The name Afghanistan invokes images of a dry and arid country with mountainous terrain, endless desert, thorn bushes and mud houses. But at the center of this depressing landscape is a series of spectacular lakes with water so blue that it looks almost like ink.

Band-e Amir is a series of six incredibly deep blue lakes in the heart of the central Afghanistan. The lakes are situated in the foothills of the Hindu Kush, the second highest mountain range in the world, 80 kilometers from the ancient town of Bamiyan, where the Taliban destroyed the world’s tallest Buddha statues in 2001. Surrounded by pink towering limestone cliffs almost in complete lack of vegetation, the stunning lakes seems totally out of place.

The beautiful lakes were created by the carbon dioxide rich water that is drawn from the spring melt-water in the surrounding mountains and came out from faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. This outflow of water percolates slowly through the underlying limestone, dissolving its principal mineral, calcium carbonate. Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine), which created dams that trap water in increasingly large basins. These dams are usually about 10m high and 3m wide. Water cascades from one lake to the other near travertine terraces serving as massive natural dams between the lakes.

The deep blue color of the lakes is due to the clarity of the air as well as the purity of the water. The high mineral content of the lakes also causes the intense and varying colors of the lake waters.

Of the six lakes, Band-e Panir is the smallest, with a diameter of approximately 100m (330ft). The largest is Band-e Zulfiqar, which measures some 6.5km (4mi) in length. The most accessible of the lakes is Band-e-Haibat, literally translated as Dam of Awe.

Band-e-Amir had been a destination for travelers since the 1950s. The lakes became a national park only in 2009, although their beauty was recognized much earlier, in 196o. But due to the instability of the government at that time, it wasn’t recognized as a national park. Covering approximately 230 square miles, Band-e Amir is Afghanistan’s first and only national park and it also features on UNESCO World heritage list.

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.

The Southern Namib desert is home to some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes of the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. These dunes continue right to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The cold waters of the sea brushing against the dunes of the Namib desert is one of the most surreal sights.

While the sea coast extends for hundreds of miles, one of the best places to see these dunes is at Swakopmund. Known as Swakop in Namibia, it is the country’s biggest coastal town and a mecca for Namibians on holiday. The city’s German origins are quite pronounced in beautiful old German Colonial buildings throughout the city, making an even starker contrast for this town sitting at the edge of the Namib Desert.

Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak, is a mountain with an elevation of 1,675 metres (5,495 ft) located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountain is located 46 km (29 mi) northeast of Pangnirtung and features Earth’s greatest vertical drop of 1,250 m (4,101 ft), with the cliff overhanging at an average angle of 15 degrees from vertical. Despite its remoteness, this feature makes the mountain a popular rock climbing site. Camping is allowed, with the only official site being at the entrance to the Akshayuk Valley near Overlord Peak.

I don’t know about climbing it, maybe a parachute jump from the top.

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This structure in Slovakia has an uncanny resemblance to the giant creatures from War of the Worlds.

By Kaushik

The Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising, commonly known as Most Slovenského národného povstania or Most SNP in short, is a road bridge over the Danube river in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. The bridge was built in late 1960s and early ’70s at the height of Communist excess, in honor of the 1944 resistance movement against the Nazi forces. The very retro-futuristic SNP Bridge was inspired by the optimistic futurism of the 1960s, evident from the flying saucer-shaped structure at the top of the bridge’s only pylon. The UFO structure actually houses a restaurant reached using an elevator and offers a beautiful panoramic view of Bratislava.

The asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge is 431 meters long with a main span length of 303 m. Indeed, it’s the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge to have one pylon and one cable-stayed plane. The restaurant is located some 90 meters above the river below.

Although officially the bridge has been renamed to “New Bridge”, it’s still referred to by its old name of Most SNP or the UFO bridge.

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No neighbours to worry about

The famous black sand

Creative hydro towers

The Island country is on a major earthquake fault intersection

Capital and largest city		Reykjavík 64°08′N 21°56′W / 64.133°N 21.933°W / 64.133; -21.933
Official language and national language		Icelandic
Ethnic groups (2014)		93.01% Icelandic 3.13% Polish 3.84% other
Religion		Evangelical Lutheranism
Demonym		Icelander
Government		Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
–	President	Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
–	Prime Minister	Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson
–	Speaker of Parliament	Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson
–	President of Supreme Court	Markús Sigurbjörnsson
Legislature		Althing
Formation
–	Settlement	9th century
–	Commonwealth	930–1262
–	Union with Norway	1262–1814
–	Danish monarchy	1380–1944
–	Constitution	5 January 1874
–	Kingdom	1 December 1918
–	Republic	17 June 1944
Area
–	Total	102,775 km2 (108th) 39,699 sq mi
–	Water (%)	2.7
Population
–	1 January 2015 estimate	329,100 (182nd)
–	Density	3.2/km2 (233rd) 8.29/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2015 estimate
–	Total	$14.488 billion (142nd)
–	Per capita	$44,575 (23rd)