Karakul Lake in Tajikistan

Lake Karakul or "Black Lake" is located in the high and dry Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan, within the Tajik National Park, in one of the most beautiful and remote location in Central Asia. It is a deep brackish-water lake lying in a closed basin at an altitude of 3,900 meters above sea level. Surrounded by high mountains which block humid air masses, the valley receives less than 30 mm of precipitation a year making it one of the driest places in Central Asia. Between October to May the lake is entirely frozen and forms a white expanse when viewed from Karakul village where a small community of Kyrgyz people survive through nomadic herding of yaks, sheep and goats.

10 Most Beautiful Landscapes of Finland

Finnish nature photographer Tea Karvinen shares her list of Finland’s ten most beautiful landscapes. Utö, Finland’s southernmost inhabited island is a very unusual place. Travelling there by car and boat from Helsinki takes just as long as flying to New York from Helsinki, even though the distance to Utö is a mere fraction of a trip to the United States.

Yet many Finns prefer to visit the island of Utö, especially during the winter or in the spring and autumn to watch the migration of the birds. The rocky island is just over one square kilometre in size and only about 50 people live there all year round – the number triples during the summer. After the Finnish Armed Forces vacated the island in 2005, their premises were taken over by locals that are now rented out as accommodation for tourists.

Jurmo, an island village close to Utö, is also worth visiting for those wishing to gain a glimpse into the nature and life on the Finnish archipelago, which is one of the world’s largest island clusters. Koli in northern Karelia is Finland’s most well-known national landscape. Imagine the blue (white in winter) of Lake Pielisjärvi, speckled with its many islands and the rocky summit of the Ukko-Koli Mountain soaring above you. This is surrounded by beautiful hills covered with tall candle-shaped spruce trees. This amazing landscape is only a short 10-minute walk from the Koli Hotel.

In Koli National Park, you can walk to a wide variety of natural wonders: traditional gardens, ancient forests, hilly scenery covered with trees, flowery meadows, sheep grazing areas, and lush groves. Over 100 years ago, Finnish artists and nature enthusiasts, such as classical composer Jean Sibelius, writer Juhani Aho and painter Eero Järnefelt, began elevating Koli’s status as an important national landscape.

10 fascinating photo from Finland

Finnish Lapland is known around the world primarily as the birthplace of Santa Claus.However, in this wonderful edge has another unique feature - a forest, which in the winter turns into totally unrealistic, mysterious figure.

National Geographic Photo Contest - 2013

The National Geographic Photo Contest for 2013 ends tomorrow, Nov. 30, but for procrastinators there’s still time to enter.The contest officially closes at 11:59:00 p.m. US Eastern Time Saturday. This post features a sampling of the entrants work. Winners in the three categories (people, nature, places) will be published in the National Geographic magazine. The caption information is provided and written by the individual photographer.

(Nature) An over/under water split level image of beautiful crimson red waratah anemones in a rock pool at low tide. What I really love about over/under photographs is that it gives the underwater element a sense of place. For the viewer it marries the underwater environment with our own familiar world. It links the unknown with the known. (Photo and caption by Matt Smith/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Stanserhorn Cabrio - Amezing Two Storey Cabin Cableway

 Ruslan Eunice wrote: "The cable car Stanserhorn Cabrio has its origins in the Swiss town of Stans (Stans), a few kilometers from Lucerne, Canton of Nidwalden (Nidwalden). And it leads to Mount Stanserhorn (Stanserhorn) altitude 1898 meters above sea level. Opened as recently as May 2012. Is unique in that passengers have the opportunity to ride on the world's first two-story-Convertible telekabine. The upper floor has a roof, and tourists can feel the wind blow, breathe fresh air and enjoy the gorgeous 360-degree view. "

Beautiful Mountains And Rice Fields of Tam Coc Valley (Vietnam)

Tam Coc Valley - one of the most exciting attractions in Vietnam. In the valley of rice fields on the picturesque River flows Ngo Dong, the bed of which are painted in different colors depending on the season. This is a popular tourist destination near the city of Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam. The Tam Coc (“three caves”) portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngo Dong river, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves  the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. The boats are typically rowed by one or two local women who also sell embroidered goods.

Tam Coc is located about 90 km from the city of Ninh Binh, and is considered one of the most spectacular sights in Vietnam.

Mountain hut (mountain shelter) On Various Mountains

A mountain hut (also known as alpine hut, mountain shelter, and mountain hostel) is a building located in the mountains intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. Mountain huts usually provide simple sleeping berths, and personnel may prepare meals and drinks for mountaineers. Mountain huts usually allow anybody to access their facilities. Some huts in more remote areas have no personnel, but mountaineers are still allowed to access them. Mountain huts have been built for many years, some as early as the 1880s.Huts used as Forest Service guard shacks and sheep herding shelters were built in Colorado in the 1940s. These huts cut through now what is the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. In the United States, New Hampshire, the Carter Notch Hut was built in 1904 and is still in use today.

Pleisenhütte (1,757 m) in the KarwendelMountains, Tyrol region, Austria

The Unkai Terrace of Tomamu – A Magical Place Above the Clouds

Located in Japan’s Tomamu Resort,  on the island of Hokkaido, the Unkai Terrace is a unique scenic spot perched high atop a mountain peak that is often above the clouds, offering tourists breathtaking views of the white, fluffy sea beneath them.

