These traditional balconies are found all over Malta. Their origins go back to the Arabic architectural feature of a muxrabija. This was a wooden frame which screened the window space completely. It allowed a person on the inside to observe all that was going on outside, whilst not being visible to anyone in the street below.
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According to Wikipedia, Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily and is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps. Its height however varies depending on eruptions.
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The Ifugao are the indigenous people of the Banaue, the area of Luzon Island famed for its UNESCO listed rice terraces. The name means ‘people of the earth'.
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Tarsiers are one of the smallest primates in the world, not much bigger than a human fist. They are nocturnal and spend the day dozing under big leaves in the forest, making them very difficult to photograph clearly!
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The people of Sagada traditionally followed a unique burial ritual, hanging their coffins from cliffs or placing them in a cave. They believed that the higher the dead were placed, the greater chance of their spirits reaching a higher nature in the afterlife.
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The locals in the Ifugao region of Luzon Island in the Philippines chew moma as protection against the cold. This is a mix of betel nut, betel leaf, tobacco and slaked lime powder (usually made from heating crushed sea or snail shells).
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The Louvre Abu Dhabi displays art from very early civilisations up to the present day, in chronological order. And unlike many others, it presents various contemporaneous cultures alongside each other. You follow a thread from early self-contained kingdoms through conquest and expansion into empires.
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The granite dome of Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park has been cut with 350 steps linked by short steep slopes. From part way up I looked out over the Great Western Divide. This mountain range in the Sequoia National Park has several peaks reaching well over 13,000 feet (3,962 metres).
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Wildfires are a natural part of the forest ecology. They play an important role in clearing out dead vegetation, stimulating new growth, and creating habitats for certain species. But human activity is affecting this pattern, whether through global warming) which makes fires more common and more extensive) or fire starting, whether accidentally or even deliberately.
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In 1844 a group of pioneers left the usual route west to follow the Truckee River into the mountains. The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party became the first overland settlers to use what later became known as the Donner Pass. It took them roughly four months to cross the Sierra Nevada by this route.
