Lovely landscape photos from Webshots Webshots is introducing Smile, the next evolution of photo sharing: Upload and share as many photos as you want Create a dynamic photo stream to share with close friends and family Save a permanent archive of your family's photos Maldives Travel Information and Travel Guide Unrivalled luxury, stunning white-sand beaches and an amazing underwater world make the Maldives an obvious choice for a true holiday of a lifetime. Unbelievable Beaches The Maldives is home to perhaps the best beaches in the world; they’re on almost every one of the country’s nearly 1200 islands and are so consistently perfect that it’s hard not to become blasé about them. While some beaches may boast softer granules than others, the basic fact remains: you’ll find this whiter-than-white powder sand and luminous cyan-blue water almost nowhere else on earth. This fact alone is enough to bring nearly a million people a year to this tiny and otherwise little-known Indian Ocean paradise. Resorts for Everyone Every resort in the Maldives is its own private island, and with over 100 to choose from the only problem is selecting where to stay. Underwater World Independent Travel Read more
Places to Visit in Egypt | Where to go in Egypt Egypt is the oldest tourist destination on earth. Ancient Greeks and Romans started the trend, coming to goggle at the cyclopean scale of the Pyramids and the Colossi of Thebes. During colonial times, Napoleon and the British looted Egypt’s treasures to fill their national museums, sparking off a trickle of Grand Tourists that eventually became a flood of travellers, taken on Nile cruises and Egyptological lectures by the enterprising Thomas Cook. Today, the most popular places to visit are not only the monuments of the Nile Valley and the souks, mosques and madrassas of Islamic Cairo, but also fantastic coral reefs and tropical fish, dunes, ancient fortresses, monasteries and prehistoric rock art. The land itself is a freak of nature, its lifeblood the River Nile. From the Sudanese border to the shores of the Mediterranean, the Nile Valley and its Delta are flanked by arid wastes, the latter as empty as the former are teeming with people.
The Cloud Covered Island of Litla Dimun Litla Dimun is a small island between the islands of Suouroy and Stora Dimun in the Faroe Islands. It is the smallest of the main 18 islands, being less than 100 hectares (250 acres) in area, and is the only one uninhabited. One of the most striking feature of this island is that it often remains covered in clouds. Photo credit The southern third of the island is sheer cliff, with the rest rising to the mountain of Slaettirnir, which reaches 414 metres (1,358 ft). Litla Dimun without the cloud hat. Litla Dimun, close-up. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Litla Dimun in winter. Photo credit [via Reddit]
WWF-UK - Adopt a polar bear The Latin name for polar bears, Ursus maritimus, means ‘sea bear’, reflecting the fact that the species spends much of its life in or around water. Location: Greenland, Svalbard (Norway), northern Canada, Alaska (US) and Russia Habitat: Arctic sea ice Wild population: Approximately 20,000-25,000 The threats to polar bears Reducing sea ice caused by climate change Toxic chemicals and pollution in the marine environment. How your adoption can help: £60 (or £5 a month) could buy six oil spill clean-up kits for an Arctic volunteer in the Barents Sea £120 (or £10 a month) could pay for helicopter fuel for two and a half hours when tracking polar bears across the rugged Arctic terrain The Svalbard polar bears (Pronounced svaal-baard) A group of male and female bears aged between 5 and 12 years old, which live in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic – a group of islands owned by Norway. I am happy to support WWF in anyway I can to help save these species from extinction.
The Devil's Obstacle Course - Exploring Madagascar's Tsingy de Bemaraha Credit: Photographs by George Kourounis "This place is almost completely inaccessible, an actual no-man's-land!" Simon Donato was explaining over the telephone. He was going on an expedition to this remote spot halfway around the world, a chunk of rocky forest near Madagascar's west central coast called the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, and I was hoping to join him. "Right now, we probably know more about what isn't in there than what is. The opportunity to plant one's boots on terra incognita doesn't come along every day. Simon's proposal certainly sounded intriguing. I couldn't help noticing, however, that people weren't exactly begging to get into the tsingy, either — perhaps because it is a gigantic labyrinth of razor-sharp limestone, tens of thousands of acres in size, off-limits to tourists and pretty much everyone else. "There are 7 billion people on this earth," George said, "but pretty much every step we take will be someplace no human has stood before." Done.
The Incredible Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany The Magdeburg Water Bridge is a navigable aqueduct in Germany that connects the Elbe-Havel Canal to the Mittelland Canal, and allows ships to cross over the Elbe River. At 918 meters, it is the longest navigable aqueduct in the world. The Elbe-Havel and Mittelland canals had previously met near Magdeburg but on opposite sides of the Elbe. Ships moving between the two had to make a 12-kilometer detour, descending from the Mittelland Canal through the Rothensee boat lift into the Elbe, then sailing downstream on the river, before entering the Elbe-Havel Canal through Niegripp lock. Low water levels in the Elbe often prevented fully laden canal barges from making this crossing, requiring time-consuming off-loading of cargo. Construction of the water link was started as early as in the 1930s but due to the World War 2 and subsequent division of Germany the work remained suspended till 1997. [via Wikipedia]
WWF-UK - Adopt a penguin Adélie penguins live in one of the world’s harshest environments, with temperatures reaching -40oc. They can swim up to 4 metres per second and dive to depths of up to 180m. Location: Antarctic – within the Antarctic Circle Habitat: Sea ice along the coast and surrounding islands Wild population: Approximately 2.5 million pairs in 160 colonies The threats to Adélie penguins Climate change. How your adoption can help: £60 (or £5 a month) could pay for helicopter fuel for one hour when tracking penguins across the rugged Antarctic terrain The penguins of Adélie land You can adopt five Adélie penguins – a mix of male and female individuals from a colony of 500-600 at the Dumont d’Urville base on Pointe Géologie archipelago, in an area of the Antarctic known as Adélie land. I am happy to support WWF in anyway I can to help save these species from extinction. I'm proud to have supported WWF for as many years as I can remember.
Hawaii It's easy to see why Hawaii has become synonymous with paradise. Just look at these sugary beaches, Technicolor coral reefs and volcanoes beckoning adventurous spirits. Kaleidoscopic Culture Floating all by itself in the middle of the Pacific, Hawaii proudly maintains its own identity apart from the US mainland. Spam, shave ice, surfing, ukulele and slack key guitar music, hula, pidgin, 'rubbah slippah' (flip-flops) – these are just some of the touchstones of everyday life, island style. Pretty much everything here feels easygoing, low-key and casual, bursting with genuine aloha and fun. Bountiful Beauty Snapshots of these islands scattered in a cobalt blue ocean are heavenly, without the need for any tourist-brochure embellishment. Why I Love Hawaii By Sara Benson, Coordinating Author On my first trip to Hawaii, I landed on Maui almost broke and with my luggage lost in transit. Muticulturalism & Arts Play Outdoors Just as in days of old, life in Hawaii is lived outdoors.