Where's this desert?

It might look like the movie set for a Western, but this desert is not in Arizona or New Mexico - this is the Bardenas Reales, in Navarre, northern Spain. These lunar landscapes surfaced millions of years ago, when the inland sea that occupied this territory withdrew, leaving behind sediment that erosion then sculpted into amazing geological formations. This photo shows the “cabezo”, or head, of Castildetierra, one of the most well-known rock formations of this UNESCO-recognised natural park. The highest part of the column is made of hard sandstone and limestone, barely supported by soft clays that are gradually being worn away by the elements. Eventually these lonely hills will collapse, due to their own geological nature.

The Bond movie The World is Not Enough and TV series Game of Thrones were partially shot in the Bardenas Reales - and they have their own real-life stories to tell. In the Middle Ages, a bandit called Sanchicorrota was known as "the king of the Bardenas". He terrified the region’s authorities, attacking their castles only to disappear afterwards in the desert, leading a band of 30 men said to be like ghosts. Legend says they put their horses’ shoes on backwards, so their tracks would send any pursuers in the opposite direction.

Souce: Bing

What gives this park a bad name?

Badlands National Park, located in the US state of South Dakota, was officially designated a national park on this day in 1940, ensuring 244,000 acres of picturesque landscape are protected, for all to enjoy. It first gained the nickname ‘badlands’ from the Lakota people, a nod to the extreme temperatures, lack of water and rocky terrain. But it’s not all rugged land here. The US national park includes grassland as well – home to bison, deer and the black-footed ferret, one of the most endangered mammals in North America.

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The cutty sark carried what cargo?

We're featuring the Cutty Sark in today's image to mark the 150th anniversary of her launch on 22 November 1869. Built for speed, she began her short career as a tea clipper racing across oceans 'at a clip' to deliver the season's first tea harvest to England. While at times the Cutty Sark was considered one of the fastest ships in the world, her practical use as a cargo ship was ending almost as soon as she was launched. Steamships using the much shorter route through the newly opened Suez Canal were able to deliver the tea harvest faster and cheaper. In 1883, the Cutty Sark began hauling wool from Australia, but within 10 years steamships also disrupted this business.

By 1922, she was the last clipper ship still in use when she was sold to Wilfred Dowman, who had her restored and turned into a cadet training ship. In 1954, the Cutty Sark was docked at Greenwich, restored again and opened to the public. She was closed again for the Cutty Sark Conservation Project in 2006 but was devastated by fire the following year. Fortunately her original masts and many planks were in storage at the time and she was able to reopen, fully restored, in 2012, with most of her original features still intact. Today, visitors to the Royal Museums Greenwich can explore all facets of this former pinnacle of sailing technology, which is part of Maritime Greenwich, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Which mountain range ths?

These are the peaks of Mount Diablo, part of the Diablo mountain range in California’s San Francisco Bay Area. Mount Diablo serves up scenic views, hikes in the surrounding state park as well as compelling stories from American history. On this day in 1841, a group of about 70 people finally reached the West Coast after a gruelling journey of more than 2,000 miles from Missouri, on the newly established California Trail.

The wagons travelled at a painfully slow pace. Covering just 15 miles a day, they were pulled by oxen, horses or mules across difficult terrain including desert areas around Utah’s Great Salt Lake and the steep slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. After five months, the wagon train arrived at the ranch of John Marsh near Mount Diablo. The successful journey helped pave the way for expansion to the American West and marked the route for future wagon trains during the California Gold Rush.

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Where do manatees live?

Let’s join these friendly manatees on a swim through a clear river in the US state of Florida, where November is designated Manatee Awareness Month. Generally solitary animals, manatees are also known to be curious and will approach boats. That's why Florida enforces special speed zones for watercraft, particularly as the manatees are on the move to find warmer waters in which to spend the winter. While manatees have no known natural predators, they remain a vulnerable species due to loss of habitat and collisions with boats.

