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Learn more about spiky tree, mysterious rock and 500-year-old village that looks frozen in time!
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00:00This spiky tree knows how to shoot, so you better stay away from it.
00:05It's called a sandbox tree, and you can find it in Amazonia.
00:09Initially, its seeds are formed in the shape of a small pumpkin.
00:12As time goes by, they harden and mature.
00:16But here comes the fun part.
00:18Just as they reach peak maturity, the seeds pop and shoot out at a speed of 150 miles per hour.
00:24They can even reach distances of 60 feet.
00:27That's what makes it so risky to be in their way during the blast process.
00:32Not to mention, the seeds are poisonous, too.
00:35Sure, some trees don't grow completely upright.
00:39But a tree that's altogether bent, with its branches even touching the ground, is a sight not to be missed.
00:46Such a tree, called the El Arbol de la Sabina, grows in Spain.
00:50Its shape depends on the wind, as the tree bends in its direction.
00:54As a result, not only does it often have a weird shape, but it can also change it completely during
01:00different times of the year.
01:02This flexible tree can reach more than 26 feet in height, and tends to grow in the most improbable of
01:08locations, like on rocks.
01:11Now, how about a tree that's as old as dinosaurs?
01:14Discovered in 1994, the Wallamie pine tree species can be seen in the Blue Mountains of Sydney, Australia.
01:22It dates back to over 200 million years, so it's easy to believe dinosaurs might have even roamed around it.
01:28Since these trees are endangered, and only 100 exhibits exist to this day in the wild,
01:34the scientists don't feel like disclosing their location.
01:38They want to make sure the trees are well-preserved.
01:41Also, they're important for science, as studying them may help us uncover new information on the Earth's past.
01:47The bark of the tree can teach us many different things, like different temperature periods, or exposure to various chemicals.
01:55The Tree of Life gets its name because it's able to withstand difficult conditions and actually thrive.
02:02Located in the desert outskirts of Bahrain, the Prosapis Cineraria has a very deep root system,
02:08which allows it to survive in the scorching heat.
02:11The scientists still can't find out how it manages to get sufficient water.
02:16It's so special that it gathers over 50,000 tourists each year.
02:22La India Dormida in Panama is a mountainous area that's shaped like the body of a sleeping girl.
02:28It's part of a bigger, mysterious region called Laval d'Anton, one of the largest inhabited dormant volcanoes in the
02:35world.
02:36And it has some pretty weird trees, too.
02:38Square ones.
02:39Even the rings of these trees, meaning the interior of their trunks, are the same shape,
02:44with sharp edges, sometimes even at a perfect 90-degree angle.
02:49Researchers have tried to piece together why these trees grow in this particular shape.
02:54They even tried taking samples of some of the trees and planting them elsewhere, to see if they retain that
03:00shape.
03:00It wasn't the case, so it's clear that the odd shape of the trees has something to do with the
03:06valley itself.
03:07Some people believe that a local farmer might have originally planted the trees in boxes,
03:12forcing the trees to grow like that, to reduce lumber waste,
03:16since round trees often end up being cut in sharp, angled pieces.
03:21One of the oldest and biggest trees in the world is found in the Sequoia National Park of the United
03:27States.
03:27It's called General Sherman and stretches at 275 feet.
03:32It's almost as big as the Statue of Liberty.
03:34Its circumference is equally as impressive, as near the ground, it is around 102 feet around.
03:41As for its age, we can only guess it to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years.
03:48That's an old tree!
03:51There are a lot of beautiful species of trees out there,
03:54but none as striking as the Rainbow Eucalyptus, found in the Philippines.
03:59It almost looks hand-painted because of its multicolored layers of bark.
04:03This tree also shades its layers irregularly, which means it shows a lot of colors at once,
04:10from green to blue, then purple to orange, and then finally reaching brown.
04:15It's not used for decorating purposes, but rather for paper manufacturing.
04:20Located in Namibia is a tree that's also weird in shape and pretty dangerous, the Bottle Tree.
04:27Okay, in terms of shape, it's pretty self-explanatory, with a round trunk that narrows down toward the top.
04:33But the milky sap harvested from the tree is extremely poisonous.
04:39Legend has it that local hunters used to dip their arrows in it for added efficiency.
04:44It does look really beautiful during bloom season, with flowers that grow in pink and white with a red center.
04:51Now, to see a crooked tree every now and then isn't so special.
04:55But to see a whole forest of them, you'd have to travel to the Polish town of Grafino.
