This cave under The Chihuahua Desert in Mexico is actually a working mine that is known for its amazing crystals. The name of the cave is Naica Mine, is located 1000ft under ground, and it was discovered by two miners that was also brothers when they were drilling into the Naica lead. The chamber of the crystals is known as Crystal Cave of Giants.

The biggest crystals weigh 55 tons and are measuring up to 36 feet long. Imagine what an incredible experience it would be to stand in the cave and experience the beauty of the crystals. One other attraction in Mexico is the Island of the Dolls, a rather dark and scary attraction.

They are blade-sharp and dangerous but awesome to look at. From the pictures you would suppose that it is icing cold in the cave, but to be honest it is about 112F, and the cavers need to bring cooled air in backpacks and be protected by special suits for the conditions.

We have all seen glowing stars on the sky at night, but what about seeing stars under the ground? You get the chance to do that in the Waitomo Glowworm Cave on the North Island of New Zealand. Of course the “stars” are not real; they are glowing worms that is hanging from the ceilings in the cave.

The worms are only to be found in New Zealand, and they are as tiny as an average mosquito. The lightning from the worms are the only remedy boats with tourist are having when they cruise around on the Waitomo River underground to see the mysterious glowworms.

A group of specialists are monitoring the quality of the air and the temperature to know how to manage the cave and how many tourists are allowed to visit the cave each time, so don’t worry, if you want to visit the cave and enjoy the sight of “glowing stars”, you are definitely in good hands.

The Bahamas – known for its tropical islands, miles upon miles of sandy beaches, clear warm water and coral reefs. But it hides a little secret called the “blue holes” that are located under the water and look like beautiful blue vertical caves. Bahamas has quite a few blue holes that make up a whole underwater cave system. From the sky they look scary like dark blue holes in the ocean, and they are dangerous, so only professional divers can experience it. Still there is not much to see because there is almost no sea life there because of the poor water circulation. This also causes a large number of bacteria developing.

The deepest blue hole is located in Bahamas and is 202 meters deep (663 ft.) and is called Dean’s Blue Hole. Looking at the pictures the blue holes look like a fantasy underworld where the colors are beautifully mixed up. Too bad only professionals can explore it and enjoy the beauty of the blue underwater caves. Other beauties of the underwater that everyone can visit are the fabulous Red Sea Star restaurant in Israel, located 6 meters under the sea.

Via National Geographic.

Words like Stalin, Cold War, Communism and KGB reminds of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, also known as the Soviet Union. This higly centralized state was the former Russian Empire in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991. With a lot of power, the USSR was an empire with growth and opportunities. These pictures are a collection that shows how the situation in USSR was for the past 30 years. You will notice that the pictures in the beginning are full of joy and brightness; children playing, people dancing and working with smiles on their faces, school children singing, etc.

The further down you come, the more depressing and tragic they get, showing soldiers, hungry people and poverty. Maybe the tragic ending is a result of the dissolution or maybe the vodka is to blame. A similar situation to this is the story of Afghanistan, showing how 30 years of war destroyed their welfare and hope of the 60’s.

Via Trinixy.

Las Vegas is one of the world’s most famous and in same most controversial cities. It is known by the gathering points for gamblers and rich people who do not know what to do with their money.

There are a few architectural features which are unique for this place and different from other buildings in it. The project called Legoland California where a team of LEGO artists conjoined to create small replica of Las Vegas from LEGO bricks.

They have recreated almost every significant building in Las Vegas especially those with unique style such as pyramid-like Las Vegas Luxor hotel or Paris Las Vegas. The team who made this replica has used more than 24 million of LEGO bricks to create the whole city. The Legoland California is made to be visitor-friendly and hundreds of visitors visit this place every day.

Sometimes creating a movie requires a very special environment which can’t be found anywhere in the world or filming on the real location is just too expensive. In that manner, filming companies are creating their own small towns or theme parks for most expensive movies.

Universal Studio is well known filming company which is part of NBC Universal and it owns a few of theme parks where fans of their most viewed movies can feel the atmosphere of the particular movie. Theme parks are mostly rearranged places where filming of particular movie or movies have took a place. After film is made, the place is rearranged so it can accept large number of visitors. Here you can see a collection of photos of Universal Studios Theme parks which are visited by hundreds of visitors every day.

