Grand Canyon, USA

Journey through the Abysmal North America


hot shadows
Diffuse silhouettes of the Grand Canyon created by sunset to the west.
Canyon of the pot of gold
Clouds charged over the Grand Canyon generate a blazing rainbow.
an outsized view
Silhouette of a visitor who admires the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon.
A tribute to the Hopi
Grand Canyon visitors on different floors of the Desert View watchtower, erected in 1932 to promote Indian culture but arousing considerable controversy.
old fashioned
Muleiro takes a visitor on a guided mule tour to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
binocular view
Asian teenager observes the depths of the Grand Canyon with binoculars.
"All aboard"
Driver prepares to board the locomotive of one of the Grand Canyon Railway trains
grand canyon on fire
Twilight "fires" the sky above the Grand Canyon.
an unlikely affection
Mule and mule in a moment of fun before descending again into the depths of the Grand Canyon.
keeping an eye on humans
Opportunistic Crow watches the movement of visitors who admire the Grand Canyon.
Hot Shadows II
Silhouettes of visitors watching the sunset from an elevated edge of Desert View Point.
the great colorado
The Colorado River flows at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, with a huge volume of water and at great speed.
grand drinks
Guest chooses a drink from Desert View Point vending machines illuminated with images of the Grand Canyon.
The Colorado River and tributaries began flowing into the plateau of the same name 17 million years ago and exposed half of Earth's geological past. They also carved one of its most stunning entrails.

We are disarmed by the exorbitant room prices in the vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park.

We ended up choosing, as the base of successive road shuttles, one of the historic pieces of old Route 66, lost in vast Arizona.

Located almost 100 km away, Williams proved to be a small town in Main Street America style, bisected by the emblematic road and in which, only in appearance, little had changed over time. And yet, on the full fringe of Hualapai Indian territory, almost only Indians managed the dozens of row motels on both sides of the road.

The twilight took over the village and made dozens of neon signs blaze when, stunned from a journey that was already coming from the far Californian coast of the Pacific Ocean, we entered one of those practical shelters without a trace of our soul.

We slept much longer than we needed. We wake up to a new day of blue skies and radiant sunshine.

Even though a substantial proportion of Williams' guests were boarding the Grand Canyon Railway steam train to the Grand Canyon by that time, we remain faithful to our old but reliable Buick Le Saber.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Grand Canyon Railway

Driver prepares to board the locomotive of one of the Grand Canyon Railway trains

We head north along the endless straights of Highways 64 and 180, in the latter, through a Kaibab forest covered with Ponderosa pine trees that foreshadowed the forced end of the route.

An hour later, we cross the south portal. We enter Grand Canyon Village.

The Abysmal View of the Grand Canyon

Eager to reward the senses, we headed straight for the abyss. When we confronted it, we finally realized why so many travelers regard it as America's supreme scene.

Onward stretched an exquisitely carved domain to the depths, hacked into layers and multicolored columns of rock from the most diverse eras.

Above, stray clouds, seduced by the sumptuousness and geological complexity, played shadow games.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, trio

Trio admires the Grand Canyon's hewn vastness from a massive slab.

For a moment, our jaws dropped open. We took advantage of the dazzle to regain our breath that was cut off halfway by the panorama and the rarefaction of those 2200 meters of altitude we were at, but which the depths (almost 1900 meters) and the incredible dimension of the precipice (446 km by 29 km) barely allowed us to notice.

We admire it from Yavapai Point, a viewpoint that honors one of the various indigenous peoples in the area, rivals of the great Navajo nation from the north just off Mather Point.

And as we hopped along Desert View Drive along the elevated edge of the South Rim, from other vantage points with natural verandas set over dizzying indentations.

From west to east, we perceive the view of the distant and elusive bed of the Colorado River to be favored by the configuration of the relief.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Greater Colorado

The Colorado River flows at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, with a huge volume of water and at great speed.

Around Lipan Point, the great fluvial responsible for that mutilation of the earth's surface, undergoes tight meanders.

To soon flow, almost unhindered, through the much more regular lands to the east of Tanner Canyon.

A Geological and Erosive Work of the Old Colorado River

An intense debate prevails among scientists, but recent studies have argued that the Colorado River set its course and began carving its lush basin in the Colorado Plateau 17 million years ago.

The enormous depth – not even the greatest in the world which is located in the Nepalese canyon of Kai Gandaki – and the superlative altitude of its slopes, most formed below sea level, is due to a massive survey (between 1500 and 3000 meters) of the Colorado Plateau over 60 million years ago.

This survey increased the flow gradient of the Colorado River and its tributaries, which dramatically increased the speed at which they flow and their rock wear capacity.

