Photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Switzerland_satellite_enhanced.jpg

For my final post I chose to do Switzerland. I picked Switzerland because I know absolutely nothing about it and it's ranked highly as one of the best places to live in the world.


Facts about Switzerland:

• Switzerland has a population of around 8 million and the capital city of Switzerland is Bern.
• The currency in Switzerland is the Swiss Franc (CHF).
• Chocolate is one of the biggest exports in Switzerland. Lindt chocolate is one of their most famous brands of chocolate.
• Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates of all and according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's research, Switzerland is the best place in the world to be born due to high quality of family life, great employment, marriage equality etc.
• The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 30 years old, this is one of the oldest ages in Europe to have a first child.
• They speak 4 languages in Switzerland: German, Italian, Rhaeto-Romantsch and French.
• The largest particle physics laboratory (CERN) is situated near Geneva on the Swiss-French border.
• Switzerland's main source of domestic power is via hydroelectric power stations. This makes hydro-electric power the country's most important source of renewable energy.
• The average swiss person eats 10 kilos of chocolate a year.

Lake Silvaplana

Alphorns

Bern, capital city of Switzerland.

In Switzerland there are 3 primary geographic regions: there is the Jura (10%), the Alps (60%) and the Swiss Plateau (30%). The typical climate of Switzerland depends on where you are. In the north of Switzerland the climate is moderate. Winters can be cold and summers usually are sunny and warm. In the mountainous areas of Switzerland the temperatures drop below freezing especially in the winter months. Switzerland is one of the top skiing holiday destinations and when there is no snow its also a popular hillwalking destination.

There are 26 cantons/sections to Switzerland and some vary to others. Some speak different languages like the German cantons in the centre, east and north to the Italian ones in the south. Different languages have  a big impact on food, culture and architecture so you can imagine how different the cantons are. In Switzerland, health care is available, affordable and high in quality. There is a really good transport system throughout Switzerland making it easy to commute and travel around the place.

Credits: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/2011-08-01_17-39-33_Switzerland_Segl-Maria.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Alphorns_Grindelwald.jpg
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0507/living_in_switzerland.shtml
http://www.eupedia.com/switzerland/trivia.shtml

Credit: http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/nov/13/hawaii-kilauea-volcano-lava-pahoa-video

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaje-NoRedLine.jpg

Next post is going to be about Hawaii. The reason why I picked Hawaii for this next post is because its one of the most beautiful and isolated places on Earth.

Facts about Hawaii

• There are 8 Islands in the state of Hawaii. Their names are: Maui, Niihau, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Kauai and the big island of Hawaii.
• Hawaii is over 2,300 miles away from the coast of America, almost 5,000 miles away from China, over 5,200 miles away from the Philippines and over 3,800 miles from Japan. This makes it one of the most isolated places in the world to live in.
• Hundreds of years ago, under water volcanoes erupted and caused the formation of the Islands of Hawaii.
• Stretching east to west, Hawaii is the widest state in America and is the only state that grows coffee.
• Hawaii has it's own time zone.
• Hawaii is home to many different ethnic backgrounds, including Japanese-Americans, Caucasians, Filipino-Americans and Chinese-Americans.
• Mauna Loa is the active volcano in Hawaii and is the most active volcano and largest volcano in the world.

There are positives and negatives about every place in the world. In Hawaii, negatives include earthquakes, volcanic activity and tsunamis due to the volcanos present. This is what I'll be mostly discussing in this article. Most of the volcanic activity is moderate in Hawaii. What I mean by that is the eruptions aren't explosive normally. Usually there is a mostly quiet and smooth flow of lava. However there is a danger of lots of lava surfacing and flowing down steep slopes many miles away from it's source.

In 1950, the volcano Mauna Loa erupted and destroyed the village of Ho'okena-mauka. Luckily the people living there got out in time. Kilauea has caused destruction in the past and is said to cause more in the future. Its most recent big eruption lasted for 3 years and buried 8 miles of roads and caused lots of damage in towns and villages nearby. It destroyed nearly 200 houses along it's southern coastal flank.

The United States Geological Survey closely monitor all volcanic activity in Hawaii and educate it's civilians to ensure their safety. The people of Hawaii who live near the volcanos may suffer from occasional volcanic smog, minor and major earthquakes and tsunamis, but thanks to the USGS they adjust their lifestyles to where they live in order to stay safe around volcanos. They are educated to know what to do in case of an emergency evacuation and are therefore able to live alongside volcanoes happily.

Nomadic People of the Sahara Desert.
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_people

photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Sahara_satellite_hires.jpg

Now I'm going to look at life in the Sahara Desert, famous for being the biggest desert after the Arctic and Antarctica, this desert is not one you'd want to get lost in. It stretches for almost 10,000,000 square kilometres and takes up 8% of the earth's land area.

Facts

• 2 million people live in the Sahara. These are mostly nomadic people who travel around the desert.
• Temperatures in the Sahara drop at night time to below freezing and during the day can climg to as hot as 57 degrees celsius.
• It is said the Sahara desert is 30% sand and 70% gravel.
• The highest point in the Sahara desert is a volcano in northern Chad called Emi Koussi. It stands almost 3,450 meters tall.
• The average rainfall in the Sahara desert is 2.3inches per year.
• The most common animals that are domesticated in the Sahara desert are goats and camels.
• The climate adjusts the size of the Sahara desert.
• Below the surface of the desert are water sources called aquifers. Aquifers sometimes resurface and form oases.

Life in the Sahara desert is very tough as you can imagine. People who live in the Sahara grow crops on land that has been irrigated in an oasis. Some others herd goats, sheep and camels in search for grass which has grown due to recent rainfall or is situated along the fringe of the desert. These people live in collapsable tents so they can move fast once the grass has been eaten.

To protect themselves from the sun, Nomadic people living in the Sahara  wear long robes made out of wool called barracans, turbans, and sandals to protect their feet from the burning ground. Water is very scarce and very precious, and nomads trade the commodities they make/find themselves (wool, animal hide and fruits) at markets in villages. They eat fruits that grow on trees in the oases like dates, and make cheese out of goat's milk or camel's milk.

Villages are spread out in the Sahara where there is an oasis. Now, in these villages there are places for the Nomads to rest and trade. Nowadays some villages look like cities and transport to these places has improved.