Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above mean sea level.
The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and the exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.
The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is also a climatological transitional zone since the towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the salt flat during the summer cannot permeate beyond its drier western edges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert

 Formation, geology and climate

Salar de Uyuni is part of the Altiplano of Bolivia in South America. The Altiplano is a high plateau, which was formed during uplift of the Andes mountains. The plateau includes fresh and saltwater lakes as well as salt flats and is surrounded by mountains with no drainage outlets.

The geological history of the Salar is associated with a sequential transformation between several vast lakes. Some 30,000 to 42,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin. Its age was estimated from radiocarbon dating of shells from outcropping sediments and carbonate reefs and varies between reported studies. Lake Minchin later transformed into paleolake Tauca having a maximal depth of 140 meters (460 ft), and an estimated age of 13,000 to 18,000 or 14,900 to 26,100 years, depending on the source. The youngest prehistoric lake was Coipasa, which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), which is roughly 100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. Lake Poopó is a neighbor of the much larger Lake Titicaca. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, which, in turn, floods Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni.
Lacustrine mud that is interbedded with salt and saturated with brine underlies the surface of Salar de Uyuni. The brine is a saturated solution of sodium chloride, lithium chloride and magnesium chloride in water. It is covered with a solid salt crust varying in thickness between tens of centimeters and a few meters. The center of the Salar contains a few "islands", the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. They include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae.
The area has a relatively stable average temperature with a peak at 21 °C (70 °F) in November to January and a low of 13 °C (55 °F) in June. The nights are cold all through the year, with temperatures between −9 and 5 °C (16 and 41 °F). The relative humidity is rather low and constant throughout the year at 30 to 45%. The rainfall is also low at 1 to 3 millimeters (0.039 to 0.118 in) per month between April and November, but it may increase up to 70 millimeters (2.8 in) in January. However, except for January, even in the rainy season the number of rainy days is fewer than 5 per month.

Flora and fauna

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  A part of the Incahuasi island inside the Salar featuring giant cacti
  
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  James' flamingo
  
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  Culpeo
  
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  Bolivian vizcacha
  
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  Andean goose
  
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  Andean Hillstar
  
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  Andean flamingos in the Laguna Colorada, south of the Salar
  

The Salar is virtually devoid of any wildlife or vegetation. The latter is dominated by giant cacti (Echinopsis atacamensis pasacana, Echinopsis tarijensis, etc.). They grow at a rate of about 1 centimeter (0.39 in) per year to a height of about 12 meters (39 ft). Other shrubs include Pilaya, which is used by locals to cure catarrh, and Thola (Baccharis dracunculifolia), which is burned as a fuel. Also present are quinoa plants and quenua bushes.
Every November, Salar de Uyuni is the breeding ground for three species of pink South American flamingo: the Chilean, Andean and rare James's Flamingos, their color presumably originating from feeding on pink algae. There are about 80 other bird species present, including the Horned Coot, Andean Goose and Andean Hillstar. Andean fox (culpeo) is a representative animal, and the "islands" of Salar (in particular Incahuasi island) host colonies of rabbit-like viscachas.

alar de Uyuni Background

Salar de Uyuni comprises over 12,000 sq km in the Potosi region. The salt is over 10 meters thick in the center. In the dry season, the salt planes are a completely flat expanse of dry salt, but in the wet season, it is covered with a thin sheet of water that is still drivable.
The standard tour heads south toward the southwest corner of Bolivia, by many fluorescent-colored lakes that are created from a collection of different minerals from runoff from the surrounding mountains.

 

Tour Background

This article outlines the "standard" tour. The tour is conducted in 4x4 vehicles (usually Toyota Landcruisers) with 6 or 7 people, with the driver often doing the cooking. Most 3- and 4- day tours have the same itinerary for the first 2 1/2 days: a day on the salt plains, then heading south to the southwest corner of Bolivia, and then splitting off from there. The specific sites that are seen can depend on the tour, but group input can define which sites are visited and how much time will be spent at each.
Accommodation is usually provided in basic refuges and the weather can be very cold, but it is well worth it for the amazing scenery. Avoid tours that offer a night in one of the salt hotels - they are illegal as, not being part of the water grid, they pollute the environment.

Prepare

What to Bring

• Flashlight (torch) - the lights go out when the generator runs dry.
• Coins and small bills - The bathrooms aren't free.
• Sunglasses - the salt flats are blinding.
• Camera, extra battery and loads of memory cards - There are no better pictures than here.
• Extra water - The tour usually provides an inadequate supply. An extra 2-liter bottle per day.
• Sunblock and hat - there is no atmosphere to block this sun's rays up here.
• Sleeping bag - You can rent one with the tour. Down is best, and check to see that the zipper works.
• Warm clothes - Layered is best.
• Hot water bottle - The nights are freezing and you will be so happy to have it.
• Flip-flops - The restroom facilities are shared.
• Extra snacks, especially fruit and protein - The food is adequate in quantity but tends to be heavy on starches.

