Barrancos de Gebas, Spain

Located in the southeast of Spain, between the city of Murcia and the Sierra Espuña Regional Park, the Barrancos de Gebas is one of the most fascinating landscapes in Spain.

The semi-desert area, reminiscent of the American badlands, has a lunar landscape characterized by spectacular gullies, canyons and the turquoise waters of the Embalse de la Rambla of Algeciras.

Mauna Kea: the tallest mountain of the world

 
With its 8.848 meters above the sea level, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the earth, but if we consider measuring mountains from the bottom of the ocean, the highest mountain is the Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano located in the Hawaiian Big Island, with 10.210 meters (more than a km taller than Everest!).

Owing to the dry atmosphere, elevation and stable climate, Mauna Kea is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation.
On its summit, there are observatories useful for scientific research, despite not well considered by Native Hawaiians, for whom the summits of the Hawaiian mountains are sacred places.

The MKVIS Maunakea Visitor Station is accessible for tourists.

Croagh Patrick, Ireland

The Croagh Patrick (also known as “The Reek”), whose names means (St.) Patrick’s stack, is considered the holiest mountain in Ireland.

It is located in County Mayo on the Wild Atlantic Way, overlooking the Clew Bay; 764 meters high, it is the 4th highest mountains of the region.

Since the Stone Age the mountain carries on a tradition of pilgrimage; still nowadays every year (the last Friday and Sunday of July and the 15th of August) thousands of pilgrims ascend to the summit, where is believed Saint Patrick fasted for forty days in 441 AD. According to the tradition, the pilgrims should climb the mountain barefoot.

The view of the Clew Bay and the charming town of Westport from the top is absolutely outstanding. The 7km round trip walk trail starts from the Murrisk car park.

Moonbow

“The rainbow is seen by day, and it was formerly thought that it never appeared by night as a moon rainbow.
This opinion was due to the rarity of the occurrence: it was not observed, for though it does happen it does so rarely.
The reason is that the colours are not so easy to see in the dark and that many other conditions must coincide, and all that in a single day in the month.
For if there is to be one it must be at full moon, and then as the moon is either rising or setting. So we have only met with two instances of a moon rainbow in more than fifty years”

Aristotle – Meteorology, book III  (350 b.C.)
 
 
Moonbows may be seen in waterfalls and cloud forests areas like Yosemite and Cumberland Falls in U.S.A., Victoria Falls in Africa, Plitvice Lakes in Croatia and in the cloud forests of Monteverde and Santa Elena in Costa Rica.
Other places where it is common to see moonbows are the Waimea Canyon State Park (Hawaii), Skogafoss Waterfall, (Iceland),  Wallaman Falls (Australia) and Jerome (U.S.A.).

Okavango Delta, Botswana

It seems a bit weird that a river doesn’t reach the sea, but this is what happens to the Okavango, the fourth longest river on the African continent. It rises on the Angolan mountains to finish his race in Botswana, flowing into a sandy sea: the Kalahari desert.

The origin of this phenomenon dates back to the ice age, when the river flowed into the great Makgadikgadi lake, now a desert.
At its mouth, it forms an internal delta, a cradle of unbelievable biodiversity considered one of the best-preserved natural areas where huge quantities of animals can be found, of almost all the species of the African continent.

Okavango Delta
Okavango Delta from space © ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Okavango Delta
© Mario Micklisch

Asian Monsoon

Often travellers have many doubts about the best seasons to visit Southeast Asia …. let’s clarify.

The Monsoon are seasonal winds accompanied by changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation due to the heating of land and sea.

On earth, there are many monsoon areas: the Gulf of Guinea, the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Australia, Somalia, Spain, Portugal and northern Russia, but the area with the heaviest monsoon is southeastern Asia, due to the huge continental mass.

summer monsoon

In the summer season, the Asian continent is warmer than the sea, becoming a low-pressure zone and creating fresh and humid winds from the sea, with heavy rainfalls.

winter monsoon

In winter season, the Asian continent (high-pressure zone) cools, while the Indian Ocean (low-pressure zone) keeps their waters rather hot, creating dry and cold winds from the continent to the sea.

Best times to visit the Southeast Asian countries:

INDIA
South: from January to September
Northeast: from March to August
Kashmir areas: from May to September
Himalayan areas: from April to November


SRI LANKA
Southwest: from December to March
Northeast: from April to October

NEPAL
from September to November

MYANMAR – BANGLADESH
from November to February

THAILAND
North: from November to February
South: from March to May

LAOS – CAMBODIA
from November to February

VIETNAM
South: from December to April
Central Coast: from June to October
North: from May to October

MALAYSIA – INDONESIA
from May to October

Irta’Ale volcano, Ethiopia

Irta'Ale volcano
photo © Petr Meissner
The Irta’Ale (or Erta Ale) volcano, located in the northern area of Ethiopia, Danakil depression, is one of the few existing volcanoes with permanent lava lakes (since the beginning of the 20th century). 
 
613 meters high, it is one of the most spectacular formations of Northern Africa (like the nearby Danakil depression).
 
From Addis Abeba and Makelle there are organized tours for tourists: the ascent is about 3 hours, rather easy, but pay attention to the hot temperature.