05:00Near it, there is a forest made out of 400 oddly shaped trees.
05:05They've been curved with mechanical intervention.
05:08They didn't just grow like that, but their purpose remains a mystery to this day.
05:13Some have said it's because the wood from the trees was intended for furniture,
05:17or even for the construction of boats.
05:19But either way, the forest was eventually abandoned.
05:24A silk cotton tree has taken over the ancient Ta-Prom temples of Cambodia, creating a spectacular view.
05:32The massive branches of the silk cotton trees were free to grow over the structures for ages,
05:37going back as far as the 12th century.
05:40The temples have been restored and are accessible to tourists.
05:44A dragon's blood tree grows in the Canary Islands of Northwest Africa.
05:49Locals used to say that once a dragon passes away, it transforms into a tree.
05:54Standing at an impressive 50 feet in length, the tree is named like that due to its red sap,
06:01which can be harvested from the bark.
06:03The red substance to this day is used for dyes and in medicine.
06:08One of the biggest, oldest, and most impressive trees in the world is the Sunland Baobab tree.
06:14It's 72 feet high and has a circumference of 155 feet.
06:19It's located in South Africa.
06:21What makes it even more spectacular is the fact that it is naturally hollow inside.
06:27So, a small lounge was set up inside the tree back in 1933.
06:31It initially could support up to 20 individuals, but it can now host up to 60 people.
06:37Not to mention, the tree dates back over 6,000 years.
06:41The silver birch tree spread across Scandinavia and northeast Europe and found a way to reflect light.
06:48Its bark became lighter in color, and during the colder season, when its branches also freeze over,
06:54the site is something of a natural winter wonderland.
06:57It also developed a partnership with a fungus that connects to its roots and fans out under the forest,
07:04gathering up nutrients that trees can't reach.
07:07For these services, the tree gives the fungus sugars in return.
07:11The birch's companion is dangerous and shouldn't be consumed by people.
07:15It's easy to recognize with the classical scarlet-topped red-sprinkled mushroom head.
07:21A natural festival not to be missed is Japan's cherry blossom season.
07:26The pinkish-white blossom is deeply rooted in Japanese culture,
07:30going hand-in-hand with a local saying called mano no arare.
07:35Was I even close on that?
07:36Which relatively translates to the fact that everything is temporary,
07:41regardless of how perfect or beautiful it is.
07:44Should you ever visit Japan, you'll quickly see that the cherry blossom symbol is everywhere,
07:49from company logos to even clothing or household items.
07:54Yosemite National Park in California once had an amazing tree structure that was turned into a tunnel.
08:00It was a coast redwood tree, stretching 227 feet tall.
08:04It was nicknamed Wawona, the Native American word for the hoot of an owl.
08:09The tree fell in 1969 because of a heavy snow,
08:13but it survived as an ecosystem for animals, plants, and insects.
08:16It's now called the fallen tunnel tree.
08:20One tree species known as Farcapasvibravet, well, you read it,
08:25is the rarest plant on Earth.
08:26The Guinness World Record Book recorded one single tree of its kind,
08:31off the coast of New Zealand.
08:32It wasn't always that lonely,
08:34but humans brought goats to the island,
08:36which nipped at every other member of its family.
08:39Ow!
08:40Luckily, scientists are looking at ways to plant new specimens.
08:45On August 2nd, 1996,
08:48huge, mysterious patterns appeared on an agricultural field in Chiseldon, England.
08:53No one knew what kinds of symbols those were and who left them.
08:57As soon as the local news reported this,
08:59people immediately began to make their guesses.
09:01The most popular version was a message from a civilization living on another planet.
09:07The first crop circles appeared in the 70s in many areas across the U.S. and England.
09:12Some compared these symbols to the writings of the ancient Maya.
09:16Others thought those were messages about the approaching apocalypse.
09:20But few doubted that their authors were from another civilization.
09:24But that geometric pattern in Chiseldon was different from all the others
09:29because of an event that happened eight years later.
09:33In 2004, a man from New Mexico found a strange stone 11 miles from Roswell.
09:39The rock had the same pattern on it as the crop circle in Chiseldon.
09:44It's worth noting that Roswell became a famous place after,
09:47according to rumors and legends,
09:49a spaceship from another planet crashed there.
09:52Therefore, when the farmer found the stone and posted its photo on the Internet,
09:56many people thought it was part of that spaceship.
10:00The stone was perfectly smooth,
10:02and the pattern was applied with incredible precision.
10:05But the most remarkable thing was its magnetic properties.