Climatic conditions during the ice ages also increased the amount of water drained into the basin, which again reinforced the erosion process.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Binocular View

Asian teenager observes the depths of the Grand Canyon with binoculars.

Desert View Watch Tower: An Old Kiva-inspired Watchtower

We reach the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon, we find the tallest building on the South Rim. At first glance, the cylindrical tower looks like an old Native American ruin.

Inside, divided into four floors, we found that it was one of several buildings from the early 30s for a company named Fred Harvey that still promotes Native American culture and art.

It was built inspired by a kiva, a structure used in the spiritual practices of various Pueblos peoples and based on a solid metal structure that supported the current coating with a trustworthy indigenous look, because it was achieved with carefully selected stones.

For the opening, the company's mentor chose a traditional blessing ritual of the Hopi ethnic group, with songs, dances and speeches. Afterwards, the guests enjoyed a typical meal freshly cooked by indigenous women.

Even so, the watchtower proved consensual.

Part of the park's staff supported it, but those in charge of nature interpretation were angry with the novelty. "It stands out from the landscape like a wounded thumb, and calling it an Indian watchtower is, to say the least, misleading." Vents Edwin McKee, the leader of the naturalists.

The monument withstood controversy and frequent bad weather.

We took the opportunity to climb its cornucopia ramp to the top floor where we knew the view would reward us.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Desert View Tower

Grand Canyon visitors on different floors of the Desert View watchtower, erected in 1932 to promote Indian culture but arousing considerable controversy.

The Meanings of the Colorado River, the Painted Desert and Arizona on Fire

We saw even more of Colorado, both from the river – which later spawned a Little Colorado – and from the homonymous plateau that, beyond its bed, traversed the landscape that the 10,000 Maniacs New Yorkers extol in “The Painted Desert”, one of his most famous themes.

"The Painted Desert can wait 'till Summer. We've played this game of just imagine long enough...” sings Natalie Merchant, disillusioned with a love affair with someone she ardently desires to join and who tells her about her adventures in the Grand Canyon and its surroundings, but who postpones the union time and time again.

The evening did not fail. It brought a freezing cold that caught us on a longer-than-expected hike down a steep path. Back at the top, we both huddled inside the car, drinking hot chocolate to avoid freezing

Grand Canyon Arizona Travel North America Abysmal vending

Guest chooses a drink from Desert View Point vending machines illuminated with images of the Grand Canyon.

Simultaneously, the sun was setting to the west of the gigantic river gorge.

It was breaking down in such a way over the countless silhouettes of its cliffs and in the sky above that it seemed to have set Arizona on fire.

Recovered from the impending hypothermia, we gave in to the seduction of the incandescent scenery and returned to the edge of the canyon.

From there, in the company of some other Neros obscured by the dim light, we were ecstatic to watch as the celestial fire was extinguished.

How it made the sky of a yellowish-orange fainter.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Grand Canyon on fire

Twilight “fires” the sky above the Grand Canyon.

We pick up at the faraway Williams motel.

"So, did you like the Canyon?" asks us the Indian receptionist who had met us the day before, a forty-year-old Hindu from Gujarat. “I've been here for two years.

I only looked at him once.

You know, those who come from poor India and find an opportunity in the States, prioritize work.

I'll still be back there and explore more of the West!”

Grand Canyon, Arizona's Insurmountable Depression

New dawn, new trip to the abyss, accomplished even faster than the day before. On these sides, taking into account the quality of North American roads, only the Grand Canyon raises insurmountable barriers to travel.

Its North Rim is less than 20 km from the South Rim. As might be expected, neither federal nor state authorities have ever dared to propose building a bridge over the crown jewel of US national parks.

If we wanted to get there, we would have to face 350 km by road.

The saga of the Grand Canyon's obvious impassability goes back a long time. The Hopi Indians already inhabited it and roamed it for centuries when the first Europeans arrived.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Cliffs

Successive multicolored cliffs carved by the prehistoric flow of the Colorado River and its tributaries.

In 1540, Spanish captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and a small group of soldiers were looking for the then-popular Seven Cities of Cibola when they reached its shore, aided by native guides.

Three of the men went down a third of the slope but had to return to the top because they didn't have enough water. “Some of the rocks down there are bigger than the tower in Seville,” they reported.

Grand Canyon Arizona Travel North America Abysmal Silhouettes

Silhouettes of visitors watching the sunset from an elevated edge of Desert View Point.

Several historians argue that the Indians avoided revealing the trails for the Colorado River to them and that no Europeans ever visited the canyon again for the next two hundred years.

Only towards the end of the XNUMXth century did Hispanic priests searching for a route between Santa Fe and California found a path known as the “Passage of the Priests”.