We are all aware of the fact that Cold War Soviet Union doesn’t exist anymore. But, once, it was real military machine which was eating the most of the tax income of all Soviet Union states. Military was on the very first place and everything other came after that. We can see that North Korea has very similar military-based politic today.

Soviet Union and the whole Cold War thing is pretty cold now (although there are some sparkles in relations between Russia and USA) but the trails of this pointless race in developing of weapons and military still remains.

The Dvina Complex in Lambarte, Latvia is one of numerous abandoned military complexes which cost a lot of money in time they were built. This complex contains four underground launch silos which were once full of rockets with nuclear heads. Here you can see a few of photos which are showing how this place which cost millions of dollars look now.

Via Flickr.

The Moeraki Boulders are amazing stone spheres and they remind me a lot on those mysterious spheres which can be found in South America or some European countries.

Unlike the mysterious spheres from South America for which archaeologists do not have reasonable explanation, those are something different. Those spherical boulders are formed in sea floor sediments in the process which is similar to process of the creation of pearls.

Those spheres were forming for thousands of years and it is amazing how their shapes are almost perfect like they were made by humans not by the nature. Some of them are pretty big and are about 3 meters in diameter. Those boulders can be found on a Koekohe Beach in New Zealand.

Via New Zealand’s Information Network.

If you come by near the town of Nordlingen which is located in Bavaria, Germany, you will probably be surprised with the placement of it’s streets and buildings.

As you can see from photos, the main part of this interesting Bavarian town is ‘designed’ to look like a circle. But, that is not without the reason and the cause for that is even more exciting than the very look of of the town.

This little town which has about 20.000 residents is located in a huge meteorite crater. Scientists concluded that the crater was formed about 14,5 million years ago when pretty big meteorite collided with Earth. However, the town is not older than hundred years.

I like much the idea about building the town in meteor crater, it is definitely cool place for such thing and I believe this place could became pretty popular amongst tourists in future.

There is also one additional advantage of living in this place, I guess. The fact that meteor hit here once in past gives a pretty small chances for another one to hit exactly there but, still, you never know…

Via Flickr.

You thought that holocaust was horrible? Then, you probably should know something about the Gulag prison which was one of the worst prisons of Soviet regime. This complex of buildings can be found even today in Taga forest, in Russian Siberia.

This place is known as huge death factory which was working during the Stalin regime. The estimated number of people who were killed only in this prison is over 40 million which is almost 7 times worst than holocaust where allegedly died about 6 million people.

Most of prisoners were those who were against Stalin’s politics or those who were mistakenly considered to be the opponents of Stalin regime. The Gulag prison was closed in 1953, immediately after Stalin’s death.

Most of prisoners were convicted in poor trials where they were pronounced to be the enemies of the state and they were sent to this prison. Such ‘trials’ were also present in most of other communist countries where every man who confronted the communist regime was the enemy of the state.

Convicts were living in those poorly build wooden barracks where they waited their turn to experience the death.

Today, this almost unreachable place is cowered by vegetation which hides the horrible trails of communist regime in Soviet Russia.

More info at Wikipedia, photo credits AngelFire.

The Big Hole which is also known by its other name, Kimberley Mine, in South Africa is the world’s largest hole which humans excavated. It was dug by 50.000 miners who were working in diamond mine after first diamonds were found there in 19th century. They found there amazing amount of diamonds, precisely, they have found 2720 kilograms of diamonds there.

The most amazing fact is that workers who worked there weren’t using any advanced tools or machines while thy were digging. The hole was dug between 1871 and 1914 when there weren’t any advanced machines for digging so, they literally dug this hole by hands using some very basic tools like picks and shovels. Using that basic tools workers managed to move amazing 22 million tons of soil.

The Big Hole is about 215 meters deep and 463 meters wide. After the mine was abandoned because it became too dangerous for miners to dig further, the mine was shut down. However, company De Beers Brothers who owned that mine continued with diamonds exploitation by underground mining.

