Into the heart of the Amazon

Yasuní National Park:Cobalt-winged parakeets flock to a pool.

The Largest Trees

The largest trees on Earth live at high elevations, endure heavy snows and lightning strikes—and grow bulky and strong.

MACHU PICCHU INN -PERU

View dazzling 20,000-footers such as Salkantay, the highest summit in the range and one of the most sacred peaks in Inca mythology.Also see the diverse ecosystems of the Andes, from ice-clad, high-alpine slopes to lush cloud forests and tropical orchards. Then venture deep into the mysteries of the Inca as we explore the breathtaking sanctuary of Machu Picchu.

Microraptor Dinosaur Was Ace Flyer

Dragon-Like, Feathered Dinosaur Microraptor Was Ace Flyer:Why would a dinosaur with a body built for running have four wings and a long, feathered tail-and how did it use them? Paleontologists have long puzzled over the dragon-like anatomy of the tiny, carnivorous dinosaur called Microraptor that hunted in the forests of China 130 million years ago.

Botafogo Bay, Brazil

Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro :Rio de Janeiro, commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazi. Yachts bob in Botafogo Bay, cradled between the beach and the tall rock known as Sugar Loaf.

Northern Lights

Northern Lights is a common name for the Aurora Borealis (Polar Aurorae) in the Northern Hemisphere.

Swallow's Nest Castle, Ukraine

Castle:The neo-Gothic Swallow's Nest castle perches 130 feet (40 meters) above the Black Sea near Yalta in southern Ukraine. Built by a German noble in 1912, the flamboyant seaside residence now houses an Italian restaurant

Cliffside caves in the former kingdom of Mustang of Nepal

Climbers and scientists follow a trail above the Kali Gandaki River in Nepal’s remote Mustang region. More than 60 feet above are rows of unexplored man-made caves dug centuries ago. This sky caves may give secrets in the former kingdom of Mustang of Nepal

Cape Royal and Angels Window in Grand Canyon

U.S. National Parks:Angels don’t need windows, but if they ever wanted to frame a great view, they might choose the North Rim’s Cape Royal (above) and its noble companion parapet in Arizona.

Green-tailed Sun Birds:Wild Birds

Wild, free-living birds are ambassadors of the natural habitat they depend upon. Some eat only meat, while other eat only nectar. Some migrate from Cape Town to Siberia between seasons, while others stay at home to protect their patch. Some live 99% of the time in the sky, others live almost entirely underwater. The birds of the world have an astounding diversity of color, design, function, grace, power and creativity that can only come from millions of years of mastering life on earth, or, should I say, in the air. These feathered aviators come from the age of the dinosaurs and their ancestors can be found as ancient fossils from prehistory. From pole to pole they had just about found a home and a place everywhere, in the air, under the waves, in the branches, in your garden, above cities, and in our forests. We need to do everything we can as a society to ensure that future generations have the amazing diversity of birds in their gardens, towns, parks, reserves and wilderness areas that we still have… Green-tailed sunbirds are found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam, preferring temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

New "Super Earth" Found at Right Distance for Life

Dim star would give any atmosphere red glow, like "evening all the time." An artist's depiction of GJ 667Cc orbiting a red dwarf, with its binary companion stars in the distance. A new planet—probably a rocky super-Earth—has been found squarely within its star's habitable zone, making it one of the best candidates yet to support life, its discoverers say. The planet, dubbed GJ 667Cc, orbits a red dwarf star 22 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Scorpio. A binary pair of orange dwarf stars are part of the same system.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

n West Texas, only about 40 miles southwest of Carlsbad Caverns, lies a gem of a park that few people outside the state have ever heard of, let alone visited. Guadalupe Mountains National Park contains the southernmost, highest part of the 40-mile-long Guadalupe range. From the highway, the mountains resemble a nearly monolithic wall through the desert. But drive into one of the park entrances, take even a short stroll, and surprises crop up: dramatically contoured canyons, shady glades surrounded by desert scrub, a profusion of wildlife and birds.

Scott's Hut Antarctica

Scott's Hut, Cape Evans on Ross Island Frozen in time since 1912, Scott’s Hut is a tangible reminder of the intrepid explorers of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. (Source)

Victoria Falls, Africa

Victoria Falls—created by the Zambezi River plunging up to 324 feet (99 meters) into basalt gorges—stretches from southern Zambia into Zimbabwe.It is one of the World Heritage site

The UFOs

UFOs were around, in fact, long before humans themselves took to the air. The first account of a UFO sighting in America was back in 1639, when Massachusetts colony governor John Winthrop noted in his journal that one James Everell, “a sober, discreet man,” and two other witnesses watched a luminous object fly up and down the Muddy River near Charlestown for two to three hours. There are documented sightings of sightings of what were then called “airships” during the 1800s as well, such as the July 1884 sighting of a Saturn-shaped UFO (a ball surrounded by a ring) in Norwood, NY, and a fast-moving object that briefly hovered over the startled townspeople of Everest, KS in 1897.

Monarch Butterfly

Massive migrations of monarch butterflies along the California-Mexico coast can take these airborne insects over 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers).

Everest At Twilight

Mount Everest

Rain Forest of Republic of Congo

Canoes are vital for transportation on the rain forest rivers of the Republic of the Congo. The Congo Basin’s 500 million acres of tropical forest, second-largest in the world after the Amazon, are known for an incredible array of wildlife including great apes, forest elephants, and some 700 species of river fish. But people have also lived here for over 50,000 years. The Congo Basin currently provides water and food to about 75 million Africans.

Booming Meteor Show

The Lyrid Meteor Show Left Viewers (and Listeners) Starstruck

Surfing at Teahupoo, Tahiti

Surfer Nathan Fletcher Rides a Monster Tube at Teahupoo, Tahiti

Amarnath Yatra

The last camp on the Amarnath Yatra, an annual pilgrimage that brings hundreds of thousands of worshipers to a remote mountain cave. Gray snow and trash mar the scene.

Grand Canyon National Park

From the lush forests of the North Rim, hike along sinuous sandstone ribbons sculpted over millions of years. Explore the more arid terrain of the South Rim and witness the canyon’s shifting palette of red, orange, and gold.

Ocean NG photo

Ocean photo from National Geographic Collection

Seljalandsfoss, Iceland,Scandinavia Photos

Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall situated in Iceland, not far from the main Ring Road on the south coast. Following a path it's possible to go behind the waterfall.

Bolivia

Llamas at Eduardo Avaroa Andean National Fauna Reserve in southwestern Bolivia