Today, this trail is underwater in the gigantic Powell artificial lake that we would visit later.

The Shuttle Mules Carry Visitors to the Depths of the Colorado River

We tried to join one of the mule caravans organized by the park and replicate its historic crossings.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, mules

Muleiro takes a visitor on a guided mule tour to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

We would only have a vacancy in a few good days. The muleteer on duty is sympathetic to our frustration. To compensate, he lets us pet two of his mules, to whom he spoke as if they were daughters.

"In a little while we're going down again, Lulu." You didn't feel like anything anymore, did you? But it will have to be!”

Lulu recognizes the name and affection.

It rubs its muzzle on its picturesque owner and inaugurates an exhibition of affection that we didn't expect from such creatures.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Mule and mule

Mule and mule in a moment of fun before descending again into the depths of the Grand Canyon.

The wind rises before our eyes. It brings a storm that has covered the leaden cloud zone.

In three times, localized showers fall.

A huge rainbow protrudes from the bottom of the cliffs into the overcast sky.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Rainbow

Clouds charged over the Grand Canyon generate a blazing rainbow.

The storm passes. And the wind drops enough for some of the helicopters flying over the canyon to get back into business.

We boarded one of them.

We open up the grand scene from the air, in the company of a group of Japanese women who, panicked by the turmoil, cannot hide their agony, much less appreciate the grandiose bottom into which they feared to crash.

We land safe and sound. We continue to the western limit of Hermits Rest. There we rest to contemplate the surreal view.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Travel North America, Abysmal, Hot Shadows

Diffuse silhouettes of the Grand Canyon created by sunset to the west.

Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
Fish River Canyon, Namíbia

The Namibian Guts of Africa

When nothing makes you foreseeable, a vast river ravine burrows the southern end of the Namíbia. At 160km long, 27km wide and, at intervals, 550 meters deep, the Fish River Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Africa. And one of the biggest canyons on the face of the Earth.
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Navajo nation, USA

The Navajo Nation Lands

From Kayenta to Page, passing through Marble Canyon, we explore the southern Colorado Plateau. Dramatic and desert, the scenery of this indigenous domain, cut out in Arizona, reveals itself to be splendid.
Death Valley, USA

The Hottest Place Resurrection

Since 1921, Al Aziziyah, in Libya, was considered the hottest place on the planet. But the controversy surrounding the 58th measured there meant that, 99 years later, the title was returned to Death Valley.
Albuquerque, USA

When the Drums Sound, the Indians Resist

With more than 500 tribes present, the pow wow "Gathering of the Nations" celebrates the sacred remnants of Native American cultures. But it also reveals the damage inflicted by colonizing civilization.
Taos, USA

North America Ancestor of Taos

Traveling through New Mexico, we were dazzled by the two versions of Taos, that of the indigenous adobe hamlet of Taos Pueblo, one of the towns of the USA inhabited for longer and continuously. And that of Taos city that the Spanish conquerors bequeathed to the Mexico: Mexico gave in to United States and that a creative community of native descendants and migrated artists enhance and continue to praise.
Big Sur, USA

The Coast of All Refuges

Over 150km, the Californian coast is subjected to a vastness of mountains, ocean and fog. In this epic setting, hundreds of tormented souls follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Henri Miller.
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Little Havana, USA

Little Havana of the Nonconformists

Over the decades and until today, thousands of Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits in search of the land of freedom and opportunity. With the US a mere 145 km away, many have gone no further. His Little Havana in Miami is today the most emblematic neighborhood of the Cuban diaspora.
Mount Denali, Alaska

The Sacred Ceiling of North America

The Athabascan Indians called him Denali, or the Great, and they revered his haughtiness. This stunning mountain has aroused the greed of climbers and a long succession of record-breaking climbs.
Juneau, Alaska

The Little Capital of Greater Alaska

From June to August, Juneau disappears behind cruise ships that dock at its dockside. Even so, it is in this small capital that the fate of the 49th American state is decided.
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

Projected from the Mojave Desert like a neon mirage, the North American capital of gaming and entertainment is experienced as a gamble in the dark. Lush and addictive, Vegas neither learns nor regrets.
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Mauna Kea: the Volcano with an Eye out in Space

The roof of Hawaii was off-limits to natives because it housed benevolent deities. But since 1968, several nations sacrificed the peace of the gods and built the greatest astronomical station on the face of the Earth.
pearl harbor, Hawaii

The Day Japan Went Too Far

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor military base. Today, parts of Hawaii look like Japanese colonies but the US will never forget the outrage.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Safari
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

