Stunning animal pictures

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Pitch Lake with natural asphalt Lakes

Sir Walter Raleigh first discovered the Pitch Lake while cruising through La Brea in southwest Trinidad. The Pitch Lake is one of the several natural asphalt lakes in the world. Since its discovery in 1595, several investigations and research have been conducted to determine the chemical composition and use of this substance found in the lake.

The lake has awed explorers, scientists and common man alike. The Pitch Lake is 40 ha and 75 meters deep. The lake houses asphalt mines, as asphalt thus produced in large quantities is used in road construction supplies.

Various theories and postulations have been suggested to explain the formation of the Pitch Lake with its rich asphalt resource. According to one such theory, the lake is produced as a result of two faults, related to the subduction of the Caribbean plate of the Barbados arc.

Due to immense pressure a deep deposit comes to the upper crust; lighter elements evaporate leaving being the natural asphalt. This may be degraded by bacteria to form petroleum. There are various legends associated with the lake. Local Chaima Indians believe that it is the wrath of their Gods.

Nevertheless, the Pitch Lake is famous for its natural resource of Asphalt and draws crowds from all spheres of this world .Each year people pour in to behold and marvel the pitch lake with its natural bounties.
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Socotra Island - The Most Bizzare Place on Earth

Socotra Island

Socotra is a small Yemeni archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa, about 350 kilometers south of the Arabian peninsula.

Socotra is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth of continental origin.

The archipelago features narrow coastal plains, a limestone plateau with caves, and mountains which rise to 1,525 meters above sea level.

Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.

Socotra is home to more than 800 species of plants, some 240 of which are endemic to the island, and there are certainly many more plant species that have yet to be discovered. The climate is harsh, hot and dry, and yet - the most amazing plant life thrives there.

A Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari) is seen in front of the Skund mountains on the island of Socotra, Yemen. The tree is so named because any injury to the bark results in a deep red liquid excreting from the scar – compared in the past to the “Blood of Dragons”.

The branches spread out into the sky and from below appear to hover over the landscape like so many flying saucers… and from above they have a distinct mushroom look.

There is also the Desert Rose (adenium obesium) which looks like nothing so much as a blooming elephant leg.

A Socotran Fig Tree (Dorstenia gigas) with a bizare swollen trunk that almost has human proportions grows against a limestone rock face on the island of Socotra. The plants are one of over 300 plant species endemic to the island.

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