After excavation was finished, this place started to fill with underground waters and, as you can see from photos, it looks now like a lake. Water took about 20% (40 meters) of the depth of whole hole.

Image Sources: Wikipedia.

Champagne Pool is unusual geothermal spring which makes this place look like it is huge champagne pool indeed, because of a lot of CO2 bubbles which are coming from water.

This natural feature is about thousand years old and it was formed by hydrothermal eruption. The Champagne Pool is about 60 meters deep and its diameter length is about 65 meters.

It is placed in Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area, in Wakiato, New Zealand. Wai-O-Tapu is geothermal area which contains a lot of geothermal springs. It is famous amongst tourists who are able enjoy these hot waters in the part of this protected reserve called Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland.

If you are lucky to attend this place in right time you might be awarded with amazing scene caused by unusual colors of water and the colors of sunset. If you are one of those who are attracted by geothermal springs and their hot water, then, you should probably visit this place which features plenty of other touristic attractions, too.

Egypt is really wonderful touristic destination with many attraction for tourists. We all know about Egypt’s main features like pyramids and other historical monuments. But Egypt is not only rich with historical monuments it also has many valuable natural features which deserve to be placed in touristic guides.

One of such places is the White Desert which is also known by its original name Sahara el Beyda. It is placed near the smallest oasis in Egypt, Farfara. As most of us know, sand in deserts is yellow, however, the sand in White Desert is surprisingly white and that is how this place got its name. At the nights, this place looks like some snowy landscape.

This place has became pretty popular in several last years. The fact that it is not far away from Black Desert and Crystal Mountain has made significant contribution to its popularity amongst tourists.

It is known as a place where unusual chalk rocks can be found. Such rocks are shaped by low-level wind erosion. One of the most famous rocks which can be found here is so-called Mushroom Rock which incredibly reminds to giant mushroom. Despite the fact this place is protected nature reserve, visitors from different parts of the world are not so careful while staying there and they often make huge damage to those rocks.

There is no wonder that there are many waterfalls all over the world and major part of our world is covered in water, interestingly in modern lexicon, there is not definition of waterfall but we can say that “waterfall is a result of landscape, means whenever a land or a part of land start interrupting with the water across the landscape it comes up in the form of waterfall”. There is a big number of waterfalls which are famous by dint of their distinguish attributes, some are popular for being tallest in the world and many are very well-known for being positioned at the highest mountains.

10. Browne  Falls

Browne falls are on number 10 of the world’s tallest waterfalls, its sheight is 836m (2744 feet), and it is a kind of cascade with tallest single top 244m (800 feet), if its width is measured , it is something like 12m( 40 feet), this waterfall is located Fiordlands National Park, south island of New Zealand.

9. James  Bruce  Falls

James Bruce Falls are located in North America means Canada at the height of 2755 feet. Though it is not at a great height, yet it is on the number 9, in the line up of tallest waterfall of the world, it starts out from the snowfield Princess Louisa Inlet.

8.Pu’uka’oku  Falls

Pu’uka’oku Falls are the 8th largest waterfalls in the world, they are positioned on the Molokai( an island of Hawaiian) and their height is 2756 feet, another good things is that the tallest sea cliffs are associated and linked on the north cliff of Molokai which increases the impressiveness of Pu’uka’oku Falls.

7.Baläifossen

Baläifossen is a wonderful waterfall, is situated in Norway at the height of 2788 feet. As its height describes that it is the seventh tallest waterfall of the world, which spills into the waters of Osafijorde. These falls are filled with pure water, but a bad thing is that the water gets dried out in the summer season in them.

6.Vinnufossen  Falls

Vinnufossen is the sixth tallest waterfall of the world which is located in Sunndal, Norway and its height is 2,822 feet.

5.Yumbilla, Catarata  Falls

Yumbilla, Catarata is the fifth tallest waterfall of the world, and it is taller than  Catarata Falls, its height is, 896 meters (2938 feet) ,this waterfall is located in amazons, Peru. And the volume of water is also less here, so this waterfall is not an impressive location to capture in the picture, and just overall drop of 600m is visible.