The “unkai” (sea of clouds) phenomenon has been attracting tourists to the resort town on Tomamu for years. The natural hot springs in the area and the differences in temperature during the few hours when night turns into day determine the formation of an immaculate white blanket of clouds over the mountainous region, but only a few people had the chance to see the unique effect from above, until a gondola system was put in place. It takes early-bird tourists up the mountain to the Unkai Terrace, right above the sea of clouds, where they can watch the sunrise, take photos of the Hidaka and Tokachi mountain peaks as they pierce the fluffy fog and enjoy a refreshing cup of coffee or a bowl of soup. Although the gondola fare is pretty expensive (around $20), the view from Unkai Terrace is definitely worth every yen.

 

Beautiful Photography of Clods

Most incredible volcano expedition ever 2012 - the full version

The Most Incredible Volcano Video ever shot ! Geoff Mackley, Bradley Ambrose, Nathan Berg, after an epic struggle with the weather for 35 days, we became the first people ever to get this close to Marum Volcano's famed lava lake on Ambrym Island, Vanuatu. Coming within 30 metres of the lava lake down a watercourse, it was possible to stand the heat for only 6 seconds. With Fire Brigade breathing apparatus and heat proof proximity suit it was possible to stand on the very edge and view the incredible show for over 40 minutes.

Snowbird - Top of Tram - Gad Valley

Nestled in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort lies on 2,500 acres in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, about 30 minutes away from downtown Salt Lake City. Snowbird receives 500 inches of annual snowfall and is known for its hospitality, terrain, and proximity to the Salt Lake City International Airport. Snowbird is a year-round resort and offers an array of activities including an Alpine Slide and Mountain Flyer, as well as a luxury spa and 15 restaurants serving everything from burgers to fine dining. 

The Magnificent Himalayas and Karakoram Ranges - Northern Pakistan

Colorful flowering lupines at Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo - the second largest of the three, roughly parallel lakes located between the north and south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. Lake - a real photographer's dream, with the mountains and snow capped peaks, turquoise blue lake and charmingly beautiful little church. Every year from mid-November to December, the beauty enhanced by colorful flowering lupine. Russell lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) is an exotic plant that can grow up to 1.5 meters in height. It is a constant variety, the seeds are planted in the summer, die back for the winter to be resurfaced next summ.  Flowers are like peas and have a variety of colorings - blue, purple, orange, yellow, pink, white or a mixture of the two colors. Leaves are divided into processes, reminiscent of the fingers. Strong baskets with seeds ripen and explode in the summer heat, releasing a lot of dark brown seeds. Russell lupins were planted in 1950 at the height of Connie Scott Godley, when the seed was scattered along the sides of the main highway. These high spikes now grow in bundance along many roadsides and open areas around the villages, and throughout the scenic area Mackenzie. The variety of colors makes a stunning area of ​​Lake Tekapo photographers paradise.

A dream treehouse

Monarch Butterfly Migration

The Monarch butterfly (scientific name: Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. It is easily recognizable by its bright orange-red wings, with black veins and white spots along the edges. The Monarch butterfly is famous for its southward migration from Canada to Mexico and the northward return back to Canada in summer. Every fall, millions of these butterflies fly west to their wintering grounds in California and Mexico, covering the trees there with their bright shimmering wings. These butterflies congregate into colonies, clustering onto the pine and oyamel trees. In many cases, they are so thick that the trees turn orange in color and branches sag from the weight. It’s a remarkable sight that attracts scores of tourists. The Monarchs are the only butterfly that migrates both north and south as the birds do regularly, but no individual makes the entire round trip, because the migration period spans the life of three to four generations of the butterfly. Monarch butterflies are also one of the few insects which can cross the Atlantic.

Pebble Beach And Cliff of Etretat in France

Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Le Havre.Three massive natural stone arches at both ends of Etretat Plage inspired the impressionist painters Boudin, Monet and Manet. This stretch of Alabaster Coast, northeast of Le Havre, has been classified as a site of “national importance”. The pebbled beach, sparked with quartz geodes, is wrapped in dramatic cliffs eroded into giant formations and offshore needles. Two of the arches, the Porte d’Aval and the Porte Amont, can be seen from the town; a third, the Manneport, only reveals itself after a walk at low tide when 17th century oyster beds also emerge from the sea.

20 Stunning Landscape Photography

Red Beauty of Africa is waiting

China's beautiful scenery of the river poets and artists

Although the world a lot of places that can be called "a photographer's dream," but very few of them can make you feel like you were inside a beautiful picture. One such place is the River Lee. It is located in the Chinese province of Guangxi, and it is called "the river of poets and artists," since it is surrounded by incredibly beautiful landscapes - rolling green hills, cone-shaped limestone peaks and terraced rice fields. Portion of the river between the cities of Guilin and Yangshuo is particularly renowned for its spectacular views.

With the river Lee is also associated fishing with cormorants - the age-old way of fishing, in which fishermen use specially nadressirovannyh birds - cormorants.

Kamchatka snow cave

Denis writes Bud'ko aka ratbud: "The end point of our photo tour was Mutnovsky. I come here every year, but this time it was different. Last winter was very little snow, and even to the same dawned hot summer. Therefore snowfields that never conceal this year is very much reduced in size. As a result, open a passage in the snow cave beneath them. "

Snow cave on the slopes of the volcano Mutnovskiy.