Get In

The main starting point of tours to the Salar de Uyuni is Uyuni. The best time to obtain stunning photographs is during the wet season in Bolivia, when the salt flat is transformed into the world's largest mirror.

Getting There

• Uyuni - See Uyuni for more specifics. The options include rail from Avaroa on the Chilean border (unreliable departure times), rail from Oruro, Bolivia, bus (including a tourist bus) from Oruro, Potosi, or La Paz, Bolivia, and flying from La Paz.
• Tupiza - see Tupiza for more specifics.
• San Pedro de Atacama. The itineraries from here are virtually identical to those from Uyuni, only reversed, and about 60% more expensive.

Finding an Agency

When choosing a tour operator it is important to check with other travelers to understand the type of experience they have had and the vehicles, drivers, and food they had on their trip. Trips will arrive in all of the departure cities coming in the opposite direction and this is a good opportunity to ask other travelers their impressions. Common complaints include vehicles in extremely poor repair, a lack of emergency supplies, intoxicated drivers and limited food and water.

• Uyuni - There are dozens of tour agents offering this trip. Most are situated around the main square, where every other shop is a tourist agency. It is also advisable to find a group of people who are going on the tour who share your interests, and/or language and work with their agency. Minuteman Pizza in the evenings, or the main square is a great place to meet such people. See Uyuni for a complete list.

• Tupiza - You can also set off from Tupiza and end in Uyuni or vice versa.

Stay safe

Watch for drunk drivers. Every year there are some accidents on the Salt Desert, with drivers from the various companies drinking more than is healthy. Do not risk your life by traveling with a drunk driver.
Some advise to bring emergency supplies (including up to several extra days of food and water) in case the truck breaks down in a remote place, but unless you are on a custom tour there will likely be another truck along in a few minutes.
Altitude sickness is a real possibility here. If you are arriving directly from the coast, you may need up to a couple days to acclimatize. Dizziness, shortness of breath and headaches are common symptoms, but extended bouts of nausea and vomiting are not unheard of among those who have rushed their ascent. The locals swear by chewing coca leaves to help, and although they do relieve the symptoms, they taste terrible and may cause you to fail a drug test. Anyone not already fully acclimatized is advised to pick up some Acetazolamide from the pharmacy in Uyuni before departure.
You can also drink Coca Leaf Tea. Everyone from the Pope to Queen Sofia of Spain drinks it when visiting Bolivia. If you add a little sugar, it is even tasty!
In order to avoid Altitude sickness, a gradual adaptation to the altitude is advisable, visiting initially Bolivian flat located at 500 masl Santa Cruz de la Sierra, then moving to the valley Cochabamba, located at 2,500 m., and only then making the trip to Salar de Uyuni.

Hiller lake(pink lake), Western Australia

Lake Hillier, is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia.
The most notable feature of the lake is its pink colour. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it. The colour is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. The length of the lake is about 600 metres (2,000 ft). The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees with a narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separating it to the north from the Southern Ocean.
The lake is thought to have been first visited by the Flinders expedition in January 1802. Flinders observed the pink lake after ascending the island's peak. John Thistle, the ship's master, collected some of the lake's water, which he found to be saturated with salt. Although the source of the pink colour has not been definitively proven in the case of Lake Hillier, the pink colour of other salt lakes (e.g., Pink Lake) in the region arises from a dye created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another hypothesis is that the pink colour is due to red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.

Despite the unusual hue, the lake exhibits no known adverse effects upon humans. From above, the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink, but from the shoreline it appears more of a clear pink hue. The shoreline is also covered in salt crust deposits.


