Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has a very unique appearance in relation to other giant mountains of the world.  First of all the upper reaches of the mountain are not covered in ice and snow, and the sparse vegetation at the top give the mountain a dark chocolate colour.  Second is the volcanic crater in the middle of the flat top.  It reminds me of a big mound of chocolate sprinkled lightly with whip cream.

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcanic mountain in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet above sea level (the Uhuru Peak/Kibo Peak).

Kilimanjaro is composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo 5,895 m (19,341 ft); Mawenzi 5,149 m (16,893 ft); and Shira 3,962 m (13,000 ft). Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim.

Kilimanjaro is a large stratovolcano. Two of its three peaks, Mawenzi and Shira, are extinct while Kibo (the highest peak) is dormant and could erupt again. The last major eruption has been dated to between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago.

Although it is dormant, Kibo has fumaroles that emit gas in the crater. Several collapses and landslides have occurred on Kibo in the past, one creating the area known as the Western Breach.

In the spring of 2009, British scientist Jonathan Sims was a member of the first expedition to enter Hang Son Doong, or “mountain river cave,” in a remote part of central Vietnam. Hidden in rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near the border with Laos, the cave is part of a network of 150 or so caves, many still not surveyed, in the Annamite Mountains.

There’s a jungle inside Vietnam’s mammoth cavern. A skyscraper could fit too. And the end is out of sight.

A giant cave column swagged in flowstone towers over explorers swimming through the depths of Hang Ken, one of 20 new caves discovered last year in Vietnam.

A half-mile block of 40-story buildings could fit inside this lit stretch of Hang Son Doong, which may be the world’s biggest subterranean passage.

Mist sweeps past the hills of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, its 330 square miles set aside in 2001 to protect one of Asia’s largest cave systems. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese soldiers hid in caves from U.S. air strikes. Bomb craters now serve as fishponds.

Going underground, expedition members enter Hang En, a cave tunneled out by the Rao Thuong River. Dwindling to a series of ponds during the dry months, the river can rise almost 300 feet during the flood season, covering the rocks where cavers stand.

Like a petrified waterfall, a cascade of fluted limestone, greened by algae, stops awestruck cavers in their tracks. They’re near the exit of Hang En.

Navigating an algae-skinned maze, expedition organizers Deb and Howard Limbert lead the way across a sculpted cavescape in Hang Son Doong. Ribs form as calcite-rich water overflows pools.

“It sounded like a roaring train,” said “Sweeny” Sewell, describing the noise a second before a waterfall exploded into Hang Son Doong through the Watch Out for Dinosaurs doline, or sinkhole opening. A rare dry-season downpour produced the thundering runoff. Were the cavers scared of drowning? “Maybe if it were a smaller cave,” said expedition leader Howard Limbert, “but not here.”

A jungle inside a cave? A roof collapse long ago in Hang Son Doong let in light; plants thickly followed. As “Sweeny” Sewell climbs to the surface, hikers struggle through the wryly named Garden of Edam.

Size comparison between Belgium and Canada.

Belgium is the little purple inkblot.

While we’re at it, here are some more comparisons.

France (purple), Brazil (orange)

Australia (purple, orange), Russia (blue)

Manitoba (orange), Bangladesh (purple). FYI Manitoba has a population of 1.2 million, Bangladesh has a population of 168 million!

US (blue), UK (purple). We don’t always appreciate how much space we have in North America.

Sahara desert imposed over Canada. That is a giant sand dune, I’m getting thirsty just thinking about it.

Africa is utterly enormous. The purple is Germany.

Barcelona

Central Park, New York City

Venice

Amsterdam

Giza Pyramids, Egypt

Niagara Falls

Namib Desert, Namibia

Chicago

Shanghai

Cape Town, South Africa

Moscow

Vancouver

Seattle

Bac Son Valley, Vietnam

The picture below is not that of a painting. It was taken inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia, in a strange and alien landscape called Dead Vlei. Although sounds similar to “dead valley”, Dead Vlei is not an actually valley. The term means “dead marsh” (from English dead, and Afrikaans vlei, a lake or marsh in a valley between the dunes).

Deadvlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, scattered with hundreds of dead Acacia trees that once thrived when water from the Tsauchab River soaked this piece of land. Some 900 years ago the river diverted its course, leaving Dead Vlei literally high and dry. Dead Vlei has been claimed to be surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, the highest reaching 300-400 meters which rest on a sandstone terrace.

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 Abgestorbene Akazien im Dead vlei, Namibia

I have travelled through a few deserts in my limited travels.  And I have always experienced a feeling of space and openness in these dry and sunny landscapes.  Deserts are usually flat and therefore one can see for miles.  And there are not a lot of people to get in your way.  The flora is so distinct and odd that if you look closely at it the colours are striking.  The critters in the desert are not spotted easily, and this is good because many are poisonous and overall outright dastardly creatures.

When I travelled in the deserts of the southwest U.S. I scanned the ground like a city vagrant when I left the car.  Never know where a rattler or scorpion could be lurking.  But I was always amazed at the feeling I felt of freedom and space.  While passing through the Utah salt flats the level feature of the terrain was astounding.  It looked like a giant parking lot as far as the eye could see.  I guess that is why they race for the world land speed records there.

Many people find deserts to be desolate and bland.  But I think deserts are a great land feature that add tremendous diversity to the geography of the world.

Namibia

Painted Desert Utah

 Oasis in Libya

Mojave desert California

Namibian desert

Australia

White Sands New Mexico

Namibia

Nazca Desert Peru

Judaean Desert and the Dead Sea

U.S. and Mexico

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Aoga-shima island off the coast of Japan

Inishturkbeg Island off Ireland

Male, capital island city of the Maldives

Battleship Island, Japan. There was a coal mine under the island, the company built apartment buildings for the workers and their families. It was abandoned in the 1980’s.

Palau, South Pacific

Lejima Island, Japan

Sark Island, English Channel

Babel Island, off Tasmania

Thousand Island Lake, China

Small island off of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Whitsunday Island, Australia