The length of a river is determined after calculating the length between its source and its mouth. The rivers are the main source of fresh water, food, irrigation and hydrological benefits. Our lovely planet has magnificent rivers which normally fall ultimately into the oceans, seas or other rivers. Rivers are home of many aquatic species and they provide us with a tremendous source of food as fish.

There are almost 180 rivers of the lovely planet earth, which have the  length of more than 1,000 K.m. Following are the images of the top 25 longest rivers of the lovely planet ;

1- River Nile of North East Africa ( 6,650 K.m )

River Nile at night ( Image: Mohamed Ahmed Kazzaz )

2- Amazon River of South America ( 6,400 K.m )

Amazon River with its rainforests ( Image : CIFOR )

3- Yangtze River of China ( 6,300 K.m)

Yangtze River of China ( Photographer: Stanley Zimny )

4- Mississippi River of the United States of America ( 6,200 K.m )

Mississippi River of US ( Image: By Creativity Corner )

5- Yenisei River of Russia ( 5,500 K.m )

Yenisei River of Russia ( atom57 image on flickr )

6- Yellow River (Huang He) of China ( 5,450 K.m )

Yellow River of China

7- Ob River of Russia ( 5,400 K.m )

Ob River in Russia ( Image by Alexei Ebel )

8- Parana River of Brazil ( 4,800 K.m )

Parana River of Brazil ( Luis Argerich's Image )

9- Congo River of Central Africa ( 4,700 K.m )

Congo River of Central Africa ( By Dan Balluff )

10- Amur River ( Russia, China & Mongolia - 4,450 K,m )

Amur River ( Russia, China , Mongolia ) By Martin Lopatka

11- Lena River ( Siberia – Russia – 4,400 K.m )

Lena River of Siberia, Russia ( By: Bolotbootur )

12- Mekong River of South East Asia ( 4,350 K.m )

Mekong River of South East Asia ( Jean-Marie Hullot's Image )

13- Mackenzie River of Canada  ( 4,250 K.m )

Mackenzie River of Canada ( TonyG22 's Image )

14- Niger River of North Africa ( 4,200 K.m )

Niger River of North Africa ( Jamie Geysbeek's Image )

15- Murray River of Australia ( 3,670 K.m )

Murray River of Australia ( Image: By FreakyNami )

16- Tocantins River of Brazil ( 3, 650 K.m )

Tocantins River of Brazil ( By: Guilherme Figueiredo Quadros )

17- Volga River of Russia ( 3,640 K.m )

Volga River of Russia ( By: Viking River Cruises )

18- Shatt-al-Arab River ( Iraq, Turkey, Syria ) – 3,590 K.m

Shatt-al-Arab River ( Iraq, Turkey, Syria ) Image: James Birt

19- Maderia River ( Brazil, Peru, Bolivia ) – 3,370 K.m

Maderia River ( Brazil, Bolivia, Peru )

20- Purus River ( Brazil, Peru ) – 3,211 K.m

Purus River ( Lµiz Felipe's Image )

21- Yukon River ( U.S.A & Canada ) – 3,190 K.m

Yukon River of U.S.A & Canada

22- Indus River of Pakistan - 3,180 K.m

Indus River of Pakistan ( Some portion in China & India ) Sayid Budhi's Image

23- Sao Francisco River of Brazil - 3,170 K.m

Sao Francisco River ( By: IngeKühn ) Brazil

24- Syr Darya River ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan ) – 3,070 K.m

Syr Darya River ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan ) Julio Aprea's Image

25- Salween River or Nu Jiang River ( China, Myanmar, Thailand ) – 3,060 K.m

Nu jiang River or Salveen River ( A Lucy Young's Image )

Since the beginning of the human life on the lovely planet, the man has raised numerous synthetic improvisations in different patterns. Architecure and engineering both have attained the key importance in every era and this has resulted the construction of many radical and state of the art buildings. The designs of the architecture and the styles of the elevations have gone through tremendous developments and modifications with the passage of time. However, the sense of the conservation of the common heritage has also been equally developed, because the architecture of different ages is the main source of understanding the life styles, customs and cultures of their respective nations.

