Beauty at the 'end of the world': Found in the disputed region of Abkhazia

 

 

 

 

Staggering beauty of the 'end of the world': Adventurer travels 5,000 miles to capture dramatic landscapes of South America   One man's 5,000 mile trek around Patagonia has been documented in a spectacular set of photographs. Polish adventurer Jakub Polomski, who specialises in landscape and travel photography set out on a 30-day trip around South America and took in some beautiful sights. Polomski actually started the trip back in February 2014, but due to his taking thousands of photographs, he has only just streamlined his fantastic collection.   +14 Bariloche in Argentina looks every inch the exclusive hideaway resort we all crave to stay in, with stunning views +14 Jakub travelled along the world famous Ruta 40 through Argentina, well known for thrill-seeking adventurers +14 Torres del Paine is a national park encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia Polomksi's love for the earth's beautiful, and often mysterious, landscape has seen him travel to Argentina and Chile, as well as Slovakia, France and Norwa,y among others. He described his time viewing the Queens of Andes in Chile as 'the most beautiful national park,' and earlier this year he photographed one of the biggest glaciers in the world in Argentina, the Perito Moreno.   +14 The Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina covers the equivalent of 35,000 football pitches +14 Torres del Paine is one of the largest and most visited parks in Chile, averaging around 150,000 visitors a year, of which 60 per cent are foreign tourists +14 El Chaltén is a small mountain village in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is located in the riverside of Río de las Vueltas Speaking to MailOnline Travel, the 29-year-old, who lives in Cieszyn, Poland, said: 'The plan of this trip was very short. It was just departure and destination point, Santiago (Chile) and Ushuaia (Argentina). Everything else was changing. 'In our team there was an expert responsible for the list of stopovers. Sometimes negotiations concerning adding or removing point from the list were really tough.  'In the first part of our trip we were travelling by bus. We were going from Santiago through Melipeuco to Pucon. In Bariloche we decided to rent a car. So we rented small city car, but sometimes it was hard to drive hundreds of kilometres on gravel roads of Ruta 40.  +14 Sitauted at Villarica in Chile is one of the country's most active volcanoes, however this was obviously the calm before the storm +14 Polomksi's love for the earth's beautiful and often mysterious landscape has led him to travel to Argentina and Chile +14 The founding of the Argentinean town of Esquel dates back to the arrival of Welsh immigrants in Chubut in 1865 'After visiting Esquel, El Chalten, El Calafate, Perito Moreno Glacier, Torres del Paine we reached Ushuaia.' Polomski explained that he had visited Patagonia two years prior to this journey, but that 'five days were just not enough.' He added: 'The fantastic thing about South America is that you can always do something 'mañana' (tomorrow). Jakub Polomski's top 10 sites of Patagonia: Torres del Paine National Park, Chile  Perito Moreno Glacier  El Chalten (Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre), Argentina  Conguillío National Park, Chile  Ushuaia, Argentina  Bariloche, Argentina  Pucon, Chile  Villarica, Chile  El Calafate, Argentina  Santiago, Chile  +14 San Martin, Argentina is much less wet and far sunnier than Chilean Patagonia, but still is very susceptible to heavy storms +14 Bariloche, emerged in the 1930s and 1940s as a major tourism centre with ski, trekking and mountaineering facilities +14 Ruta 40 is the longest route in Argentina and one of the largest in the world, along with the US Route 66 and the Stuart Highway in Australia 'We had delays, so the plan of the trip was being updated daily. 'One of the main reasons I love this part of world is that people there are very polite to travellers.' The Polish photographer estimates that he snapped around 5,000 shots from his journey, and that only five per cent survived the final cut. 'I think it was better than I expected it to be,' he added.  'The weather was great, and in this region it is more than a half of success. This year I want to go to Iceland, Alps, and USA.'  +14 Some 500 miles from Santiago, Chile, lies the town of Villarica, beautifully situated in the shadow of the volcano with the same name +14 Patagonia comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains as well as the deserts, steppes and grasslands east of this southern portion of the Andes