10:09It rotated counterclockwise when people put the magnet next to its northern part.
10:13When they left the magnet near the southern side,
10:16the stone turned in the other direction.
10:19Computed tomography and x-rays
10:21showed that there hadn't been any elements inside the stone that could cause rotation.
10:26It was just a smooth piece of rock.
10:28But was the Roswell rock really part of a spaceship?
10:32To answer this question, we need to move to England, the year 1976.
10:39An artist named Doug Bauer met his friend Dave Corley
10:42and invited him to create an impressive performance.
10:46At that time, people only learned about strange patterns in the fields
10:50from some books and records.
10:52And, of course, none of these cases had been confirmed.
10:56The two friends understood that all this was nothing more than myths.
11:00Therefore, they decided to draw a big pattern in a wheat field in Wiltshire.
11:05Now, they didn't expect this drawing to become so popular.
11:08Many newspapers began to write about mysterious circles.
11:12Hundreds of reporters filmed it on their cameras,
11:14and people watching TV were shocked.
11:17From that moment on, crop circles became a cultural phenomenon.
11:22People mixed facts with fiction and created more and more unbelievable legends.
11:27Someone said that they had seen mysterious lights in the sky above the circles.
11:32In any case, those two friends continued to draw patterns
11:35and revealed their secret only in 2009.
11:38They also created the mysterious drawing and chiseled them.
11:42But that Roswell rock wasn't their job.
11:46Anyway, they said that the stone was also a fake.
11:49Other artists could draw the same pattern on the rock using stone-cutting equipment.
11:54One of the most mysterious books in the world is the Voynich Manuscript.
11:58Nobody knows who its author was, but they wrote it in the 15th century.
12:03No one can understand the contents of this manuscript,
12:06consisting of 240 pages for more than 500 years.
12:10Now, just imagine all the words were written in hand in an unknown language.
12:15Almost every page is decorated with strange images of female figures and weird unknown plants.
12:21The book was first discovered in 1912 and immediately became a cultural phenomenon.
12:27Many scientists, polyglots, and historians have tried to decipher the language and understand its meaning.
12:33They put it on the internet so everyone could try to solve the mystery.
12:38And it seems that Nicholas Gibbs, a historian and writer, managed to do this.
12:43He spent many years studying medieval Latin language and literature.
12:47Gibbs noticed the manuscript contained Latin abbreviations, often used in medieval medical papers and reference books.
12:54Gibbs even found out that the book was a plagiarism of other older medical reference works.
12:59He compared the Voynich Manuscript with other Latin books and found many similar words.
13:05Gibbs claimed that the manuscript was dedicated to women's health,
13:09and the mysterious flowers were real herbs and plants.
13:12But it wasn't that simple.
13:15Nicholas Gibbs was one of many who put forward the theory.
13:18Many scientists recognized his version as banal and unconvincing.
13:23Other decoders claimed that some secret code was used in the manuscript.
13:28Some were sure it was written by Dominican nuns.
13:31Others described it as a reference book on astrology and herbs.
13:35Anyway, you can find scans of the manuscript in high resolution on the internet and try to crack the code
13:42yourself.
13:43Imagine that you're walking around New York and entering a dark, deserted alley.
13:49Then you see some canvas with a beautiful picture on it lying in a trash can.
13:54You don't really understand what exactly is depicted there,
13:57but you still feel some power of art emanating from it.
14:01You take the painting home and hang it on the wall.
14:03It's been hanging there almost four years.
14:06Then you publish a photo with the painting on the website with antiques
14:10and discover that this picture is a missing masterpiece worth $1 million.
14:16This is a real story that happened to a New Yorker in 2003.
14:20Famous Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo painted this picture called Three People in 1970.
14:27One collector bought it as a gift for his wife.
14:29But in 1989, someone stole the work while they were moving to a new house.
14:35It was possible that the thief didn't appreciate this piece of art or couldn't find a buyer,
14:40so they threw it into the nearest trash can.
14:43The woman who found it returned the work to the owner and received a $15,000 reward.
14:49Expensive paintings often end up in trash cans.
14:53Van Gogh gave his works to various people, but they didn't take them seriously at that time.
14:58When these paintings were found many years later, they were estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
15:04For example, the artist gave his doctor his portrait.
15:07The doctor was horrified by the painting.
15:10Perhaps he didn't like the red shade of the hair.
15:13He gave the portrait to his mother, and she found a use for it.
15:16She covered the hole in her chicken coop with the picture.
15:19For more than 10 years, chickens had been running under the work of art.