In the middle ages, in different parts of the world, especially in Europe the royal class started the tradition to raise a fortified construction in order to protect their personal properties. These type of constructions are usually called as castle and  timber, clay and stones were the basic raw materials used in their constructions. In the following, we have tried to bring before you some wonderful images of the lovely castles of the lovely planet ;

1- Royal Palace of Brussels in Belgium

The Royal Palace of Brussels in Belgium ( Joachim Thieren's Image )

2- Windsor Castle of Berkshire, England

Windsor Castle of England. Jussi Kangasharju's Image

 3- Limousin Castle of France

Limousin Castle of France ( An Image by Quim Bahi )

 4- Quaitbay Castle in Alexandria, Egypt

Quaitbay Castle in Alexandria, Egypt ( An Image by Ahmed Samir Habib )

 5- Templar Castle of Ponferrada in Spain

Templar Castle of Ponferrada, Spain ( Image By ribizlifozelek )

 6- Ranikot Fort in Sindh, Pakistan

Ranikot Fort in Sindh, Pakistan ( Image: Tanwir Jogi )

 7- Gulbarga Castle in Karnataka, India

Gulbarga Castle in Karnataka,India ( Image: Mejroxy )

8- Bangalore Castle of India

Bangalore Castle of India ( Image By Nina Maaninka )

9- Rayen Castle of Iran

Rayen Castle of Iran ( Photo by Mahdi Kazzazi )

10- Karak Castle of Jordan

Karak Castle of Jordan in Amman

11- Sorooca Castle of Moldova

Soroca Castle of Moldova ( Am Image by Groundhopping Merseburg )

12- Mongol Castle in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Mongol Castle in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia ( An Image by Ariunbold P )

 13- Duwisib Castle of Namibia

Duwisib Castle of Namibia ( Image : Bill Dutfield )

14- Doorwerth Castle in Gelderland, Netherlands

Doorwerth Castle in Gelderland, Netherlands ( Image: Toon van den Einde )

 15- Akershus Castle in Oslo, Norway

Akershus Castle in Oslo, Norway ( Image by Don César )

16- Masyaf Castle of Syria

Masyaf Castle of Syria ( Image: Richard Avis )

17- Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Mexico

Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Mexico ( Image: Pulpolux )

18- Nuovo Castle in Naples, Italy

Nuovo Castle of Italy Castel ( A Flickr Image by ScubaJo)

19- Rumelihisarı Castle in Istanbul, Turkey

Rumelihisarı Castle in Istanbul, Turkey ( Image By Rob.Mcgonigle )

 20- Hohenzollern Castle of Germany

Hohenzollern Castle of Germany (An image by til213 )

21- Hame Castle in Hameenlinna, Finland

Hame Castle in Southern Finland ( Image By MEhokie04 )

 22- Ivangorod Castle in Narva, Estonia

Ivangorod Castle of Estonia ( Image By t.devinney )

23- Old Castle of Tripoli, Libya

Old Castle of Tripoli in Libya ( Image: By aymen_tawil )

24- Egeskov Castle – Funen, Denmark

Egeskov Castle - Funen Denmark ( Image: Jim Trodel )

 25- Taman Sari Water Castle of Indonesia

Taman Sari Water Castle of Indonesia ( Image : Fazlie Shamsuddin )

How sad it would be to find the wild Bactrian camel as permanently extinct species in the near future because this rare and unique animal is critically in danger. This two humped camel is the native animal of the deserts of Mongolia and China. According to an estimate, presently there are only less than 1,000 wild Bactrian camels in the world. The wild Bactrian camel is biologically known as “Camelus bactrianus” and most of the surviving wild Bactrian camels dwell in the remote and deserted areas of the Chinese nuclear test range.

