Earth Explorer

                                                      Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of Florida in October 2014. The peninsula is highly recognizable even at night, especially when looking roughly north, as our map-trained brains expect. Astronaut photograph ISS041-E-74232 was acquired on October 13, 2014, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 24 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 41 crew. It has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports t...

These fascinating photos from 1880 feature pilgrims from 10 countries during Hajj. Back then, before the advent of modern transport such as commercial air travel, the journey to Hajj was far more difficult and perilous and these pilgrims would have undertaken journeys of weeks or months to reach Makkah. An interesting observation about these photos is the different clothing the pilgrims are wearing reflecting the customs of their place of origin. However during Hajj, such nationalities disappear as each person wears two pieces of un-stitched clothing making it difficult to identify their nationality. Hajj brings all nations and peoples together where the young, the old, the poor and the rich stand before Allah as equals. These photos were taken when the Ottoman caliphate still existed and pilgrims were able to travel hassle free without passports and visas through borderless lands. Basra, Iraq Baghdad, Iraq Aceh, Indonesia Sumatra, Indonesia Bahrain Zanzibar Yem...

South Africa to Asia by Car. Adventurer - Traveler - A Sunday drive between 2 friends in a Toyota Fortuner that started from: South Africa - Mozambique - Malawi - Tanzania - Zanzibar - Kenya - Ethiopia - Sudan - Sinai - Egypt - Under the Suez - Jordan - Syria - Turkey - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Armenia - Iran - Pakistan -India - Nepal - Dubai ... And then back to South Africa. All with Minimum Visa.   Facebook - Ayob Vawda By Frans van der Merwe Driving The World For Peace - an “impossible journey” which started off in July 2008 in KwaZulu-Natal is nearing its end after more than 75 000 km. Two South African adventurers, Ayob Vawda and Abdool Samath, stopped over in Louis Trichardt this week on the homeward leg of a journey, which they were told beforehand that it would be “impossible.” Their extraordinary trip, which brought them some incredible adventures, took them through the Eastern part of Africa, several hot spots in the Middle East - including Iran and...