Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 April 2012

Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines


The Banaue Rice Terraces also called Payew, are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.Locals still plant rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the Rice Terraces. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which need constant reconstruction and care. 

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Tuesday, 3 January 2012

El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico.

El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest, is located on the island of Puerto Rico. It is also the name of the second highest mountain peak in the Forest. El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System. The El Yunque Rain Forest is a cool, mountainous, sub tropical rainforest. The Eastern side of the Luquillo Mountains, which has the El Yunque rainforest at the top elevations, gets most of the rain.
The mountain lies completely within the boundaries of the El Yunque National Forest, part of the U.S. Forest Service, which is the only rainforest that belongs to the U.S. Forest Service. standing at 1,080 meters (3543 feet) above sea level. The peak is nearly always covered in thin mist and, due to its high humidity, a quick shower is developed during some afternoons.

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Saturday, 24 December 2011

Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal

 The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma (also known as Myanmar), to the north and east. Most of the islands are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India, while a small number at the north of the archipelago, belong to Myanmar.

The name "Andaman" first appears in the work of Arab geographers of the ninth century (Soleyman in 851),[citation needed], though it is uncertain whether ancient geographers like Ptolemy also knew of the Andamans but referred to them by a different name. They were also described as being inhabited by fierce cannibalistic tribes by the Persian navigator Buzurg ibn Shahriyar of Ramhormuz in his tenth century book Ajaib al-Hind (The wonders of India), in which he also mentioned an island he called Andaman al-Kabir (Great Andaman). During the Chola Dynasty period in South India (800-1200AD), which ruled an empire encompassing southeastern peninsular India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Maldives, and large parts of current day Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia,] the island group was referred to as Timaittivu (or impure islands). Marco Polo briefly mentions the Andamans (calling them by the name "Angamanain"), though it is uncertain whether he visited the islands, or whether he met the natives if he did, as he describes them as having heads like dogs.[5][6] His remark about their features may be the second-hand account of a local resident or fellow traveler, which is a frequent cause for certain exaggerated descriptions in Marco Polo's travels. Another Italian traveler, Niccolò de' Conti (c. 1440), mentioned the islands and said that the name means "Island of Gold". A theory that became prevalent in the late nineteenth century, and has since gained momentum, is that the name of the islands derives from the Sanskrit language, by way of Malay, and refers to the deity, Hanuman. In the Age of Exploration, travelers often noted the "ferocious hostility" of the Andamanese.

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Thursday, 22 December 2011

Grand Canyon, Arizona

 Grand Canyon Located in Arizona, US, the Grand Canyon is the one of the world’s deepest gorges, with cliff edges measuring up to a mile in depth. While it is not the deepest on the planet, the Grand Canyon is recognized mainly for its extreme beauty and the fact that all 227 miles of it is consistently awe-inspiring.

Before 1540 when Europeans immigrated to the Grand Canyon, this site was used as a habitat for Native Americans and later as a pilgrimage site for the Pueblo peoples. When Theodore Roosevelt became President of America he worked hard to preserve the area as he appreciated its great beauty, and also enjoyed hunting there. Today, the Grand Canyon lies within the Grand Canyon National Park, which in itself is considered a natural wonder of the world. This park is used to conserve the area that it comprises, allowing tourists to visit and explore it safely, without damaging any of the natural structures.

The Grand Canyon has also been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which (along with the fact that it is a national park) has helped to protect it from various proposals, such as the damming of the Colorado River that runs within it.

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Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Sundarbans delta

The Sundarbans delta, at the mouth of the Ganges river, is the largest mangrove forest in the world, spreading across parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. The Sundarbans features a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The area is known for its wide range of fauna, with the Royal Bengal tiger being the most famous, but also including many birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and snakes.

The forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers across Saiyan southern Bangladesh. The seasonally-flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The forest covers 10,000 sq.km. of which about 6,000 are in Bangladesh.[2] It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 km², of which about 1,700 km² is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometers.

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