11 Breathtaking Underground Lakes and Rivers

We often think that the most wonderful places to see are above our planet's surface. Not many people know that there are some real gems hidden underground. Calm waters of underground rivers, tranquile cave lakes, their tranquile surfaces untouched by human hand.
You can see some of those most spectacular Mother Earth's Underground Crown Jewels below:

1. Reed Flute Cave in Guilin, China was discovered during the Tang Dynasty almost 1,300 years ago.

Image by Ian Sewell

2. Cheddar Gorge is Britain’s biggest canyon and is found within the Cheddar Caves, where the UK’s oldest complete human skeleton was found in 1903. Known as the Cheddar Man, the remains were estimated to be 9,000 years old.

Snowman-1

3. Hamilton Pool Preserve, in Austin, Texas, was created quite naturally when the dome of an underground cave collapsed revealing this stunning natural pool. It is now frequented by day-trippers and naturalists. That’s naturalists not naturists, although no doubt someone has tried to go skinny dipping at one point!

Van Sutherland

Hamilton Pool from another perspective. When there’s been heavy rainfall, 45ft waterfalls cascade from the rim of the cavern. It must be pretty spectacular when you’re bathing.

Stuck in Customs

4. Stalagtites adorn the roof of Luray Caverns, Virginia, the still waters throwing a perfect reflection.

Ashley Dinges

5. Legend has it that early cavemen inhabited Wookey Caves in Somerset, England.

Wookey Caves

6. This underground lake in Mellisani Caves, near Kefalonia, was found when the roof of the cave collapsed after an earthquake in 1953.

Liana Photography

7. Lechuguilla Cave, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico is the fifth longest cave discovered yet at 120 miles (193 km) long and measures 489 metres (1,604 ft) deep, making it the deepest in continental United States.

Dave Bunnell

8. This underground lake near Macan Ché on the Yucatán Peninsula is one of many that are considered to be gifts from the gods by the Mayans, and therefore sacred.

sanghavedanta

9. The limestone flow feeding into this underground lake in Mexico resembles a waterfall turned to stone. Maybe the Ice Queen is privy to this particular cavern?

Adam

10. How long must it have taken for this little waterfall in Banff, Canada, to make this underwater lake?

Petr

Source:

flickr.com

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com

If you know of other spectacular underground natural formations or if you have any pictures to share - go ahead, and write.

Latvia - Sun City, A Hobbit Dwelling Place

Latvian millionaire started near the town of Cesis (Latvia) a fantastic project.

He purchased over 3000 hectares of wild forest, a terrain rich in hills and water. And that's how this spectacular "Sun City" was built. When I look at the pictures, it reminds me of Hobbit Village from Tolkien's "Lord of The Rings". The area is full of lush green nature, serenity seems built into the landscape.

If you want to live at Sun City (which is as away from the concept of "Sin City" as possible), there are special rules to go by, including a routine different from a common life.

First, three-storey houses are made of environmentally friendly materials constructed in a manner, which takes the terrain into account. The specific design of the houses makes the windows of each house not visible to other houses.

Secondly, near each of the 300 houses there is a small lake and forest, all of it included in cost of land (from 0,4 to 1,3 ha each).

Thirdly, all houses are equipped with central sewer (there is a special equipment laid under the roots of pine and fir trees!), High-speed Internet, electricity, and each house has a geothermal heat pump with borehole 90-100m deep, which converts the energy of the earth into the heat. The amound of heat produced is enough to provide enough energy to heat the house (and water) all year round. The need for using additional traditional firewood heating may only occur during some severe winter days. Of course, a fireplace is also available in every home. Additionally, garbage collection and other urban amenities are also available.

Fourth, in this unique forest city, there are some more special rules - for example, it is forbidden to build a fence and have a guard dog (even if it's a chain dog). Dogs are allowed only in the houses. The reason for this rule is because of roe deer and other wild animals roaming freely in this "city", and barking dogs simply would chase them away.

For the Russian and Belarusian consumers, owner of Sun City offers special conditions - the sale of land with the house and unique postal address, the plot can be issued as a "production area" This entitles those customers to having a year-round "Schengen area" (very handy for those businessmen, who have their companies outside the EU).

Just an example for land and house pricing: plot Tilbites with a three-story house which includes all the necessary amenities, and also has a lake and forest area of 0.44 ha costs as much as 94000 Euros. The design of each house is unique, there are no identical buildings in there.

The Sun City lies in Cesis, about 80 km from Riga, the Latvian Capital City (about 50mins by car).

LINKS:
The "Sun City" website: http://www.amatciems.lv/rus/ideja.html
More information and source pictures: http://ochag7.narod.ru/351.htm

A Passenger Survey at an Airport.

Quite often students listen to situations in English related to tourism or they are asked to do some sort of role plays in the classroom in which they take roles they will have to assume when they start working in the tourism sector. Why not take students out of the classroom and to authentic places so that they can practice English in a real situation? That is why last May, aftert doing a listening about a passenger survey at an airport, we decided to carry out a passenger survey in a nearby airport, where students would have to use English to communicate. Thus, we ended up going to Faro airport (Portugal) which is one and a half hour from our town, Huelva, in the southwest of Spain. An example of the questions from the survey are included here although each student made slight variations:

Questions at the Airport

Below you can find a sample video of the work students did during a morning at Faro airport (Southern Portugal). If you want to see the rest of the videos students recorded carrying out passenger surveys, go to the right-hand side of the blog and you will find them in the section "My students´videos":

Here are some pictures that illustrate our trip to Faro airport in Portugal:

Singita - A Paradise in Africa

Singita (‘place of miracles’) is world-renowned for providing ‘the best safari experience in Africa’.














This unique "Paradise in Africa" has managed to win almost every travel and/or hotel award since the mid-90s, when the resort was opened.




You can read on their homepage:

The balance of hospitality, conservation and community is what sets Singita apart, and has been at our core from the very beginning.

Here one can feel the ancient magic of Earth and Sky, closer to the nature than ever before.


Truely blissful resort, wouldn't you say?



Singita's Webpage: http://www.singita.com/