. The number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 50,000. Over the centuries, the place has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the threats it faced throughout history. After the 3rd partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. Poles and Lithuanians unsuccessfully rebelled against Russian authorities in 1831 and 1863. These two uprisings are connected with the beginnings of the hill: as families could not locate bodies of perished rebels, they started putting up symbolic crosses in place of a former hill fort. When the old political structure of Eastern Europe fell apart in 1918, Lithuania once again declared its independence. Throughout this time, the Hill of Crosses was used as a place for Lithuanians to pray for peace, for their country, and for the loved ones they had lost during the Wars of Independence. Most recently, the site took on a special significance during the years 1944-1990, when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. Continuing to travel to the Hill and leave their tributes, Lithuanians used it to demonstrate their allegiance to their original identity, religion and heritage; it was a venue of peaceful resistance. Although the Soviets worked hard to remove new crosses, and bulldozed the site at least three times (including attempts in 1963 and 1973). There were even rumors that the authorities planned to build a dam on the nearby Kulvė River, a tributary to Mūša, so that the hill would end up under water. On September 7, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses, declaring it a place for hope, peace, love and sacrifice. In 2000 Franciscan Hermitage was opened nearby. The interior decoration draws links with La Verna, the mountain where St. Francis received his stigmata.The hill remains under nobody's jurisdiction; therefore people are free to build crosses as they see fit.

Tags: Hill of crosses Lithuanian Kryžių kalnas Berg der Kreuze Colline des Siauliu Siaulai Siauliai góra krzyzowa Litwa Litva

Mani peninsula, Peloponnese, Greece. The Mani Peninsula (Μάνη in Greek), also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf. The peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese. The terrain is mountainous and inaccessible. The name "Mani" is thought to have originally meant "dry" or "treeless." Until recent years many Mani villages could be reached only by sea. Today a narrow and winding road extends down the west coast from Kalamata to Areopoli, then south to Akrotainaro (the pointy cape which is the most southward soil of continental Greece) before it turns north until Gytheio.Neolithic remains have been found in many caves along the Mani coasts. Homer refers to a number of towns in the Mani region, and some artifacts from the Mycenaean period have been found. The area was occupied by the Dorians in about 1200 BC, and became a dependency of Sparta. When Spartan power was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, Mani was self-governing for a time before being absorbed into the Roman Empire in the 2nd century BC. As the power of the Byzantine Empire declined in the 9th century AD, the peninsula drifted out of the Empire's control. The fortress of Maini in the south became the area's centre. Over the subsequent centuries the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Italian and French knights (known to the Greeks as Franks), occupied parts of the Peloponnese. In 1249, Mani was occupied by the Venetians, who made it one of the twelve baronies of the Principality of Morea and built the fortresses of Mystras, Passavas, Gustema (Beaufort) and Megali Maini. In 1460, after the fall of Constantinople, Mystras fell to the Ottomans, but Mani was not subdued and retained its internal self-government in exchange for an annual tribute. Local chieftains or beys governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans. As Ottoman power declined, the mountains of the Mani became a stronghold of the klephts, bandits who also fought against the Ottomans. There is evidence of a sizeable Maniot emigration to Corsica sometime during the Ottoman years Gytheio, Areopoli, Kardamyli and Stoupa are filled with tourists during the summer months but the region quiets down during the winter months. Many inhabitants are still working as olive farmers, and thus many of the winter months are devoted to the olive harvest. Some of the villages in the mountains are less touristic and often have very few inhabitants. Mani is considered to be one of the most traditionalist and conservative regions of Greece, and is a stronghold of the right-wing New Democracy party. There were fires in Mani in the summer of 2007.

Tags: Mani peninsula Μάνη Maina Maïna Peloponnese Greece Gytheio Areopoli Kardamyli Stoupa Peloponesus Πελοπόνησος

New Orleans - steamboat trip. The era of the steamboat began in America in 1787 when John Fitch (1743-1798) made the first successful trial of a forty-five-foot steamboat on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of members of the Constitutional Convention. Fitch later built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey. John Fitch was granted his first United States patent for a steamboat on August 26, 1791. However, he was granted his patent only after a battle with James Rumsey over claims to the same invention. Both men had similar designs. (It should be noted that on February 1, 1788 the very first United States patent for a steamboat patent was issued to Briggs & Longstreet.) John Fitch constructed four different steamboats between 1785 and 1796 that successfully plied rivers and lakes and demonstrated, in part, the feasibility of using steam for water locomotion. His models utilized various combinations of propulsive force, including ranked paddles (patterned after Indian war canoes), paddle wheels, and screw propellers. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch failed to pay sufficient attention to construction and operating costs and was unable to justify the economic benefits of steam navigation. Robert Fulton (1765-1815) built his first boat after Fitch's death, and it was Fulton who became known as the "father of steam navigation." Then came American inventor, Robert Fulton, who successfully built and operated a submarine (in France) in 1801, before turning his talents to the steamboat. Robert Fulton was accredited with turning the steamboat into a commercial success. On August 7, 1807, Robert Fulton's Clermont went from New York City to Albany making history with a 150-mile trip taking 32 hours at an average speed of about 5 miles-per-hour. In 1811, the "New Orleans" was built at Pittsburgh, designed by Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston. The New Orleans had a passenger and freight route on the lower Mississippi River. By 1814, Robert Fulton together with Edward Livingston (the brother of Robert Livingston), were offering regular steamboat and freight service between New Orleans, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi. Their boats traveled at the rates of eight miles per hour downstream and three miles per hour upstream. In 1816, Henry Miller Shreve launched his steamboat Washington, which completed the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky in twenty-five days. Vessel design continued to improve, so that by 1853, the trip to Louisville took only four and one-half days. Between 1814 and 1834, New Orleans steamboat arrivals increased from 20 to 1200 a year. The boats transported cargoes of cotton, sugar, and passengers. Throughout the east, steamboats contributed greatly to the economy by transporting agricultural and industrial supplies.

Tags: New Orleans La Nouvelle-Orléans Louisiana Mississippi Natchez steamboat calliope

Crete - Lasithi plateau with hundreds wind mills.

Tags: Crete Κρήτη Krētē Kríti Lasithi Lasiti Λασίθι Agios Nikolaos Aghios Άγιος Νικόλαος Greece