Hashima Island (The Battleship Island), Nagasaki, Southern Japan.

Hashima Island commonly called Gunkanjima, is an abandoned island lying about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city of Nagasaki, in southern Japan. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. The island's most notable features are its abandoned concrete buildings, undisturbed except by nature, and the surrounding sea wall. While the island is a symbol of the rapid industrialization of Japan, it is also a reminder of its history as a site of forced labor prior to and during the Second World War.

The 6.3-hectare (16-acre) island was known for its undersea coal mines, established in 1887, which operated during the industrialization of Japan. The island reached a peak population of 5,259 in 1959. In 1974, with the coal reserves nearing depletion, the mine was closed and all of the residents departed soon after, leaving the island effectively abandoned for the following three decades. Interest in the island re-emerged in the 2000s on account of its undisturbed historic ruins, and it gradually became a tourist attraction. Certain collapsed exterior walls have since been restored, and travel to Hashima was re-opened to tourists on April 22, 2009. Increasing interest in the island resulted in an initiative for its protection as a site of industrial heritage.

The island was formally approved as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in July 2015, as part of Japan's Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

 

 

Coal was first discovered on the island around 1810, and the island was continuously inhabited from 1887 to 1974 as a seabed coal mining facility. Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha bought the island in 1890 and began extracting coal from undersea mines, while seawalls and land reclamation (which tripled the size of the island were constructed. Four main mine-shafts (reaching up to 1 kilometer deep) were built, with one actually connecting it to a neighbouring island. Between 1891 and 1974 around 15.7 million tons of coal were excavated in mines with temperatures of 30°C and 95% humidity.

In 1916 the company built Japan's first large reinforced concrete building (a 7 floor miner's apartment block), to accommodate their burgeoning ranks of workers. Concrete was specifically used to protect against typhoon destruction. Over the next 55 years, more buildings were constructed, including apartment blocks, a school, kindergarten, hospital, town hall, and a community centre. For entertainment, a clubhouse, cinema, communal bath, swimming pool, rooftop gardens, shops, and a pachinko parlour were built for the miners and their families.

Beginning in the 1930s and until the end of the Second World War, conscripted Korean civilians and Chinese prisoners of war were forced to work under very harsh conditions and brutal treatment at the Mitsubishi facility as forced laborers under Japanese wartime mobilization policies. During this period, it is estimated that about 1,300 of those conscripted laborers died on the island due to various dangers, including underground accidents, exhaustion, and malnutrition.

In 1959, the 6.3-hectare (16-acre) island's population reached its peak of 5,259, with a population density of 835 people per hectare (83,500 people/km2, 216,264 people per square mile) for the whole island, or 1,391 per hectare (139,100 people/km2) for the residential district. As petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, coal mines began shutting down across the country, and Hashima's mines were no exception. Mitsubishi officially closed the mine in January 1974, and the island was cleared of inhabitants by April. Today its most notable features are the abandoned and still mostly-intact concrete apartment buildings, the surrounding sea wall, and its distinctive profile shape. The island has been administered as part of Nagasaki city since the merger with the former town of Takashima in 2005. Travel to Hashima was re-opened on April 22, 2009, after 35 years of closure.

The island was owned by Mitsubishi until 2002, when it was voluntarily transferred to Takashima Town. Currently, Nagasaki City, which absorbed Takashima Town in 2005, exercises jurisdiction over the island. On August 23, 2005, landing was permitted by the city hall to journalists only. At the time, Nagasaki City planned the restoration of a pier for tourist landings in April 2008. In addition a visitor walkway 220 meters (722 feet) in length was planned, and entry to unsafe building areas was to be prohibited. Due to the delay in development construction, however, at the end of 2007 the city announced that public access was delayed until spring 2009. Additionally the city encountered safety concerns, arising from the risk of collapse of the buildings on the island due to significant aging.