4.Olo’upena Falls

Olo’upena Falls are the fourth tallest waterfall of the world and it is very popular waterfall located in, Oloupena, Hawaii, in USA. Their height is 2953 feet, they are wonderful waterfalls and are covered with mountains from the both side and there is greenery around the location. This waterfall is very thin so known as Tiered.

3.Tres Hermanas, Cataratas las Falls

Tres Hermanas, Cataratas las Falls are  3000 feet in their height, and they are the third tallest waterfalls of the world which is located Rio Cutivireni in Peru.

2.Tugela Falls

Tugela Falls are on number second in the queue of tallest waterfalls of the world, they are found in the Drakensberg (Dragon’s Mountains) in the Royal Natal National Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Republic of South Africa. Its height is (3,110 feet). They are god gifted waterfalls which water is very pure and safe to drink.

1. Angel  Falls

Angel Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls of the world and it has different names in different languages, it is located in Canaima National Park in Venezuela. In Pemon language this waterfall is known as Parakupa-vena or Kerepakupai merú (means waterfall from the highest point) and in Spanish Angel Falls is called Salto Ángel.

The water falls off from the top point of the Auyan Tepui, and waterfall is in extreme twisted position. It is the tallest waterfall of the world fro being at the height of height of 979 m (2,648 ft) and a plunge of 3,212.

Basically, a waterfall is a place where the water falls from a region or a cliff. A waterfall is confronted to a river or a stream over a slope is located at a long certain distance that cause shake up in the water of lower region. This is a fact that waterfalls enhance the natural beauty of the nature and there is a big list of waterfalls that are well-known by dint of their distinguish attributes some are positioned at the pivot of highest mountains and many are considered as the tallest waterfalls of the world.

The Hussaini- Borit Lake Bridge is considered as one of the most dangerous as it is very old, narrow, and too high above the lake and to top it all the wooden planks are missing.

This only the tip of the iceberg, as this dangerous rope bridge is the only means for the local people to travel to big cities in northern Pakistan.

The local people of Pakistan use several suspension bridges to cross rivers in and around northern Pakistan. Among these, the Borit lake bridge is well known around the globe for being the most dangerous and thrilling rope bridge.

The two bridge trek forms a major tourist attraction in Pakistan. Here, you have to cross the two bridges that take you through Passu and other neighboring villages and ends at the lake itself. The view from the Borit lake bridge is picturesque. And this attracts the tourists to take the long and dangerous trek time and again.

Via Flickr.

Plazza Scala, a town in the fashion capital of Italy, Milan is invaded with a group of cutely made twelve overgrown pink snails. It is a beautiful symbolic representation to the fact that “speed is not always a virtue” in this much fast-paced world as things in this world are fast-developing while the brighter side of life is ignored somewhere.

Created by the Italian Cracking Art group, these wonderful plastic displays are shaped to make people realize the importance of the happenings around them rather than being indifferent to the city’s happenings. Milan’s culture counselor, Mr. Finazzer Flory has candidly expressed that the people need to rediscover the experience of the city life while slightly skipping their daily routines which keep them busy.

These amusing pink snails will periodically move around the city towards Palazzo Reale and then to central train station in January. After some international trips to Amman, Tel Aviv and Chicago, they will return to Milan as a part of 120-snail army, in 2015.

Image Credits: Orlando Sentinel, UPI, Flickr 1, Flickr 2 and Flickr 3.

If you want to see beauty on earth, pack your bags and head to Plitvice lakes located in Croatia. The Picturesque beauty of the Plitvice lakes makes it one of the oldest tourist sites. Sixteen lakes form the Plitvice lakes National Park.

These lakes are surrounded by three mountains. So one can see why the lakes are so admired for their distinctive colors, azure, green, grey or blue. The colors may change with different seasons and the quantity of mineral in them .The focus of sunlight on the lakes flora and fauna may also assign it a distinct color.

One cannot think but marvel at this pristine beauty of nature flowing through the mountains of Croatia. The Tourist lakes first become a tourist attraction in the 19th century. As these lakes were located by the disputed Bosnia-Herzegovina border, the parks were converted into army barracks but later UNESCO ended the par of gloom and named these lakes as world heritage site.