Western Australia is home to a number of extraordinary ‘pink lakes’.
Lake Hillier is a pink-coloured lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands that make up the Recherche Archipelago off the coast of Esperance.
From above the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink. The lake is about 600 meters long, and is surrounded by a rim of sand and dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees. A narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separates it from the blue Southern Ocean.
No-one fully knows why the lake is pink. Scientists speculate that the colour comes from a dye created by bacteria that lives in the salt crusts.
Middle Island's pink lake dates back to the journals of explorer Matthew Flinders in 1802. Flinders had climbed Middle Island's highest peak (now known as Flinders Peak) to survey the surrounding waters when he came across the remarkable lake. Middle Island and its pink lake are located in a pristine wilderness. The only way to view this lake is from the air. You can also explore the islands and abundant wildlife of the Recherche Archipelago on a cruise from Esperance.
Pink Lake near Esperance is another pink lake set against a backdrop of some of Australia’s most stunning coastal scenery, seven kilometres from the town of Esperance.
In the right weather conditions, the lake turns a soft shade of pink due to the high concentration of algae in the water. For the best views and excellent take a walk to Pink Lake lookout.
The lake has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports significant numbers of native and migratory birds.
There’s plenty to see and do around Esperance including horse riding, walking and cycling, fishing, scuba diving, whale-watching (May to October), windsurfing, abseiling, kayaking and 4WD drive tours.
The Esperance Museum displays material about the local history, including pioneer memorabilia, shipwreck items, pieces of the US Sky Lab, which fell to earth in the Esperance region in 1980, Aboriginal artefacts and antiques. There is an artificial reef just off the end of the town jetty which is a good spot for fishing or a stroll.
Drive from Esperance west along Twilight Beach Road past West Beach, Chapman's Point, Blue Haven Beach, Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Twilight Beach. Walk along the soft, white sands, granite cliffs, and watch the ocean change colour from aquamarine near the shore to a deep blue out near the islands of the Recherche Archipelago.
The sand dunes, pushed to great heights by the wind called the 'Esperance Doctor', rise more than 50 metres high. Head to Rotary Lookout for panoramic views of Esperance, Esperance Bay, Pink Lake and the islands off the coast.
Esperance is also a gateway to Cape Le Grand National Park; Stokes National Park and Cape Arid National Park.
Esperance is approximately 720 kilometres south-east of Perth on Western Australia's southern coastline. It is an eight hour drive or two hour flight from Perth.

Petra, Jordan

Petra (Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ, Ancient Greek Πέτρα) is a historical and archaeological city in the southern Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved.Established possibly as early as 312 BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of Jebel al-Madhbah (identified by some as the biblical Mount Hor) in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.
The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".^[4] See: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. Petra was chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the "28 Places to See Before You Die."


Some of the earliest recorded farmers settled in Beidha, a pre-pottery settlementjust north of Petra, by 7000 BC. Petra is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna letters as Pel, Sela or Seir. Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary has existed there since very ancient times. Stations 19 through 26 of the stations list of Exodus are places associated with Petra. This part of the country was biblically assigned to the Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites. The habits of the original natives may have influenced the Nabataean custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated caves. Although Petra is usually identified with Sela, which means a rock, the Biblical references refer to it as "the cleft in the rock", referring to its entrance. In the parallel passage, however, Sela is understood to mean simply "the rock"Josephus assert that Rekem was the native name, and this name appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls as a prominent Edom site most closely describing Petra and associated with Mount Seir. But in the Aramaic versions, Rekem is the name of Kadesh, implying that Josephus may have confused the two places. The Semitic name of the city, if not Sela, remains unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus (xix. 94–97) which describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent against the Nabataeans in 312 BCE is understood to throw some light upon the history of Petra, but the "petra" referred to as a natural fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name and the description implies that the town was not yet in existence.

The Rekem Inscription before it was buried by the bridge abutments.

The name "Rekem" was inscribed in the rock wall of the Wadi Musa opposite the entrance to the Siq,^[14] but about twenty years ago the Jordanians built a bridge over the wadi and this inscription was buried beneath tons of concrete.
More satisfactory evidence of the date of the earliest Nabataean settlement may be obtained from an examination of the tombs. Two types of tombs have been distinguished: the Nabataean and the Greco-Roman. The Nabataean type starts from the simple pylon-tomb with a door set in a tower crowned by a parapet ornament, in imitation of the front of a dwelling-house. Then, after passing through various stages, the full Nabataean type is reached, retaining all the native features and at the same time exhibiting characteristics which are partly Egyptian and partly Greek. Of this type close parallels exist in the tomb-towers at Mada'in Saleh in north Arabia, which bear long Nabataean inscriptions and supply a date for the corresponding monuments at Petra. Then comes a series of tombfronts which terminate in a semicircular arch, a feature derived from north Syria. Finally come the elaborate façades copied from the front of a Roman temple; however, all traces of native style have vanished. The exact dates of the stages in this development cannot be fixed. Few inscriptions of any length have been found at Petra, perhaps because they have perished with the stucco or cement which was used upon many of the buildings. The simple pylon-tombs which belong to the pre-Hellenic age serve as evidence for the earliest period. It is not known how far back in this stage the Nabataean settlement goes, but it does not go back farther than the 6th century BCE.