It was estimated that landing of tourists would only be feasible for fewer than 160 days per year because of the area's harsh weather. For reasons of cost-effectiveness the city considered cancelling plans to extend the visitor walkway further—for an approximate 300 meters (984 feet) toward the eastern part of the island and approximately 190 meters (623 feet) toward the western part of the island after 2009. A small portion of the island was finally reopened for tourism in 2009, but more than 95% of the island is strictly delineated as off-limits during tours. A full reopening of the island would require substantial investment in safety, and detract from the historical state of the aged buildings on the property.

The island is increasingly gaining international attention not only generally for its modern regional heritage, but also for the undisturbed housing complex remnants representative of the period from the Taishō period to the Shōwa period. It has become a frequent subject of discussion among enthusiasts for ruins. Since the abandoned island has not been maintained, several buildings have collapsed mainly due to typhoon damage, and other buildings are in danger of collapse. However, some of the collapsed exterior walls have been restored with concrete.

 

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Dallol Volcano, (The Hottest Areas on Earth) , Ethiopia

The Danakil Depression is a rift valley that parallels the Red Sea, near the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is a minor structure related to the rift between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. As the rift opens, the floor of the Danakil Depression subsides. After millions of years of subsidence, the deepest part of the depression is about 410 feet below sea level. It is one of the lowest points on Earth.

Several times during the formation of the Danakil Depression, water has over topped the divide between the Danakil Basin and the Red Sea, flooding the basin with seawater. Thick evaporate sequences of gypsum and halite were deposited in the basin as the seawater evaporated in the hot dry climate. Some of the evaporate deposits were formed by evaporating runoff water and evaporating hydro thermal brines.

The Dallol area is one of the hottest areas on Earth. The average daily maximum temperature is 106 degrees Fahrenheit and the annual mean temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit. During the rainy season, large portions of the Danakil depression can be covered with runoff water.

Much of the floor of the Danakil Depression is covered by salt flats. Other areas are covered by basalt flows, shield volcanoes, and cinder cones. Several craters up to a mile across can be seen on the salt flats. These are thought to be maars formed by phreatic eruptions.

The most recent eruption occurred in 1926 when a body of magma ascended toward Earth's surface in the Danakil Depression near the boundary of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. The rising magma body penetrated the salt on its way to the surface and a phreatic explosion formed a small maar about 100 feet across at the eruption site.

Dallol has some of the most colorful landscapes on Earth. The hot magma below heats groundwater flowing in from the surrounding highlands. This hot water moves up toward the surface and through the evaporite deposits, dissolving salt, potash, and other soluble minerals.

The supersaturated brine emerges through hot springs in the floor of the craters. As the brines evaporate in the hot arid climate, extensive salt formations are formed on the floor of the craters. These are colored white, yellow, brown, orange, and green by sulfur, dissolved iron, mud, and the life activity of halophile algae.

The actions of the hot springs, the deposition of salt, and sediments washed in by runoff have modified the geometry of the craters. Dallol craters are dangerous places to visit because their surface can be covered by a crust of salt with pools of hot acidic water just inches below. Toxic gases are sometimes released from craters.

In the past decade Dallol and Erta Ale, volcanic areas in the southeastern part of the Danakil Depression, have been frequently visited by tourists. These excursions can be risky because of the severe climate, the remote location, and repeated attacks on tourists. Armed guards accompany many of the tour groups.

Huacachina, (The Extraordinary Desert Oasis), Peru

Huacachina is a village in southern Peru, an hour away from the Pacific coast. The town is a collection of resorts and restaurants around a blue-green laguna surrounded by huge sand dunes. An antique image of the town is featured on Peru's 50 soles bill.

Huacachina is a village built around a small oasis and surrounded by sand dunes in southwestern Peru. It is about five kilometers from the city of Ica in the Ica District of Ica Province. The oasis was introduced as a feature on the back of the 50 nuevo sol note in 1991. Huacachina has a permanent population of around 100 people, although it hosts many tens of thousands of tourists each year.