15:23Then another artist found the painting.
15:26He paid the doctor pennies for it.
15:28Now, it's estimated at $50 million.
15:32A similar case with a discarded work of art occurred in Italy.
15:36A gardener who worked at the Ricciotti Gallery of Modern Art was removing ivy from the building's walls
15:42and found a rusty metal door in the thicket.
15:45He opened it and got into a dark room.
15:48There was a garbage bag lying there.
15:50The gardener wanted to throw it in the trash, but decided to look inside first.
15:56And he found the lost work of famous artist Gustav Klimt.
16:00During the renovation of the gallery in 1997, someone stole the painting, Portrait of a Lady.
16:06It turned out that the thief had never taken it out of the building.
16:10Its value is estimated at $66 million.
16:13In 1901, collectors of sea sponges discovered a mysterious chest in the sea near Greece.
16:20There was a strange object inside, similar to a mechanical watch and the size of a shoebox.
16:27The finding attracted the attention of archaeologists.
16:30They quickly established that this item was created in ancient Greece about 2,200 years ago.
16:36They called it the Antikyphira Mechanism.
16:39Now it's in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
16:43Scientists have found out that this object is only 82 fragments, one-third of the original mechanism.
16:50It's still unknown who created it and how it works.
16:53But experts think it was a mechanical computer with bronze gears and other parts.
16:58People used it for astronomical calculations.
17:01The device could track the movements of the sun, the moon, and five planets of the solar system.
17:07Experts are still trying to figure out all the properties of this machine.
17:12It's considered to be the oldest computer on Earth.
17:15It proves that the level of technology 2,000 years ago was much higher than we could imagine.
17:24This hidden village is called Aogashima.
17:27It's located right in the middle of a volcanic crater.
17:31You can find it to the south of Japan, in northernmost Micronesia.
17:35The story goes that a volcano erupted in the Philippine Sea in the 1780s, causing a lot of harm to
17:42a nearby community.
17:43Half of the population managed to escape the massive eruption and came back years later to rebuild their village.
17:50At the moment, about 160 people are living there peacefully, even though the volcano is still considered to be active.
18:00Cuaca, China, in Peru, lies in one of the driest climates in the world.
18:05And still, it's a beautiful town, surrounded by lush palm trees.
18:10It also has a lagoon, which is said to have special healing properties.
18:14The settlement has a little over 90 residents that manage small businesses.
18:19Most of them use sand as their primary resource.
18:22Some offer sandboarding services or even provide luxury dinners in the desert.
18:28For over 500 years, a small group of people has been living on a cliffside of a peak called the
18:35Green Mountain.
18:36It's one of the most remote places in Oman, and in the whole world.
18:41The only way to reach the settlement is on foot, by mule, or by all-terrain vehicle.
18:48It's called Al-Sogara, and you need to hike around 20 minutes up a steep stone staircase to get there.
18:55The village appeared back when the locals chiseled their houses into the mountain stone,
18:59to protect themselves from storms and the cold.
19:02Five families of the Al-Sogara tribe still call this place home, about 25 people in total.
19:10A lot of other villages like this one can be found in the region.
19:13But Al-Sogara is special, because it's the only one that is still inhabited.
19:19Up until 14 years ago, there wasn't even electricity or telephone lines here.
19:24The nearest road you could drive on was 9 miles away.
19:27Since there were no schools, people had to learn how to read and write at home from their elders.
19:33To this day, the villagers continue their traditional practice of building their homes
19:38by carving them directly into the mountain rock.
19:42One of the most beautiful Greek gems is Monambassia, a castle town located in southeastern Peloponnese.
19:50It was designed to be invisible from the mainland for added protection.
19:53You can only see it from the sea.
19:56And to reach it, you need to follow a narrow pathway that connects it to the mainland.
20:02That's actually how its name came into being.
20:05It translates to a single passage.
20:09Monambassia was built in the Middle Ages, exclusively carved in the mountain rock.
20:14These days, a lot of old mansions have been turned into guest houses and boutique hotels.
20:19Not only is the architecture amazing and beautifully preserved, but it's also surrounded by crystal-clear waters.
20:28A town with no roads?
20:30Pack your bags for Gietoorn in the Netherlands, if you don't mind traveling by boat.
20:35The town is very peaceful, probably because everyone here travels by canals.
20:41Even the mail gets delivered by water.
20:43Since there's no car traffic and people rarely move around, the town is really quiet.
20:49So quiet that the loudest sound one can hear is the quacking of a duck every now and then.
