Jumbos In Action- Little Karoo, South AFrica

Elephants are finding themselves crushing and making wine in South Africa. Are you surprised to hear that the jumbos are doing something constructive? If you happen to be in Little Karoo in South Africa, you have a good chance of catching these pachyderms, crushing grapes to make wine. The four-meter mammoth creatures respond to commands like “foot up” and “foot down” and elegantly crush the grapes under their feet. The juice is later shifted to cellars and stored in fermentation vessels. Don’t you think it’s not a bad way to usefully engage the elephants?

By the way, a little bit of info on Little Karoo. It lies between the Swartberg Mountains in the North, and the Langeberg and Outeniqua Mountains in the South in South Africa. The Little Karoo regions are best known for the town of Oudtshoorn, which is the home to the world’s largest Ostrich population. Cango caves are world famous that adds credit to Little Karoo as one of the best tourist spots in the world. It is also known as ‘Klein Karoo’ in Afrikaans.

Three ton chocolate 'Easter Bunny' in Johannesburg

To carve a three-ton sculpture in itself is a big task. Perhaps, if it were for a sculpture made out of a stone, it would have been something normal to perceive. But the ‘Easter Bunny’ sculpture is something different. If you hear about it your mouth would water, as the sculpture is made out of chocolate. Harry Johnson, who is known as the fastest sculptor in the world has made the ‘Easter Bunny’ within three days. He took the assistance of four people to chip and melt to make the sweet bunny, which sits in Johannesburg right now. Too much of association with the chocolate has made co-creator Mark Fruhaf frown on the name of chocolate. After all, staying so close to chocolate for three full days ought to have the effect. However, Harry Johnson must be rejoicing for having placed the ‘Easter Bunny’ in the list of records. And any of you had the chance to be in Johannesburg to view the mega-chocolate bunny?

It's bloom time for 'Jacaranda' in Nilgiris- India

Nilgiris in India abounds in Jacaranda flowers right now. The beautiful purple colored flowers have started blooming in the ‘Blue Mountains’ or ‘Nilgiris’ as popularly known. Indian tourists are having visual delight and express their joy with the blooming of the Jacaranda. Jacaranda is native to South America, Central America, Mexico and Carribean. The tree has another name ‘Exam Tree’ as it coincides with the examination season. Introduced to Israel 50 years ago, these can be found most parts of Sothern California in the US. And the list extends to Brisbane in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, Bhutan etc. Jacaranda can also be found in the Indian city of Bangalore in its peak boom - should I say ‘peak bloom’ rather? By the way, Pretoria in South Africa is known as the ‘Jacaranda City’.

Ice Hotels in Norway

Norway in best known for its sub Zero temperatures and as a place where sun rise is very minimum. This has enabled enterprising people to think differently. And now you can cool yourself by dining in ice hotels in Norway, where the biggest of them boasts of keeping you in temperatures ranging from -4°c to -6°c (25°F to 19°F).

The hotels are sculpted in an enchanting manner and provides excellent ambience. A mere look inside gives an idea of a different experience that we would have. One of the hotels in Northern Norway is built in 2000 Square meter area with 30 rooms. The best part is, there are even 2 bridal rooms for couples desirous of getting married ‘cool’. A small place of worship is also there, where a Chief Priest comes and conducts worship once a year. Marriages are also solemnized over there. It has consumed 600 tons of ice blocks and 1000 tons of ice pieces to build this hotel and it has been estimated that around 2000 guests arrive at this hotel to cool themselves. Would you like to be one among them? If so, don’t you forget to visit these ice hotels if you happen to be Norway.

Konark Sun Temple

Konark is a temple in Orissa, which is situated in eastern India. The temple shines in the pages of history as it is famous for its Sun Temple - and Sun naturally shines. ‘Kona’ means ‘Energy corner” and ‘Arka’ means ‘sun’. The sum total meaning hence stands for’ Sun’s Energy Corner’ and the history of the temple is quite interesting. According to temple history, king Champa was suffering from Leprosy and he came to know that worshipping sun was the only way to get rid of the disease. He came to Konark as it was the ‘Sun’s energy corner’ and took a holy dip in the ‘Chandrabhaga', river near the temple. After ablutions, he meditated on Sun god and by the grace of the radiant Sun, he was cured of the disease. As a mark of gratitude to Sun god, he constructed the temple, which was renovated by king Narasimha deva in the 13^th century. It took 200 sculptors and 12 years to complete the beautiful temple. The chariot shaped temple stands tall in-spite-of attacks from alien invaders during historical period. The chariot shape has 24 wheels of 10 feet diameter on all four directions. The front has sculptures of 7 horses pulling the chariot. The temple is famous for its fantastic scene of the sun rays falling on the sun god.

The entrance known as ‘Mukhashala’, the dance auditorium, Chayadevi temple (Chaya Devi happens to be the wife of Sun god), Sculptures of humans, gigantic elephant, sculptures of horse, soldiers and arches of artistic finish are few among the salient features of this temple. ‘Brahma Purnima’ is an important festival, where many devotees throng the temple for a holy dip in the month of January/February. In the month of December the ‘Konark Dance Festival’ adds color to the festivities. Thus the temple enters a festive mood two times a year. The temple is a UNESCO maintained site as it has been awarded the heritage status. The main deity was transferred to ‘Puri’ - yet another temple town in Orissa, in 1696 A.D. as the temple was in ruins by then.