Red Sea - Egypt

Location: The East Coast of Mainland Egypt bordering the Red Sea

Egypt's Red Sea coast runs from the Gulf of Suez to the Sudanese border. Its mineral-rich red mountain ranges inspired the mariners of antiquity to name the sea Mare Rostrum, or the Red Sea.

Hermits seeking seclusion founded early Christian monasteries here, sharing the wilderness with camel-trading Bedouin tribes. Today, the crags and limestone wadis of the Eastern Desert remain relatively unexplored, home to ibex and gazelle. But the Red Sea itself, dotted with coral reefs, fringed by ancient ports, teeming with underwater life, has a rich maritime history which stretches back to Pharaonic times.

The thermal winds that once sped clippers to the East still bring thousands of migrating birds to the shores of the Red Sea, making it a paradise for bird-watchers. Today, the ancient ports are better known as some of the best diving and fishing resorts in the world. Here, you will find over 800 fish species, including the deadly stone-fish, the equally dangerous butterfly-fish, as well as surgeon fish, jellyfish such as the cassiopei, crabs that sometimes overrun the shore in the evening and some species of shark.


Sunbathers relax on white sand beaches, or find shade in the mangrove lagoons that line the coast, while snorkellers explore the reefs. And the underwater wonder of the Red Sea remains a living tapestry of vibrant corals and exotic fish, waiting for you to discover its secrets.

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Indonesia - Merapi Mount - Yogyakarta

Mount Merapi, is a conical volcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. Its name means Mountain of Fire. It is very close to the city of Yogyakarta, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1700 m above sea level.

Merapi is the youngest in a group of volcanoes in southern Java. It is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is sliding beneath the Eurasian Plate. It is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire – a section of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia.

Stratigraphic analysis reveals that eruptions in the Merapi area began about 400,000 years ago, and from then until about 10,000 years ago, eruptions were typically effusive, and the outflowing lava emitted was basaltic. Since then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous andesitic lavas often generating lava domes. Dome collapse has often generated pyroclastic flows, and larger explosions, which have resulted in eruption columns, have also generated pyroclastic flows through column collapse.

Mount Merapi is the site of a very active volcano monitoring program. Seismic monitoring began in 1924, with some of the volcano monitoring stations lasting until the present. The Babadan (north west location), Selo (in the saddle between Merbabu and Merapi), and Plawangan monitoring stations have been updated with equipment over the decades since establishment. During the 1950s and early 1960s some of the stations were starved of equipment and funds, but after the 1970s considerable improvement occurred with the supply of new equipment.

Some of the pre-1930 observation posts were destroyed by the 1930 eruption, and newer posts were re-located. Similarly after the 1994 eruption, the Plawangan post and equipment were moved into Kaliurang as a response to the threat of danger to the Volcanological personnel at the higher point.

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