The wild Bactrian camel

The wild Bactrian camel has a unique quality that it can survive by drinking even a saltwater slush. The other species of camel are not able to adopt this quality. This amazing feature has been developed in the wild Bactrian camel as a result of living in extreme desert conditions for thousands of years and thus an immune system is developed in their bodies which could prove resistant to certain types of disease. In China the wild Bactrian camel are found in the Gobi desert range which has extreme climatic conditions. In this area there is no fresh water only the saline variety which bubbles up to the surface from underground springs and on which the wild Bactrian camel survives. No other living creature, not even the domestic camel, can drink it.

The two humped Bactrian camel in wild

There are some breeding and protection programmes by the Mongolian and the Chinese authorities and a small captive population of the wild Bactrian camel is also kept in Mongolia and China. The wild Bactrian camel is normally targeted by hunters seeking food, sport, or merely to protect their own domestic animals which compete with the camels for grazing space.  In October 2002, the estimated 800 remaining in the wild in northwest China and Mongolia were classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The proud Mongols are truly example of brave nomadic people wandering in the vast grasslands and meadows of Mongolia for thousands of years. When we say thousands of years, we mean it because the existence of this heroic race along with their nomadic lifestyle is proved through the archaeological discoveries that suggest their living in Mongolia for almost 70,000 years.

Mongols have tremendous historic and pre historic background and their unique living style and tartar attitude towards life have given birth to the amazing customs and traditions. In this short essay, we shall try to cover the most important traditional festival of Mongolia, known as Naadam and it is celebrated throughout Mongolia in the Summer holidays. Naadam, the traditional festival of Mongolia is locally known as ‘eriin gurvan naadam‘  which means ‘The three Games of Men‘. These three contentious games of Naadam include Mongolian wrestling, Horse racing and Archery and as it is obvious from the nature of these sports, a lot of toil and sweat is involved in these events. The biggest festival is organized in Ulaanbaatar during the National Holiday from July 11 – 13, in the famous National Sports Stadium of the Mongolian capital.

Naadam, the traditional festival of Mongolia

Mongolian wrestling is purely a manly challenge. In these competitions more than 500 wrestlers participate from whole of Mongolia. This wrestling is fought in typical and traditional Mongolian style and it is comprised of 9-10 rounds. The wrestlers play the qualifying rounds which are held at the district levels and ultimately the winners emerge in the finals. The traditional wrestling costume consists of the shoulder vest (zodog) and the shorts (shuudag). The format of the finals is of knock-out type which is indeed very tough which requires lots of skills and excellence. The winning wrestlers get the titles like Falcons, Elephants, Lions and Giants.

The traditional Mongol wrestling of Naadam festival

The second fascinating game of Naadam festival is horse racing which is classified into six categories with horses being two, three, four and six years old. The distances are also determined in accordance with the age of the contesting horses. The traditional and folk music is played during the race.

Naadam Horse Race - Photo : Bruno Morandi

Basically the skills of the horses are keenly observed in this traditional Mongolian derby and the horses are decorated in amusing ways.  These horses are also sprinkled with koumyss which is a kind of fermented mare’s milk. These horses are fed with very delicate diet and they go through very hard training sessions. The best five horses from every category achieve the title of airgiyn tav and the first three are rewarded with gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Women archers Naadam

The Archery is the final sports event of Naadam festival and it is comparatively less enthusiastic in the sense that it is attended mainly by the Mongolian states personals. The conventional bows and arrows are used by the participants in the contest which are prepared in the centuries old traditional way. Both men and women take part in the Archery competition and the winners of the contest are granted the titles of ‘national marksman‘ and ‘national markswoman‘.

Mongols enjoying the Nadaam festival

Naadam, the traditional festival of Mongolia actually represents the identitiy of the audacious Mongol nation. The Mongols attend this festival with lots of enthusiasm and they consider it as a symbol of national pride and integrity. Their presence in the event with traditional Mongolian costumes make the event so phenomenal and unforgettable.