Huacachina is built around a small natural lake in the desert. It is commonly referred to as the "oasis of America", it is a resort geared to local families from the nearby city of Ica, and increasingly as an attraction for tourists drawn by the sports of sand boarding on the sand dunes that stretch several hundred feet high. Other popular activities include dune buggy rides on buggies known locally as areneros.

According to local legends, the water and mud of the area is therapeutic. Both locals and tourists often bathe in the waters or cover themselves with the mud in an attempt to cure ailments such as arthritis, rheumatism, asthma and bronchitis.

Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess removed her clothes to bathe, but after looking in a mirror she saw a male hunter approaching her from behind. Startled at the intrusion, she fled the area leaving behind her mirror which turned into a lake. Other versions hold that she fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. The woman herself is rumored to still live in the oasis as a mermaid.

 

The lake was created by natural seepage from the underground aquifers, but the increase in well-drilling started to threaten that supply in the early 2000's. To compensate for this loss, and preserve the oasis as an destination for tourists, local business groups began pumping water into the lake in 2015.

It was announced in 2016 that the Peruvian scientist Marino Morikawa, who created a nanobubble system to decontaminate lake El Cascajo, will lead a project to restore the Huacachina lagoon.

Near the entrance to the Huacachina promenade are kiosks that sell souvenirs, jewelry, t-shirts and other touristy knicknacks. Others sell tasty jams made from fruits in the area  and some liqueurs from Ica such as pisco and wine. Apart from these small shops, there are only tiny convenience stores. Virtually all items are more expensive than when purchased in Ica. The only ATM in the town is at the Carola Lodge. It frequently is out of cash. Ica, a few kilometers away, has a number of ATM machines, and money-changers who will convert your dollars into soles and vice versa in exchange for a small commission.

Lake Natron, Arusha Region, Tanzania

Lake Natron is a salt or soda lake in Arusha Region in Tanzania. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance.

The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River, which rises in central Kenya, and by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three meters (9.8 ft) deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The lake is a maximum of 57 kilometers (35 mi) long and 22 kilometers (14 mi) wide. The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totaling 800 millimeters (31 in) per year. Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 40 °C (104 °F).

High levels of evaporation have left behind natron (sodium carbonate decahydrate) and trona (sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate). The alkalinity of the lake can reach a pH of greater than 12. The surrounding bedrock is composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachytelavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period. The lavas have significant amounts of carbonate but very low calcium and magnesium levels. This has allowed the lake to concentrate into a caustic alkaline brine.

The color of the lake is characteristic of those where very high evaporation rates occur. As water evaporates during the dry season, salinity levels increase to the point that salt-loving microorganisms begin to thrive. Such halophile organisms include some cyanobacteria that make their own food with photosynthesis as plants do. The red accessory photosynthesizing pigment in the cyanobacteria produces the deep reds of the open water of the lake and the orange colors of the shallow parts of the lake. The alkali salt crust on the surface of the lake is also often colored red or pink by the salt-loving microorganisms that live there. Salt marshes and freshwater wetlands around the edges of the lake do support a variety of plants.

Most animals find the lake's high temperature and its high and variable salt content inhospitable. Nonetheless, Lake Natron is home to some endemic algae, invertebrates, and birds. In the slightly less salty water around its margins, some fish can also survive.

 

The lake is the only regular breeding area in East Africa for the 2.5 million lesser flamingos, whose status of "near threatened" results from their dependence on this one location. When salinity increases, so do cyanobacteria, and the lake can also support more nests. These flamingoes, the single large flock in East Africa, gather along nearby saline lakes to feed on Spirulina (a blue-green algae with red pigments). Lake Natron is a safe breeding location because its caustic environment is a barrier against predators trying to reach their nests on seasonally forming evaporite islands. Greater flamingoes also breed on the mud flats.

The lake has inspired the nature documentary The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos by Disneynature, for its close relationship with the Lesser flamingoes as their only regular breeding area.

Two endemic fish species, the alkaline tilapias Alcolapia latilabris and A. ndalalani, also thrive in the waters at the edges of the hot spring inlets. A. alcalica is also present in the lake, but is not endemic.