It is always satisfying to get a beautiful picture of a landscape, mountain or lake that you have visited. Gregor Skoberne, however, takes dedication to the next level by photographing Slovenia's Lake Bohinj every day during summer, and experimenting with paragliding to capture its reflective surface from different angles. The lake is situated in the Triglav National Park and is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia, perfectly mirroring the surrounding mountains in its waters. +9 Reflective beauty: The stunning Lake Bohinj in Slovenia is less well-known than the popular Lake Bled, and is in pristine condition due to the lack of tourists +9 Lake Bohinj's orientation results in fascinating light which is perfect for capturing its surrounding mountains and reflections +9 The 14th century church on the lake is featured on the coat of arms of the Bohinj municipality and makes for a beautiful keepsake picture +9 Gregor Skoberne captures Lake Bohinj every day during summer, working at the local tourist information office during that period to be closer Lake Bohinj is not as famous as popular tourist destination, Lake Bled, but the lack of visitors allows the area to maintain its pristine condition. Photographer Gregor Skoberne, 23, became so spellbound by Lake Bohinj that during summers he now works for the local tourist association in order to be closer to photograph it, as he lives 30 minutes away. 'I was amazed that every day there was something different at the lake, be it light, clouds, fog, reflections or different colors of the leaves,' he said. 'Secondly, I love symmetry and taking reflection shots and Lake Bohinj surrounded with mountains is perfect for that.'  +9 Taking to the skies! Gregor enjoys capturing the lake from all angles, including capturing reflections of the clouds while paragliding +9 To photograph the lake from varied perspectives, Gregor has even gone so far as climbing to the top of nearby waterfall Savica +9 The lake is situated in the Triglav National Park and is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia +9 The Slovenian's interest in photography started when he received his first digital SLR camera, his father's Nikon D70s +9 Gregor now uses a Nikon D5100 with the Nikkor 18-105mm and 12-24mm lenses to capture the stunning Slovenian lake The Agronomy student, 23, is currently doing a master thesis on visualization of root growth using Time Lapse technique, but hopes to do something professionally that's connected with photography. 'When you see something beautiful in nature, it’s hard to describe another person what you saw and how amazing it was, so I’m trying to capture that on my camera so others can enjoy that too,' he said. One of his most challenging shots occurred following a climb down a stone wall to get to the Savica waterfall. However, the resulting photograph was one that only a true artist would have been able to create. But for Greggor, the best photograph that he has taken of the body of water was while flying above, thanks to the spectacular reflection of the clouds on the lake.   These otherworldly images give a rare glimpse inside caves so remote few humans have ever stepped foot inside. With its peculiar pools of water, and strange coloured sediments, the bizarre-looking tunnels of the Shakuranskaya cave could be straight out of a science fiction film. Found in the disputed region of Abkhazia, around 75 miles outside of Sochi, Russia, it is rumoured the incredible underground chambers were formed after a huge earthquake struck the area in 1892. +11 Surreal images from Abkhazia offer a rare glimpse inside remote caves that few humans have ever set foot inside +11 The incredible shots were taken by Vladimir Mulde, who spent the day photographing his friends in the cave, like Pavel (pictured right) After causing part of a nearby mountain to collapse into the Amtkel River, it is thought the dam-like affect has created a series of interconnecting underground tunnels. The incredible images were taken by Russian photographer, Vladimir Mulde, 31, who spent the day with a small group of friends tentatively making his way through the rarely seen terrain to capture the cavern on camera. Amazingly, many parts of the cave are completely submerged underwater meaning much of it is still yet to be seen. +11 The eerie green glow created by the light from the cavers' torches illuminates the walls of sediment +11 +11 The bizarre landscape inside the cave looks like something from a sci-fi film (left) as two unnamed cavers explore (right) +11 The strange tunnels of the Shakuranskaya cave are believed to have formed after a huge earthquake in 1892 +11 A caver known as Flick (left) and his unnamed friend explore the interconnecting underground tunnels Vladimir said: 'This cave is one of the wonders of Abkhazia, it's so picturesque but the location is little known by tourists. 'It is thought the caves were born out of a huge earthquake that hit Abkhazia in 1892. 'There are three separate caves that you can explore but there also many more, however, they are completely filled with water. +11 Pools of varying depth line the floors of the cave, which appear to glow in an eerie green hue +11 The cave was discovered in the region of Abkhazia, around 75 miles outside of Sochi, Russia +11 After an earthquake caused part of a nearby mountain to collapse into the Amtkel River, it's believed the dam-like effect created the tunnels +11 Two explorers make their way through the strange tunnels. Unfortunately, many more are believed to be completely filled with water 'The walls are smooth in places and the reflection off the water creates interesting forms that makes you feel as if the cave is alive. 'We were surprised to find a huge opening, the colossal stalagmites and stalactites took our breath away. 'It took us the whole day to explore the cave inside and then get out again, it was like being in a completely different world. 'A team of scientists have planned to study the caves, I believe we've only scratched the surface as to the areas we can find.'