Most Florida manatees live in shallow and marshy coastal areas where they feed on sea grass, mangrove leaves and algae. The ocean’s largest herbivore, these “sea cows” can gorge themselves on greenery for almost half the day. And what could be better than a nap after all that food? Manatees will often sleep underwater for the other half of the day, surfacing for air every 20 minutes or so and grazing for food again in shallow waters. Manatees are pretty smart. They've been known to learn basic tasks, recognise people and differentiate colours.

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Which famous museum is this?

Today we're featuring an image of the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre to highlight the Paris Photo art fair, which is on until Sunday at the historic Grand Palais. Without its iconic pyramid in the frame, the Louvre can be difficult for the casual observer to identify. But this view of the world's largest art museum shows the architectural elegance that has defined the Louvre for centuries.

Paris Photo is the world's largest art fair dedicated to photography. Since 1997, the mission of the fair has been 'to promote and nurture photographic creation and the galleries, publishers and artists at its source'. Starting today, around 200 exhibitors, leading galleries and speciality publishers, along with Parisian cultural institutions, will give visitors a unique look at both historical and contemporary photographic works of art.

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Where are we stargazing?

Here on the North Shore of Lake Superior in the United States, under a canopy of stars, it seems fitting that the official state motto for Minnesota is L’Étoile du Nord, or ‘Star of the North’. Minnesota is also known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", although there are 11,842 lakes that are at least 10 acres in size to be exact, but who’s counting? It was on this day, May 11, in 1858 that Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd US state.

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What kind of mammal is a lemur?

What better place to see in World Lemur Day than Madagascar? The world’s fourth largest island, off the southeast coast of Africa, is home to more than 100 species and subspecies of the animals. Most are small, with a pointed nose, large eyes and a tail. They mainly live in trees and can be highly social, like the ring-tailed lemurs on our homepage, or live a solitary existence like the elusive aye-aye. Lemurs have opposable thumbs and five fingers with fingernails on each hand, marking them out as members of the primate order of mammals. About 65 million years ago, scientists believe, lemurs drifted on rafts of vegetation from the African continent to the shores of Madagascar. Safe from competition and most predators, lemurs evolved into many highly specialised varieties and now can be found in almost all habitats on the island.

But lemurs are under increasing threat from hunting and forest destruction - a threat so great they're considered to be the most endangered group of primates in the world. World Lemur Day, held on the last Friday in October, aims to raise awareness and encourage conservation to protect these extraordinary creatures from extinction.

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Can you guess where we are?

The County Bridge has offered a picturesque passage over the Contoocook River in the US state of New Hampshire since 1937. Why build a covered bridge? In a word, longevity. The roof and walls help protect the timber supports from rot. By comparison, an uncovered wooden bridge lasts an average of 20 years, while the covered variety can reach 100 years or more.

But even their durable reputation couldn't withstand the drive toward faster travel - trains, cars, lorries and the heavier loads that came with them. As iron and then steel replaced timber as the bridge-building material of choice, covered bridges gradually went the way of the horse and cart that used to cross them. Out of about 12,000 covered bridges that were built in the US, only 750 remain today - a quarter of which can be found in the state of Pennsylvania.

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Where's this mountain range?

The Cuillin mountains on the beautiful Isle of Skye are separated into two dramatic ranges which dominate the island's landscape: the Black Cuillin and the Red Cuillin. The iconic ridge of the Black Cuillin, seen in the background of our photo, was formed some 60 million years ago from the remains of the magma chambers which fed volcanic eruptions. About seven miles long, it's considered the UK's most challenging and spectacular mountain range, containing 11 Munros (a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet) and 16 other summits. The rugged peaks of the Black Cuillin are mainly composed of gabbro, a coarse-grained rock with excellent grip for mountaineering.

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Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, Spain

After exploring the sprawling 177 square miles of protected desert landscape, a dip in the Mediterranean might be just the thing to revive a weary traveller. Welcome to Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, the largest protected coastal wilderness in Andalusia, in southern Spain. A few small villages lie within Cabo de Gata, offering visitors a chance to get a brief glimpse of civilisation before venturing off into the park’s various protected natural regions. And once you’ve exhausted all the terrestrial treasures here, the Mediterranean coastal reefs offer new levels of wild exploration.

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