There are twelve upper lakes and four lower lakes formed by their descent from the mountains. Every now and then, the silent pristine lakes come alive with silvery fishes darting through the waters and wolves and deer’s from the forest stooping by the lake to quench their thirst. Nature unravels to mankind beauty at its pinnacle, Plitvice lakes can truly be referred to as paradise on earth.

Via Wayfaring.

The King’s Walkway can be touted as one of the deadliest and the most dangerous walkways in the world, situated at El Chorro, near Alora in Malaga, Spain. It is simply not for those who have alto-phobia. The construction of the walkway was incepted in the year 1901 and it took four years for the completion of the project.

It is naturally pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge, built to serve as a link between Chorro Falls and the Gaitanejo Falls mainly for the transportation of the materials, for inspection and the maintenance of the channel.

The main reason for its construction was the hydroelectric power plants situated there which required a walkway for the workers to cross between the falls. It was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII in 1921, who crossed the walkway then, thus the walkway got its name “The King’s Walkway”.

The Walkway is 1 meter (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and is over 300 meters (984 feet) above the river. It is in a state of disrepair without handrails for the support and with the concrete flooring having become brittle. The government had closed the walkway for the public, as many people had lost their lives while crossing it, more especially in 1999 and 2000 when 4 people lost their lives. The walkers latch onto the steel beam, which supported the concrete flooring earlier.

However, the government has taken up the task of restoring the historical walkway in the recent years, as the adventurers still find their way onto the walkway, to explore it.

Via TheWondrous.

The Salina Praid is situated 5 km from Sovata, in the Harghita County which is more famously known as the Salt Zone in Romania. Geographically, the basin of Praid can be found on the east coast of the Transylvanian basin (“a huge salt cellar”), at the base of the Gheorgheni Mountains. The history is traced back to the middle ages around 2nd century AD, when the Romans exploited the salt. The excavations left by Romans were continued by Avars and by Bulgars later.

The history has in fact witnessed the Szekler rising in the year 1562. The Szeklers were Hungarians in origin, lived in the northern-central regions of Transylvania as pastoralists. And their livelihood here made this place more famous for the Szekler Salt that allowed them to mine the salt 3 times in a year without any taxes or restrictions.

Geologically speaking, the Praid is the salt hill, 567 meter tall and called as Dealul Sarii, where you can find the salt deposits in abundance which are as thick as 2000m, and which are estimated to contain about 3 billion tons of salt. The Praid is termed as the natural centre of the Szekely Salt Country. One can find different sorts of recreation too, for instance, the underground playgrounds for children, the billiard-tables for adults, a buffet, salt-spas & salt swimming pools (for wellness and relaxation, rheuma treatment, and skin diseases), salt museum, salt exhibition and sculptures, and of course a church too called ecumenical chapel.

The most attractive feature of this salt mine is the Speleotherapy that amounts for great number of visitors daily, around 2500 to 3000 per day. This therapy also called as halo therapy, is a special therapy used to deal with the respiratory problems like bronchitis, asthma and allergies, etc. A highly ionized air and a higher atmospheric pressure than on the surface 735-738 mmHg on average are concentrated on for this kind of treatment. A very famous treatment in some countries that takes about 18 days’ time.

The mine tours take around the people through all these places in the salt mine, accumulating 25 visitors in a trip, and thus making about 100 such trips daily.

Via Rosca Marius.

The World War II bunkers provide an in-sight depth into the amazing history that revolved around the most titanic conflict in the history, that shook the world then and with whose consequences the modern world is still living. The Russian World War II bunker is no more different. Deep in the mountains of Russia, there lies this unbelievably huge underground bunker.

One look at the bunker, it surely takes you into that era of turmoil which had witnessed only bloodshed. Getting into it is more like traveling on a time-machine. The hidden artillery behind these green covered walls display the strategic intelligence used by the army men then empowered by secret wall openings around the bunker. Though most of the area is in a dilapidated condition, the overall original structure is standing still firm with solid construction it was made with, retaining the originality of the place, even after years has passed by.

Via TJ Frank.