20:56It initially started as a movie set, but Hobbiton, in New Zealand, still exists,
21:02even after the filming of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was finished.
21:07Tours to the charming set town are now available.
21:09There are 44 Hobbit holes in total, though only a few of them are actually open to the public.
21:17The isolated cliffside village of Gasa Dalar in the Faroe Islands has a population of only 11 people.
21:24It's mostly known for its scenic waterfall, which falls directly into the Atlantic Ocean.
21:29You could only reach it on foot, hiking through the mountains not so long ago.
21:34However, a tunnel has been constructed recently, making the place easily accessible by car.
21:42The 1980s musical Popeye had a custom set built on Malta.
21:47It wasn't taken down after the filming had been finished.
21:50And Popeye Village is now home to groups of beautifully colored wooden buildings and a company of actors.
21:57There's a lot of fun stuff to do there, like watch theater shows, go on boat rides, visit museums, or
22:04simply explore the creative village.
22:07The oldest and most photographed village in Austria is called Hallstatt.
22:13It's a hidden European gem with beautifully preserved old buildings and a subterranean salt lake.
22:19It's also home to a museum with artifacts as old as 7,000 years and the world's oldest salt mine.
22:28Fort Bortange in the Netherlands is a small establishment shaped like a star.
22:33Creative parts aside, it was built this way for defensive purposes.
22:38It gave the guards of the fort a strategic advantage because they had a perfect 360-degree view.
22:44These days, the construction is perfectly preserved, including its old buildings, cobblestone streets, wooden windmills, and sophisticated bridges.
22:55In Morocco, there's a traditional earthen village made entirely from clay bricks.
23:01You can find it in a valley close to the Atlas Mountains, 32 miles from the capital of Morocco.
23:07Merchants who followed the trans-Saharan trade route went through this town, carrying spices and gold.
23:13As the trade route became less and less popular, many of these fortresses were abandoned and are now preserved relics.
23:22It's one of the best places for skiing in the world, but it's still hidden from the public.
23:28No wonder the locals call it the secret side of the valley.
23:32Located in Austria, the tiny village of Barth has only a couple hundred inhabitants.
23:37Not only is it the snowiest village on earth, but it also has access to one of the biggest ski
23:43slopes in the world.
23:45Its popularity increased a bit in 2013, when the construction of a high-speed road was completed nearby.
23:54Pirano, in Italy, is one of the most colorful islands in the world.
23:59Because of its vibrant colors, it almost looks tropical.
24:02It features emerald green waters, beautiful houses, and a 17th-century bell tower.
24:08Its lace-making tradition brought Leonardo da Vinci to the island back in the 1400s.
24:13He bought a piece of cloth there, and later used it for the design of the famous Dome of Milan.
24:21If you have a UK passport, you must be familiar with the beautiful small town of Bybury, as its scenery
24:28is featured in your ID.
24:30It's surely one of the most charming towns in Europe, as it's made up of stone buildings standing on the
24:36River Cone.
24:37The image in the UK passports is that of Arlington Row, a line of weaver's cottages that date back to
24:44the 14th century.
24:47The town of Coober Pedy in Australia is partially underground.
24:51It all began back in 1915, when opal deposits were found in the area.
24:56To this day, the town is still the biggest opal mine in the world.
25:01People living there figured out that it would be more comfortable for them to stick to the underground,
25:06as the temperatures outside can reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
25:11So, the settlement now has underground stores and galleries.
25:15Coober Pedy is also home to the world's first four-star underground hotel.
25:21To visit the most remote location in the whole world,
25:24you'll need to prepare yourself for quite a journey.
25:27If you're traveling from the United States, for example,
25:30the easiest route is a 15-hour-long flight to Cape Town, South Africa,
25:35followed by a six-day boat ride.
25:38Only after that will you reach Tristan de Cunha.
25:41Or you can take a month-long cruise across the South Atlantic Ocean,
25:45whatever works better for you.
25:47Planning in advance is a must,
25:49since there are only nine boat trips to the island yearly.
25:54The island itself is just seven miles long.
25:57Sitting right in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean,
26:00it covers a mere 37.8 square miles.
26:04The 300 residents are all farmers.
26:06They have the internet, but it's really slow.
26:09As for a phone network or a local newspaper,
26:12neither is available.
26:14The inhabitants of the island speak a dialect of English
26:17that is used by the smallest number of people in the world.
26:20We'll see you next time.
26:20Now let's get to it.
26:21Let's get to it.