EXPLORE THE EXTRAORDINARY DIVERSITY OF OUR PLANET ON DISCOVERY HD WORLD'S MIRACLES OF NATURE

Have you ever wondered about the location of Garden of Eden? Do you know where on the planet you can find the only untouched glacier? Where is the widest, the highest or the smallest waterfall in the world? Which desert is the driest or the largest? Do you want to know the location of the most inaccessible mountains, the deepest point of the ocean, or where the salt plains lie? 

On our planet there are an infinite number of beautiful places one can visit.  It requires nothing more than a curiosity to observe what is all around you.  India’s true high definition channel Discovery HD World presents the extraordinary diversity of our miraculous planet in a new series MIRACLES OF NATURE, to air every Monday at 7 pm.

MIRACLES OF NATURE admires nature’s grandiose which manifests in countless ways, from breathtaking vistas to the simple movements of a common heifer. Each episode explores the charm of the under-appreciated diversity of our beautiful planet including Scottish Highlands, Svalbard, Caribbean, Mongolia, Arabian Peninsula, Islands of Madeira and Bali. The series ventures into the un-ceased creations and harbors something extraordinary or reveals something unique about the character of each country. 

The series uncovers the world of geysers, active volcanoes and bizarre rock formations which have one thing in common: they are not the work of man but magical creations of nature. Come along on an off-beat journey to interesting natural destination to unravel the chronicles of various parts of the world. 

Some of the highlights from the series:

Scottish Highlands

•The Scottish Highlands is a place where the best whiskey in the world is made and where the men still wear skirts. Actually, they’re called kilts. 

•The most well-known place of the Scottish Highlands, and possibly in the whole of Scotland, is the Loch Ness Lake. Veiled in mystery, the lake has achieved its celebrity status thanks to Nessie, a giant creature allegedly living in the lake. The first reference to its existence dates as far back as the 6th century.

•The tradition of the Scottish games was established in the 11th century by the Scottish king Malcolm Kenmore. The original intention of the games was to ensure that each Scottish warrior could demonstrate strength, agility, endurance and bravery. Among the crowd favourites of today’s version of the games are the highland dance, playing on Pibroch pipes, and log throwing. 

•The Scottish Highlands are no place for the less than hardy. The sharp, cold wind blows so hard that even cattle and sheep have evolved with long, thick hair to help them survive.

Lake Baikal

•Lake Baikal is the deepest and oldest lake in the world. Its water is so clean that it could be tapped into bottles and sold straight from its shores. 

•336 rivers flow into the Lake Baikal, but only one flows out, the River Angara. Over 50 kinds of fish thrive here, including sturgeon and omul.

•Lake Baikal contains roughly 20 percent of the world’s surface fresh water, and is located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia. 

•The Siberian region is extremely cold with average annual temperature hovering around zero degrees. The best way to warm up is with a shot of vodka. The locals distill their vodka from milk. Apart from the main ingredient, the distillation process is not very different from any other. Make the fire and keep adding wood beneath the cauldron until the tower heats up sufficiently and the distillation process begins. And Rakushka, as the finished product is known, is ready. 

Valleys 

•The Wadi Hadramawt is an extensive valley in the midst of a parched expanse.  It is one of the first areas in the world where civilization settled.  Hans Helfritz first discovered it for the world in 1935.  It was the traveller Helfritz that nicknamed it the Manhattan of the Desert.

•The land of the Queen of Sheba lies wedged in between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.  There used to be an extensive dam here which facilitated the irrigation of an area of 10,000 hectares.  Such a feat of irrigation was unheard of at the time.  The damn split the surrounding land in two.  It was for this reason that the area became known as the land of two paradises.  Though it is almost impossible to imagine on this very spot the Garden of Eden existed around 1,000 years BC literally right here.  The topography has radically changed over the last 3,000 years.  

Socotra

•Scientists consider Socotra to be the most remote piece of dry land in the history of planet earth.  The high degree of endemism is the result of isolation.  The endemism is what makes the entire archipelago a significantly remarkable location both for its biogeography as well as in terms of evolution.   

•30 percent of the 900 plants here are endemic and ten species are unique.  The pomegranate and the aloe plant originated here. 

•A vast majority of the islands flora and fauna are endemic meaning they do not exist anywhere else in the world.  Among the best known is the Dragon Blood tree, Dracaena Cinnabari.  It resembles a giant mushroom.  Its treetop is made of long thick green needles.  The tree survives on dew that collects onto these needles at night.  Each of the Dragon Blood trees are hundreds of years old.  Oddly they almost never reproduce.  

Caribbean 

•Antigua lies where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic Ocean.  Anthropologists believe that this island was inhabited as early as the Stone Age. However it was only discovered by the Europeans when Christopher Columbus made his second sail in 1493. Having endured a short lived dispute between the French, English and Spanish Antigua became a part of the British Empire in 1657. In 1967 the island became autonomous as an annexed state of Great Britain.  Then in 1981 it declared independence under the names Antigua and Barbuda.

