Typically, when you plan a dive holiday you spend hours researching and narrowing down your choice to one place where you're guaranteed to find a single breathtaking marine attraction. But when planning a Palau dive trip, you won't have to choose just one attraction, because it has it all! This isolated set of 200 or so limestone islands showcase a selection of dive sites that nearly all other dive locations can only dream of. Every year, to celebrate this natural endowment, pioneering dive shop Fish 'n Fins holds Diversity Fiesta—a week long food and diving event. The dive schedule during Diversity Fiesta brings patrons face to face with some of the most unique marine phenomenon, including WWII plane and ship wrecks, ancient marine lakes, shark ...
Our environment is extremely precious, and whether you are a global warming advocate or a cynic, there seems to be no doubt that our planet is undergoing many changes. The intriguing Las Bardenas Reales, in Navarra Spain, is one of Spain’s natural parks protected for its biology, geology or landscape, which also has an ecological, aesthetic, educational or scientific value. As a “landscape photographer in training” I like to take the opportunity to explore new landscapes whenever it arises, and had never previously heard of a “natural park.” Enter: Las Bardenas Reales Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve. It ticks all the boxes for any photographer—environmental, tourist, or adventurer, and covers 42,500 hectares of fascinating semi-desert vegetation, with rocky formations of an eerie lunar quality, regarded ...
Yakushima (Yaku Island) is a UNESCO World Heritage site flooded by Japanese hikers every year, and remains relatively unknown to foreigners. Visitors go to Yakushima island, that lies south of Kagoshima, for only one reason—to see the magnificent cedars that are the inspiration behind the forests of the animated film Princess Mononoke. Going all the way to an island to look at trees may seem extreme, until you walk between archways of roots that are as thick as the trunks of your average oak or maple. The twisting curves of the trunks and branches make Yukushima forest take on postmodernist sculpture. Moss carpets everything and glows in the filtered light that shines through the leaves. Hikers and nature lovers should put this on their to-do ...
The International Antarctic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand is a fantastic way to experience the thrills and chills of Antarctic exploration without ever going to the land of snow and ice. As Antarctic holidays for many aren’t exactly practical, the Antarctic Center can act as an excellent substitute. With several opportunities to learn and appreciate the continent’s history and environment, the International Antarctic Center makes for a great stop on any trip to the South Island of New Zealand. Names like Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen, along with so many others, are those explorers who’ve studied Antarctica for both the betterment of science and personal triumph. Life was hard for these men, and survival was questionable, as they spent full winters researching there, sometimes for many ...
White Sands National Monument is a magnificent collection of snow-white sand dunes covering an area of some 275 square miles in Central New Mexico. This unique dune field is comprised of gypsum sand - the transparent mineral that creates the eerie colorless landscape of White Sands. This is considered the largest gypsum dune field on earth and the area consists of an unusual group of plant and animal life that have adapted to the gypsum's white environment, including the spiky soaptree yucca plants that are often the lone evidence of life along the stark landscape of White Sands. White Sands, New Mexico is about 40 miles east of the city of Las Cruces. It sits within the confines of the uber-secretive White Sands Missile Range ...
Undoubtedly the world's most famous beer festival, Munich's Oktoberfest draws a remarkable six million visitors each year. The 16-day festival celebrating Bavarian beer and culture has become something of a rite of passage for any young European who likes a beer, and attracts plenty of travelers from further afield as well. Oktoberfest history dates back to 12 October 1810, when crowds were invited to a meadow in the city to celebrate the wedding of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It subsequently became an annual fair that initially included horse races and agricultural conventions. Local businessmen working with city breweries created the first massive beer tent in 1896, and the festival has been all about beer ever since. The area where that ...
No visit to New York City would be complete without a stop at the Empire State Building's Observation Deck. Presently, it is the third largest skyscraper in the United States (behind the Willis Tower and the Trump Tower in Chicago), and towers over the city almost a quarter of a mile high at 102 floors. The Art Deco designed skyscraper draws an estimated 3.5 million visitors each year to the 86th floor’s observation deck for spectacular views of the surrounding city; Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the famous Yankee Stadium. Since the Empire State Building Observation Deck was opened in 1931, approximately 110 million people have peered out over picturesque views of New York City. Many visitors are attracted to the ...
The Yamayaki Festival has a flare for tradition! This fiery rebirth ritual takes place annually on Wakakusa Hill in Nara Park, Japan. Every January during Wakakusa Yamayaki, local monks fulfill a tradition hundreds of years old which involves setting the entire 342-meter-tall Hill ablaze. The origin of Wakakusa Yamayaki dates back to the Kamakura Period, between 1185 and 1333. It is thought this ritual was begun to rid farmland of pests and dead vegetation, and to prepare the earth for new growth in spring. This preparation for new life is a beautiful sight to see, as the flames leap high in the winter night sky. Wakakusa Yamayaki begins at around 5:30 p.m. with purification rituals and sacraments, as well as prayers for safety during the ...
The first thing you notice when standing in front of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, is the sound. It lets out a steady low rumble like thunder rolling, and every now and then, releases a loud roar that sends shock waves bouncing up through the smoke above it. Standing there, listening to its groans and watching the smoke pour into the sky, it’s a constant reminder of just how small you are when compared to the power that lies beneath the earth. Despite its name, the land in Iceland is hot. The country has over 200 active volcanoes, fields of still-smoking lava, and endless hot springs. There’s so much geothermal power that the entire country can rely on all-natural heating systems, and instead of having to heat ...
Rath Yatra Chariot Festival is one of the biggest festivals in Hindu culture, and nowhere is the celebration bigger then in the holy city of Puri in Orissa. Millions of devotees from all over the world come to the Jagannath Puri temple every year to participate in this grand festival. Abiding to ritual, the sacred idols of Lord Jagannath of Puri, along with the idols of his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra, are taken out in grand procession in big wooden chariots from the Jagannath temple of Puri to the Gundicha Temple, where they remain for nine days. The Rath Yatra Festival is celebrated every year in the second day of the lunar month (June/ July), and the holy city of Puri attracts ...
