Sunrise at Epupa Falls

The Epupa Falls (also known as Monte Negro Falls in Angola) are created by the Kunene River on the border of Angola and Namibia, in the Kaokoland area of the Kunene Region. The river is 0.5 km wide and drops in a series of waterfalls spread over 1.5 km, with the greatest single drop being 37 m. The name "Epupa" is a Herero word for "foam", in reference to the foam created by the falling water.

Photo by Patrick Galibert on 500px.com 

 

Hengifoss waterfall, Iceland.

Hengifoss is the third highest waterfall in Iceland, 128 m. It is located in Hengifossá in Fljótsdalshreppur, East Iceland. It is beautifully surrounded by basaltic strata with thin, red layers of clay between the basaltic layers. Fossilized trunks of coniferous trees, sensitive to cold, and lignite, which depict warmer climates during the latter part of Tertiary. Further down the Hengifossá river is Litlanesfoss, notable for the columnar jointed volcanic around it.

Iguazu Falls

Indeed, it's not easy to find the right superlatives to describe the breath-taking views of the mighty Iguazu Falls. Where ever you view it either on the Argentinean side or Brazilian side, you'd be treated with the most spectacular sight. With more than 200 waterfalls and reaching as high as 82 meters, the  Iguazu Falls are truly a marvelous scene to behold. One of best natural phenomenon on planet earth.

 

This deciduous tree holding onto it's leaves in the middle of winter caught eye.

This deciduous tree holding onto it's leaves in the middle of winter caught eye.  The grove of evergreen trees behind it made an excellent contrast of the colors. The true nature is at their best.

Globetrotting photographer captures perfect wildlife action shots

Award winning Hungarian photographer Bence Mate's nick name is “the invisible wildlife photographer” captures breathtaking images of wildlife photographs of dancing parrots, weightlifting ants and a toucan looking for a fight incredibly up close and personal. He has caught in startling close-up detail; these eye-catching photographs give an uncommon perspective on the animal world. He offers an explanation as to just how he manages to capture such cherished photographs, as he spend days, weeks or even months quietly tucked away in a hide that he himself has carefully designed and built.

These often utilize one-way glass, which is what enables him to get so close to his oblivious subjects. He says; when I was walking in the wild with a pair of binoculars around our necks, we often witness magnificent moments in Mother Nature. However; at such moments, factors such as distance, light, background, environment and the miracle of surprise, infrequently allow us to pass on our visual experience to others. Therefore; I’ve to strive to forecast when such breathtaking moments occurs and capture them in photographs. You know, a great planning and patience are usually required to execute natural photograph along with dose of good luck.

Gorgeous Himalayan Bluetail Bird

The stunning Himalayan bluetail or Himalayan red-flanked bush-robin (Tarsiger rufilatus) is a small passerine bird that was previously classified as a member of the thrush family Turdidae. The Bluetail bird is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher of Muscicapidae. Though presently under review, this taxon is not current recognized as a species by BirdLife international.

The Bluetail bird is a short-distance altitudinal migrant species, which breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth at 3,000 to 4,400 m altitude in the Himalaya and wintering at 1,500 to 2,500 m. It is insectivorous and it is closely related to the red-flanked bluetail and was usually treated as a subspecies of it in the past, but as well as differing in its migratory behavior (the red-flanked bluetail is a long-distance migrant), it also differs in the more intense blue color of the adult males and the greyer color of the females and juveniles.

The Grandidier’s Baobab Tree

Grandidier’s baobab is the biggest and most re-known of Madagascar’s species of Baobabs. It is also known as “Adansonia Grandidieri”, actually an imposing and unusual tree endemic to island of Madagascar. It is an endangered species mainly threatened by the encroachment of agricultural land. When you see this unusual tree, you’ll came to know that Grandidier’s baobabs has massive cylindrical trunks almost three meters across, well covered with smooth reddish grey bark.

The tree can reach 80 to 100 ft in height and at certain times of the year the flat-topped crowns bear bluish-green palmate leaves, dark brown floral buds or adorable flowers with white petals. The baobab contains larger dry fruits type kidney shaped seeds within an edible pulp. The fruit is either collected from the ground, or wooden pegs are hammered into the trunk so the tree can be climbed to collect the fruit.

A French botanist & explorer Alfred Grandidier named “A.grandidieri” in the early 20^th century. The tree can found in south-western Madagascar and it is used to inhabit dry, deciduous forest particularly close to seasonal rivers or lakes. These days, grandidier’s baobab is mainly found in open and agricultural land. The tree leaf starts from October to May and flowers blossoms from May to August. The fruits ripe in November and December and it appears that the seeds of the tasty fruit are not dispersed by animals. The smell of flowers just like sour watermelon, open just before or soon after dusk, and all the pollen is released during the first night.

The beautiful tree is pollinated by nocturnal mammals, like as fork-marked lemurs and insects such as Hawk Moth. Moreover the lemurs move through the canopies, put in their snouts into the white flowers and licking nectar from the petal bases, which in resulting pollen being deposited in the lemurs' faces, while the moth is slightly more effective at pollination since it is able to fly from tree to tree with most of its body covered in pollen.

Moreover Madagascar has water problem and lack of water can sometimes be a problem for plantation work. Hence baobab overcomes this by storing water within the fibrous wood of the trunk, as the tree's diameter fluctuates with rainfall. However; grandidier’s baobab is in endangered list of IUCN Red list of 2006. The useful tree is heavily exploited as seeds and the vitamin C rich fruit pulp are eaten fresh, and cooking oil is extracted from the oil-rich seeds. The baobab thick bark is well composed of hard long fibers that can be used to make ropes.

Moreover the spongy wood comprises of sheets of fiber that’re collected from dead or living trees, dried in the sun and sold for thatch. Most of these varied uses do not involve the tree being killed, and therefore are likely to pose a great threat to the baobab. The biggest threat to this species has come from the transformation of its forest habitat into agricultural land. Within these disturbed habitats, there’s an obvious lack of young trees. Fires, seed predation, competition from weeds, and an altered physical environment might be disturbing the capacity of the Madagacar baobab to reproduce, which may have demoralizing consequences for its survival.