•The biggest colony of magnificent frigate birds in the Caribbean is located in the Codrington Lagoon.  According to American ornithologists, there are 2,000 of these birds nesting here.

Australia 

•The Blue Mountains form a part of the Australian Great Dividing Range. The bluish haze that rises from millions of eucalyptus trees tinting the surrounding sky and mountain ridges also provided the logical name for these mountains.

•Christopher Columbus also discovered what the British Virgin Islands is now, during his second sail in 1493.  

•This archipelago made up of some 50 islands lies hidden in the Caribbean Sea about 60 miles east of Puerto Rico. This stunning place was inhabited by a South American tribe of Indians called the Arawak as early as the year 100 A.D. In the 15th century the Arawak tribe was driven out by the more aggressive Carib tribe.  Subsequently in the 16th and 17th centuries the Dutch, French, Spanish, Danish and British all fought for influence throughout the area. Great Britain emerged victorious and the islands have been under its administration ever since. The islands became an independent British colony in 1960 and gave wider autonomy seven years later. Tortola is the main island and its capital is called Road Town.  

Barneo Station 

• BarneoStation is the furthermost place in this world.  It’s a bit frustrating to trace because you won’t ever find the BarneoStation at the same spot.  It keeps on moving its position as a result of the drifting. And to make matter more confusing, the station ceases to exist all together in the spring.  This is because the ice is not thick enough for planes to land there and the following year it may be set up in yet an entirely different location that is deemed satisfactory.  It is so cold here that you have to keep moving at all times.

Badlands - 

•The English term Badlands is a direct translation of the LakotaIndian word Makhosica.  It marks out a territory subject to great erosion.  The resulting terrain proved difficult to traverse for Indians and settlers alike. 

•It was precisely here that the history of the Canadian province of Alberta began to unfold some four million years ago.  It was during that time that the bottom of the sea began to rise as a result of pressure from inside the earth.  The result of that tectonic energy was the formation of a continent.  

•The unique and peculiar sandstone rock formations locally referred to as the hoodoo provide an exact geological record that scientist from a wide variety of disciplines can rely upon.  Here, one observes the individual layers of sediment deposits.  Apparently the dark bits once formed the sea bottom while the lighter parts come from a period when dinosaurs roamed the local plains.  In this area, it is not uncommon for dinosaur fossils to be discovered.

Islands 

•Even though the islands of Madeira, Taiwan and Bali are thousands of kilometers apart they have one thing in common, all three islands were created by ancient volcanic action that shaped their landscapes into truly wild and unbelievable beauty.  

•Madeira lies 500 kilometers from the African coastline.  The island is only 40 kilometers across but the nature of Madeira is so diverse that you may feel as if you have just traversed an entire continent.  

•The inhabitants of Madeira long ago devised a complex system of irrigation canals called Levadas.  These canals stretching over 2,150 kilometers distribute water to the entire island.  

•Taiwan is believed to have come into being about 150 million years ago.  Here the earth his still boiling under the crust.  Remains of volcanic activity are found in Yangminshan National Park, located only a few miles from the capital city of Taipei.  Hot sulfuric springs rise to the surface through the cracks in the earth's crust.

•Bali is known around the world for its mysterious mystical ambience.  It is said that Bali is the last place on earth where ghosts and demons still mingle among mortals.  Demons and ghosts are deemed to be their natural neighbors and are treated with utmost respect and reverence.  Hinduism is the principle religion in Bali; however, the practice of their religion is strongly influenced by ancient animistic cults.

•In Bali volcanoes are worshipped even more than the trees.  They are called Gunungapi, meaning fiery mountains. The Balinese believe that might demons dwell within.  In an effort to appease these demons they offer frequent sacrifices to the volcanoes.  This imposing volcano has two craters, the outer oval crater has become a lake measuring 17 kilometers in diameter and rising 1,500 meters above sea level.  The inner crater is smaller but rises to 1,800 meters above sea level and is still considered active.  It last erupted in 1994. 

Gobi Desert  

•The Gobi is one of the oldest deserts in the world. Its surface area is an incredible 1.3 million square kilometers. The Gobi Desert remains largely unexplored due to its immense size. It stretches between the Altai mountain range in the North, the Tibetan Plateau in the southwest and the Great Wall of China in the southeast. 

•Its extreme size goes hand in hand with extreme temperature differences. In the winter the temperature can drop as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit while in the summer time the temperature can climb up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Only a few living beings survive such drastic temperature differences.

•The southern reaches of the Gobi have been devouring pastures on the Chinese border for the last 20 years. Each year the greedy masses of sand absorb 20 centimeters of rainfall.

•The peeks of the Gurvan Saikhan mountain range seem to be blast skyward. When translated its name, means the three beauties even though the dark and rocky mountains feel quite gloomy in real life.

Mangolia  

•It is highly advisable to visit Khövsgöl Nuur Lake in order to fully appreciate the extent of the diversity one finds in Mongolia. It lies in the north on the Russian border and it is one of the largest lakes in the country. This lake similar to one aspect of the Gobi has a few numerical records to its credit. It was formed two million years ago and as such belongs in the league of the world’s 17 oldest lakes.