Top 10 The Most Dangerous Snakes in the World

1. Black Mamba

World Dangerous Roads - Part 3

1. Road from Tibet to Nepal: sheer drops

We finally have some photos documenting hair-raising twists and drops of the road from Tibet, China (Lhasa) to Nepal (Kathmandu) - courtesy of Tatiana, whose father took these pictures in October 2006 (He was also a witness to the crash right in front of him) - The 1000 km long Friendship Highway includes seven 3500 meters passes, with one pass as high as 5000 meters. Most of the road is pretty manageable driving, although is has some rather fascinating parts:

(images via)
See more pictures of the road from Lhasa here (thanks, Cee!)

"There are some crazy "roads" in Nepal as well. The road to Besisahar is a
road in name only, and it's the only route to the most popular trekking path (the Annapurna Loop) in Nepal".

2."The Halsema Highway" in the Philippines.
Greg Brennan sent us some interesting pictures of this route, and it seems to fit the bill as one of the most precarious and shudder-inducing roads out there.

Greg writes: "The Halsema Highway, also known as the Baguio-Bontoc Road, runs through the Central Cordillera Valley on the island of Luzon in The Philippines. The beginning of the highway starts off slightly paved and quickly turns to dirt. It is approximately 150 miles long and takes about 10 hours to get from Baguio city to Sagada on a nice day. It is known for rock slides, mud slides and buses driving dangerously fast on its narrow passage. It also goes through some of the more remote provinces in The Philippines. There are many accidents and overturned buses on a yearly basis. Often there are sheer drop offs of over 1000 feet without a guard rail. During the rainy season it is nearly impassable."

(images credit: Greg Brennan)


UPDATE for the Bolivian Road of Death:

Bolivian Buses

These buses travel the Road of Death, and in themselves evoke solemn speculations about reasonable risks, life/death and possible breakdowns in impossible locations:

They are definitely not an air-conditioned coaches, and their technical condition often is a matter of prayer, not engineering.

Here is a rare look inside such bus...

...as it negotiates a road ahead:

Rob has a wonderful account of traveling on buses in Bolivia, and helping to clear a few rock slides along the way...

(images credit Rob)

Send us more pictures of buses in Bolivia;
their drivers especially deserve utmost respect.

Until next installment in a series, I leave you with this mystery photo: is it Photoshoped? If not, this Jeep is certainly not going anywhere...

Butterfly Wings Alphabet

Nature Speaks in English Sometimes...
Today I stumbled upon a really fascinating little site: Butterfly Alphabet. Meticulously sought-out and collected there by scientists and amateurs alike are the LETTERS, NUMBERS and SYMBOLS found in everyday nature patterns and particularly in butterfly wings.
Here is the Butterfly Alphabet:

What's more, on this site, you can write your name, or any text in the butterfly (or other nature pattern) letters and send the card to your romantic interest for a good "wow, how cute!" effect. For example, this is "Dark Roasted Blend" written in butterfly letters:

and "Mazel Tov!" written in Nature's Alphabet:

Nature's Smiley Faces!
Some of the endearing faces found on that site. They have heart pictures, too!

Panda Party Animals

Panda bears love to hang out:

(images via 1, 2)

A panda missing its tree? Or, do pandas simply always look a little sad? -

Giant Panda hanging from structure at the Wolong Nature Reserve, China (left):

(images credit: Katherine Feng, National Geographic, Alamy)

Pandas can turn into the cutest furballs:

(images via)

Is there a dessert? Yes! (also check the different ways how pandas Love to Party!)

(image via)

We wrote about the cutest panda bears - The Newborn Pandas- before (we also have an article about the Red Panda, or Firefox - here).

(image via)

It's coming to get you! -

Animal Acrobatics

Climbing: involuntary
New definition of "lost":



This moose is not just "hanging around". It's actually quite a sad story

"This moose got his antlers stuck in a newly-laid power cable, strung on the ground for miles. When the men (from a big distance) pulled the lines with their heavy equipment, he went too. They could not get the line straight and went searching for the problem. The moose was still alive when they lowered him..."

Make sure you read the similar stories here and here. All are very odd...

Voluntary climbing

These Moroccan goats love to climb trees, attracted by the "argo" nuts.
Locals use these nuts to make oil. Goats seem to get a kick from both nuts AND climbing. More on that here

(image credit: Remo Savisaar)


(image credit: Remo Savisaar)

Deer running "on" water:

The only thing cows can do, though - is to get totally STUCK:




More animal acrobatics tricks:
- some real...


(originals unknown)
...and some photoshopped:



Sources: Karaul, Exler, Funlog