Urn Tomb

A period follows in which the dominant civilization combines Greek, Egyptian and Syrian elements, clearly pointing to the age of the Ptolemies. Towards the close of the 2nd century BCE, when the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front. Under Aretas III Philhellene, the royal coins begin. The theatre was probably excavated at that time, and Petra must have assumed the aspect of a Hellenistic city. In the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris, the tombs of the el-I~ejr type may be dated, and perhaps also the High-place.


Excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits. These innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought, and enabled the city to prosper from its sale.
In ancient times, Petra might have been approached from the south on a track leading across the plain of Petra, around Jabal Haroun ("Aaron's Mountain"), where the Tomb of Aaron, said to be the burial-place of Aaron, brother of Moses, is located. Another approach was possibly from the high plateau to the north. Today, most modern visitors approach the site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) wide) called the Siq ("the shaft"), a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh (popularly known as "the Treasury"), hewn into the sandstone cliff. While remaining in remarkably preserved condition, the face of the structure is marked by hundreds of bullet holes made by the local Bedouin tribes that hoped to dislodge riches that were once rumored to be hidden within it.

A little farther from the Treasury, at the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr, is a massive theatre, positioned so as to bring the greatest number of tombs within view. At the point where the valley opens out into the plain, the site of the city is revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre has been cut into the hillside and into several of the tombs during its construction. Rectangular gaps in the seating are still visible. Almost enclosing it on three sides are rose-colored mountain walls, divided into groups by deep fissures and lined with knobs cut from the rock in the form of towers.
On December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.
Petra was the main topic in John William Burgon's Poem Petra. Referring to it as the inaccessible city which he had heard described but had never seen. The Poem was awarded the Newdigate Prize in 1845:

      It seems no work of Man's creative hand,

by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;

But from the rock as if by magic grown,

eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,

where erst Athena held her rites divine;

Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,

that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,

that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,

a rose-red city half as old as time.

In 1977, the Lebanese Rahbani brothers wrote the musical "Petra" as a response to the Lebanese Civil War.^[24]
The site is featured in films such as: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Arabian Nights, Passion in the Desert, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
It was recreated for the video games Spy Hunter (2001), King's Quest V, Lego Indiana Jones, Sonic Unleashed and Civilization V.
Petra appeared in the novels Left Behind Series, Appointment with Death, The Eagle in the Sand, The Red Sea Sharks, the nineteenth book in The Adventures of Tintin series and in Kingsbury's The Moon Goddess and the Son. It featured prominently in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery novel Last Act in Palmyra. In Blue Balliett's novel, Chasing Vermeer, the character Petra Andalee is named after the site.
The Sisters of Mercy filmed their music video for "Dominion/Mother Russia" in and around Al Khazneh ("The Treasury") in February 1988.
In 1994 Petra featured in the video to the Urban Species video Spiritual Love.
Petra was featured in episode 3 of the 2010 series An Idiot Abroad.
In 1979 Marguerite van Geldermalsen from New Zealand married Mohammed Abdullah, a Bedouin in Petra. They lived in a cave in Petra until the death of her husband. She authored the book Married to a Bedouin. Geldermalsen is the only western woman who has ever lived in Petra.
The Ancient City of Petra, Jordan in HD

Aogashima Volcano, Japan

One of the most amazing places in the world is the Aogashima volcano, beautiful and breathtaking...

Aogashima (青ヶ島^?) is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea.^[1] The island is administered by Tokyo and located approximately 358 kilometres (222 mi) south of Tokyo and 64 kilometres (40 mi) south of Hachijō-jima. It is the southernmost and most isolated inhabited island of the Izu archipelago.^[2]
The village of Aogashima administers the island under Hachijō Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis. As of 2009, the island's population was 205 on almost 9 km². Aogashima is also within the boundaries of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

  As you can see, this place is isolated, so there are just a few people living there. There is one school and one post office.
You can get there by boat, or by helicopter . The double volcano is a very interesting thing because the island itself is a giant volcanic crater, so we have a volcano inside a volcano.
There is a beautiful and dynamic nature, you will be amazed...
In fact there are just a few things that you can do there, but if I would go there, that wouldn't matter, I would just find a place to stay and have a great time, it's amazing, the fact that people live there. They have internet too, but slow. But surely it is a  "must visit" place.
Most of us are tired from this everyday life and routine, so we want to do something interesting. If you have the opportunity, go there and have a great time, enjoy the amazing nature that God made, and maybe write a post about it, beautiful nature can inspire you dream about something, just go and imagine where you are, in a volcano place surrounded only by water, you only have the sky and the crater place around you...Yeah.. it sounds interesting. It's a great choice for people who want to spend some time alone, isolated from the world and at the same time visiting one of the most amazing places of the world.

My purpose is to show you the world's most amazing, weird, awesome, scary, beautiful places...