Annapurna Circuit – The Painful Acclimatization of the Ice Lake

On the way up to the Ghyaru village, we had a first and unexpected show of how ecstatic the Annapurna Circuit can be tasted. Nine kilometers later, in Braga, due to the need to acclimatize, we climbed from 3.470m from Braga to 4.600m from Lake Kicho Tal. We only felt some expected tiredness and the increase in the wonder of the Annapurna Mountains.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Architecture & Design
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Ceremonies and Festivities
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Resident of Dali, Yunnan, China
Cities
Dali, China

The Surrealist China of Dali

Embedded in a magical lakeside setting, the ancient capital of the Bai people has remained, until some time ago, a refuge for the backpacker community of travelers. The social and economic changes of China they fomented the invasion of Chinese to discover the southwest corner of the nation.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Meal
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Culture
Jok​ülsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

The Chant and the Ice

Created by water from the Arctic Ocean and the melting of Europe's largest glacier, Jokülsárlón forms a frigid and imposing domain. Icelanders revere her and pay her surprising tributes.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Cambodia, Angkor, Ta Phrom
Traveling
Ho Chi Minh a of Angkor, Cambodia

The Crooked Path to Angkor

From Vietnam onwards, Cambodia's crumbling roads and minefields take us back to the years of Khmer Rouge terror. We survive and are rewarded with the vision of the greatest religious temple
Jumping forward, Pentecost Naghol, Bungee Jumping, Vanuatu
Ethnic
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Pentecost Naghol: Bungee Jumping for Real Men

In 1995, the people of Pentecostes threatened to sue extreme sports companies for stealing the Naghol ritual. In terms of audacity, the elastic imitation falls far short of the original.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

New Orleans Louisiana, First Line
History
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

The Muse of the Great American South

New Orleans stands out from conservative US backgrounds as the defender of all rights, talents and irreverence. Once French, forever Frenchified, the city of jazz inspires new contagious rhythms, the fusion of ethnicities, cultures, styles and flavors.
Ribeira Grande, Santo Antao
Islands
Ribeira Grande, Santo AntãoCape Verde

Santo Antão, Up the Ribeira Grande

Originally a tiny village, Ribeira Grande followed the course of its history. It became the village, later the city. It has become an eccentric and unavoidable junction on the island of Santo Antão.
ala juumajarvi lake, oulanka national park, finland
Winter White
Kuusamo ao PN Oulanka, Finland

Under the Arctic's Icy Spell

We are at 66º North and at the gates of Lapland. In these parts, the white landscape belongs to everyone and to no one like the snow-covered trees, the atrocious cold and the endless night.
silhouette and poem, Cora coralina, Goias Velho, Brazil
Literature
Goiás Velho, Brazil

The Life and Work of a Marginal Writer

Born in Goiás, Ana Lins Bretas spent most of her life far from her castrating family and the city. Returning to its origins, it continued to portray the prejudiced mentality of the Brazilian countryside
Walk on the coast, Villarrica volcano, Pucon, Chile
Nature
Villarrica Volcano, Chile

Ascent to the Villarrica Volcano Crater, in Full Activity

Pucón abuses nature's trust and thrives at the foot of the Villarrica mountain. We follow this bad example along icy trails and conquer the crater of one of the most active volcanoes in South America.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Tibetan heights, altitude sickness, mountain prevent to treat, travel
Natural Parks

Altitude Sickness: the Grievances of Getting Mountain Sick

When traveling, it happens that we find ourselves confronted with the lack of time to explore a place as unmissable as it is high. Medicine and previous experiences with Altitude Evil dictate that we should not risk ascending in a hurry.
Kirkjubour, Streymoy, Faroe Islands
UNESCO World Heritage
Kirkjubour, streymoy, Faroe Islands

Where the Faroese Christianity Washed Ashore

A mere year into the first millennium, a Viking missionary named Sigmundur Brestisson brought the Christian faith to the Faroe Islands. Kirkjubour became the shelter and episcopal seat of the new religion.
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Characters
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
La Digue, Seychelles, Anse d'Argent
Beaches
La Digue, Seychelles

Monumental Tropical Granite

Beaches hidden by lush jungle, made of coral sand washed by a turquoise-emerald sea are anything but rare in the Indian Ocean. La Digue recreated itself. Around its coastline, massive boulders sprout that erosion has carved as an eccentric and solid tribute of time to the Nature.
holy plain, Bagan, Myanmar
Religion
Bagan, Myanmar

The Plain of Pagodas, Temples and other Heavenly Redemptions

Burmese religiosity has always been based on a commitment to redemption. In Bagan, wealthy and fearful believers continue to erect pagodas in hopes of winning the benevolence of the gods.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Society
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Wildlife
Damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Swakopmund's iconic dunes Sossuvlei, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with hills of reddish rock, the highest mountain and ancient rock art of the young nation. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.