Hallelujah Mountains, China

The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Chinese: 湖南张家界国家森林公园; pinyin: Húnán Zhāngjiājiè Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán; literally: "Hunan Zhangjiajie National Forest Park") is a unique national forest park located in Zhangjiajie City in northern Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. It is one of several national parks within the Wulingyuan Scenic Area.

The most notable geographic features of the park are the pillar-like formations that are seen throughout the park. They are the result of many years of erosion. The weather is moist year round, and as a result, the foliage is very dense. Much of the erosion which forms these pillars are the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants which grow on them. These formations are a distinct hallmark of Chinese landscape, and can be found in many ancient Chinese paintings.

One of the park's quartz-sandstone pillars, the 1,080-metre (3,540 ft) Southern Sky Column, had been officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" (阿凡达-哈利路亚山, pinyin: Āfándá hālìlùyà shān) in honor of the eponymous film in January 2010. According to park officials, photographs from Zhangjiajie inspired the floating Hallelujah Mountains seen in the film. The film's director and production designers said that they drew inspiration for the floating rocks from mountains from around the world, including those in the Hunan province.

Amazing Northen lights... Alaska

Alaska is one of the best places on earth to see the northern lights – colorful bands of light that dance in the dark night sky. Travelers from all over the world come to Alaska each winter to see this stunning display and take advantage of other winter experiences like snowmobiling, dog mushing, skiing, festivals and sporting events.

So what are the northern lights, exactly? The northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, occur about 60 or 70 miles above the earth’s surface —about 10 times higher than a jet aircraft flies — and can extend hundreds of miles into space. The most common color displayed is a brilliant yellow-green, but the aurora borealis can also produce red, blue and purple patterns.

Aurora activity increases with sun spot activity, which generally occurs in 11-year cycles. Aurora activity approached a maximum in the year 2012. This will last about four to five years, which means there will be more auroras visible from locations south of the main aurora occurrence zone than during the solar minimum years. 

Salar de Uyuni : One of the World’s Largest Mirrors, Bolivia

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.

Burano, Italy. The island of colours

All visitors of Burano remain intrigued by the many colours of houses that are reflected into the green waters of channels, by the Oblique Bell Tower, by the tranquility and the calmness with which the elderly ladies embroider by their tombolo, while they are laughing and chatting in squares among them. It seems to be in paradise. Children who dart freely with their bicycles, balconies with multicolored flowers, fishermen who put up fresh fish from their traditional boats.

Just gone ashore from actv boat, you will be in a green lawn where a Remigio Barbaro's solemn sculpture is placed. Pursuing the shores you will arrive to center of the Island: Galuppi Square; here neighbourly ladies, invite the most curious visitors to come into their shops to admire the lace working. Then, if you need to refresh yourself, there are a lot of typical "trattoria buranella" where you can eat very fresh and good fish. If your time is short you can opt for a delicious icecream in a bar or a typical Burano's sweet dish (the most famous are the "Bussolà" and the "Esse") in a pastry store, enjoying it until the end of Piazza Galuppi where San Martino Bishop's Church is located: inside, in addition to a lot of important works, there is a famous opera of Gian Battista Tiepolo. Sideways is located the Santa Barbara's Chapel.

Always in the same square there is the "Museo del Merletto" (Lace Museum), the Town Hall, a well made of Istria's stone and the Baldassarre Galuppi's sculpture made by Remigio Barbaro, the well-known sculptor from Burano.

Sideways the church, some stands offer local souvernirs, Murano glass products and venetian masks for a cheap price. Moreover every Wednesday morning here the street market takes place and two minutes far from the center you can take a look at the fish market, where to see the typical venetian lagoon sea-food.

Among Burano's tiny streets there are a lot of "capitelli" (capitals) placed in the calli entrances and, searching for them, surely you will bump into the most famous and coloured house in the island: "la Casa di Bepi Suà" (the house of Joseph Sweaty).

The typical Burano's houses are mainly squared-shaped and are divided into two or three floors. At the low ground there is the kitchen, the breakfast nook and the toilet. At the next floors there are the bedrooms.

The different colours of the houses, which today rappresent the our island main feature, at a previous time was useful to delimit the properties. Notwithstanding an ancient legend narrates that fishermen painted their houses to see them from long distance when they were far away for fishing.

Amazing Victoria Falls, Zambia

Apart from the falls themselves, which are surprisingly fun to visit, there is a huge range of activities on offer here including whitewater rafting, bungee, motorboat safari, elephant back safari, town and village visits ... enough to warrant most people stopping over two, three or even four nights.

Livingstone Upper is a beautiful riverfront area, reasonably wild given its proximity to the town, with a decent range of wildlife and a good selection of lodges.

Livingstone Lower has just one decent lodge, perched dramatically above the canyon, but rather too out of the way for most people.

Livingstone Central includes the town and falls areas where most of the lower cost guesthouses and mainstream hotels are located.

Outdoor Camping Bubble, Marseille France

Experience a unique night under the stars with all the comfort of a hotel room. An unusual moment… A cosmic and poetic experience… An unforgettable souvenir for both of you… A tinted and romantic cocoon for a marriage proposal, an anniversary  or an original gift. A queen size bed with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside… Alone with Mother Nature! At nightfall, contemplate the milky way! Everything here is designed not to close your eyes! Hush, here’s the moon showing its face…Sweet bubble dreams!

The Flying Duck Orchid

Caleana major, the Flying Duck Orchid, is a small orchid found in eastern and southern Australia. This terrestrial plant features a remarkable flower, resembling a duck in flight. The flower is an attractant to insects, such as male sawflies which pollinate the flower in a process known as pseudocopulation. In 1986 this orchid was featured on an Australian postage stamp

Caleana major is encountered as a terrestrial herb, up to 50 cm (20 in) tall. 2-4 flowers grow on the green stem. The single leaf, appears near the base of the stalk. It is usually prostrate, narrow-lanceolate, to 12 cm (5 in) long and 8 mm wide, often spotted.The flower is reddish-brown, 15 to 20 mm long. In rare cases, the flower can be greenish with dark spots. The plant is pollinated by insects. A sensitive strap is attached to the flower, which is triggered by vibration. Flowering occurs from September to January.

The mysterious dome houses in southwest Florida

Built in 1980 at Cape Romano, these dome constructions was a DIY project of retired oil producer Bob Lee. His family spent much of the 80's nside the self-sustaining and solar-powered homes but started visiting less after 1992 whenhurricane Andrew caused damage in the area but not the dome houses themselves.

In 2005 the abandoned houses were purchased by John Tosto just before hurricane Wilma caused serious damage to the domes and washed away some of the coastline. Two years later the local authorities asked Tosto to remove the houses but his inaction resulted in hefty fines. 

Today the dome houses remain abandoned and completely reclaimed by the sea and only accessible by boat for locals and tourists to explore.