Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the European continent which is located in the Alps Mountain Range having the elevation of 4,810 m (15,781 ft) above sea level. Mont Blanc, the white queen of the Alps is one of the famous Seven Summits which is popular in the world for hiking, skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering adventure. Mont Blanc lies in a range called the Graian Alps, between the regions of Asota valley of Italy, and  Haute-Savoie, France. Mont Blanc is also known as Monte Bianco which is an Italian word meaning, “ The White Mountain”. The summit of Mont Blanc is a thick, perennial ice and snow dome whose thickness varies. No exact and permanent summit elevation can therefore be determined, though accurate measurements have been made on specific dates.

A view of the Mont Blanc from Mejeve France – Image by Nicolas Baltenneck

Mont Blanc, the white queen of the Alps has several climbing routes, however, the most popular of them is  the Voie Des Cristalliers, also known as the Voie Royale . The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc was on 8 August 1786 by  Jacques Balmat and the doctor  Michel Paccard.

A wonderful image by Matthieu Lienart – Mont Blanc – The White Queen of the Alps

Italy is very important European country which is located on the Italian Peninsula in the southern Europe. Italy is geographically a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. Italy is a country of many rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, volcanoes and seas. It is hard to cover the natural wonders of Italy but we’ve collected the images of the seven famous natural wonders of Italy;

1- Mont Blanc :  The highest mountain of Italy in the Alps, Western Europe, and the European Union. It rises 4,810.45 m (15,782 ft)

Mont Blanc: The highest mountain peak of Italy ( Image:masondan )

2- Vulcano :  A small volcanic island in the Tyrhennian Sea, about 25 km north of Sicily and the southernmost of the eight Aeolian Islands.

Vulcano: The famous natural wonder of Sicily, Italy – Image: Johannes Zielcke

3- Lake Garda : The largest lake in Italy. It is located in the Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last Ice Age.

A view of the Garda Lake – Image: Richard Palmer

4- Dolomites Mountain Range : This mountain range is located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley (Pieve di Cadore) in the east.

Dolomite Mountain Rnge, Italy : This image is owned by Philip Bouchard

5- The Blue Grotto Sea Cave: This is a noted sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, Italy. Sunlight, passing through an underwater cavity and shining through the seawater, creates a blue reflection that illuminates the cavern.

Blue Grotto: A noted Sea Cave in Italy – Image: S J Pinkney

6- Tuscany: Tuscany is a region in Italy having an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy and its permanent influence on high culture.

Tuscany: A famous region of Italy full of biodiversity and landscapes ( Image: Maarten Van Hoof )

7- The Tiber River :  The third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres (252 mi) through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It  drains a basin estimated at 17,375 square kilometres (6,709 sq mi). The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, founded on its eastern banks.

Afternoon kayaking on the Tiber River – Image: Ed Yourdon

Apart from these seven famous natural wonders of Italy, there are lots of other magnificent places where nature seems at its sublime.

It was a time when the shallow waters were crossed through weak and sluggish bridges that were mostly made of wood and stone. But now, with the passage of time the bridge building art has enormously evolved. Modern science and methadology have introduced new tehniques for constructing the bridges. The construction requires lot of creative designing, hard work and appropiate maintenance of the bridges through out their life.

There is a long list of the amazing bridges of the lovely planet; however, we’re trying to bring before you the most noteworthy of them in this series.

These are the images of some more amazing bridges of the world for your interest.

16- The Brooklyn Bridge in the United States

Brooklyn Bridge in the New York City - Image: Rob NYCity

The Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge started in 1869 and took 14 years to complete.The bridge is one of the most magnificent landmarks in New York.

17- The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge of Japan

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge of Japan - Image: T.Hatta

The Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world which  is an example of  the greatest engineering feat. It took two million workers and ten years to construct the bridge in which  181,000 tonnes of steel and 1.4 million cubic metres of concrete was used.

18- The Chengyang Bridge of China

Chengyang Bridge in China

This bridge is also known as  Chengyang Wind-Rain Bridge which is a famous bridge in  Dong Minority Region in China. The bridge has a total length of 64.4 meters, and its corridor has a width of 3.4 meters. The net height above the river is about 10 meters.The bridge  serves as the link between two populous villages.

19- The Rialto Bridge or Ponte di Rialto

Rialto Bridge in Venice , Italy - Image: Eric Wester

The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo. The bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons of Venice.

20-  The Oresund Bridge in Denmark 

Oresund bridge of Denmark - Image: earlesd

The construction of the Øresund Bridge of Denmark began in 1995, and was finished 14 August 1999. The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects two major metropolitan areas: those of the Danish capital city Copenhagen and the major Swedish city Malmo.

This was the forth episode of the most amazing bridges of the world. In the next episode we’ll present before you some other fantastic bridges of the world. Click the following to visit the first and second part of this series ;

In this episode, we’ll describe some more amazing bridges of the world. These bridges are so fabulous and astonishing in their designs that apart from providing the passage over the water, they have become the remarkable symbols of their particular areas. Such bridges are truly the masterpieces and the state of the art constructions designed and built by the engineers. The planning and the constructions of such bridges would have gone through many complications and hard work. Not only the scientific technology and resources are required to build such amazing brides, but they require the ultimate aesthetic approach and the precision.

These are the images of some more amazing bridges of the world for your interest.

6- The Historic Golden Gate Bridge

The historic Golden Gate Bridge in California - Stefan Bock's Image

This amazing and historic suspension bridge connects the San Francisco city to the Marin County in California, USA. The construction of this amazing bridge was completed in 1937 and this is a fascinating fabrication of the steel work.

7- The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia - Image: Yury Prokopenko

Because of the fantastic arch-based design, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is also known as “The Cothanger”. It is also the fifth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres (440 ft) from top to water level.

8- The Nanpu Bridge in Shanghai, China

The Nanpu Bridge of China - Allister Chiong's Image

The Nanpu bridge is one of the most renowned cable-stayed brdges in China having seven lanes for the trafic and croses over the Huangpu river. The bridge has a main span of 428 meters (1,388 ft), shorter than its sister bridge, Yangpu.

9- The Historic Ponte Vecchio of Italy

The historic Ponte Vecchio of Florence, italy - Valeriano Della Longa's Photo

Ponte Vecchio is a hstoric and Medieval stone arched bridge in Florence, Italy over the Arno river which is beleived to be firstly construted in the Roman era. The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 ft) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 ft).

10- The Tsing Ma Bridge of Hong Kong

The Tsing Ma Bridge of Hing Kong - Gp Teo's Image

This amazing bridge in Hong Kong is named after two islands; Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) and a height of 206 metres (676 ft). The span is the largest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.

This was the second episode of the most amazing bridges of the world. In the next episode we’ll present before you some other fantastic bridges of the world. Click the following to visit the first part of this series ;

Amazing Bridges Of The World -1

The only remaining population of the Asiatic Lion is fighting for their survival in the Gir Forest National Park of India. This wildlife sanctuary park is a protected area in the Indian state Gujarat located 65 km to the south-east of Junagadh and 60 km to south west of Amreli where the estimated number of the Asiatic Lion is 410. Apart from this rare big cat of India, this national park is also home of many other mammal species, reptiles and birds.The historic figures suggest that the Asiatic Lion, the exceptional big cat once lived in the whole Indian Subcontinent, Iran and even in some parts of Italy and Greece.

The Asiatic Lion ( LHG Creative Photography )

The Asiatic Lion is the first cousin of the North African Barbary Lion which is extinct from our lovely planet. They have almost the same features especially, the same belly fold (hidden under their manes) as those were observed in the Barbary Lions. The Asiatic lion is biologically known as “Panthera leo persica” and with some other names as the Indian lion, Persian Lion and Eurasian lion. The Asiatic Lions are bit smaller in their sizes as compare to the African Lions but the other qualities are almost same as they are belligerent in their nature and their colors range from reddish-brown to a highly mottled black to sandy cinnamon grey. The adult male Asiatic Lion has the maximum skull length of 340 mm, while that of females is 266–277 mm. They can gain the average weight of 160–190 kg for the males and 110–120 kg  for the females .The Asiatic Lion is a very social big cat which loves to live in the groups with an average number of the members from 4 to 5 and these groups are known as “prides”. The Asiatic Lions usually prey deer, antelope, gazelle, wild boar, water buffalo and livestock.

An image of the exotic Asiatic Lioness - Image by Steve - 1.4 Million+ (safe) views - thank you

Before the start of the twentieth century, the Asiatic Lions were brutally hunted and their population was almost eliminated. However after that, with the efforts of the local authorities and the royal family of Junagadh, their area was declared as a protected zone and the current population of the Asiatic Lion is the consequence of those conservation efforts that were carried on for the survival of the Asiatic Lion. The Asiatic Lion has a very slow and complicated breeding rate.

An image of the cute Asiatic lion cubs - Lysvik Photos

The biggest threat to the life of the Asiatic Lion is the rapid human development and the quick habitat loss. The ideal living place for the Asiatic Lion is the open grasslands which are mostly converted into agricultural lands. Although there is a complete ban and restriction upon the hunting of the Asiatic Lion, yet they are poisoned for attacking livestock. Some of the other major threats include floods, fires, and epidemics. Their restricted range makes them especially vulnerable. The local tribes which normally belong to the profession of cattle breeding are also a major threat to the population of the Asiatic Lion. They dislike the attacks on their animal herds and they want to graze their animals in the grasslands.

Asiatic Lion, the exceptional big cat was a popular entity in the ancient Indian Art, Mythology and it appeared as the emblem of the national importance in many countries like India, Sri Lanka and Iran. The Asiatic lion makes repeated appearances in the Bible, most notably as having fought Samson in the Book of Judges. Similarly the symbol of the lion is closely tied to the Persian people. Achaemenid kings were known to carry the symbol of the lion on their thrones and garments.