Alacritis Is Expanding!
01-09-2014, 10:22 PM
Mother Nature is an evil bitch that wants us dead. We know this, we accept it, we try to burn one plant a day as petty revenge against her for it and we move on with our lives. But sometimes her traps are so unsubtle, so obviously, blatantly designed to do nothing but murder human beings, (And wolves) in the most awful ways possible that we can't help but stand and applaud her sheer balls. In that spirit, here are five of Mother Nature's more vicious bear traps:
because Ala could use more mysteriously dangerous places
1. The Boiling Lake: East
The Boiling Lake in Dominica is remotely located, 200 feet deep and straight-up boiling, 24/7. No, it's not "kind of warm" and "really bubbly, so it looks like it's boiling," like a natural hot spring. If you take a therapeutic dip in the Boiling Lake, you'll come out poached. The water temperature at the edge of the Boiling Lake sits at 197 degrees Fahrenheit on average. That's on the shore; no measurements at all have been taken at the center, where the water is perpetually roiling. the rocks are slippery at the lake's edge, so you should exercise extreme caution while visiting.
Image of the land: Boiling Lake
2. Tsingy de Bemaraha: West
Tsingy is a 250-square-mile tiger trap made up of massive limestone obelisks riddled with jagged spears. And yes, they will cut your pretty face. And no, they won't not cut your pretty face, no matter how much you cooperate. Tsingy is so impassable and uncharted, in fact, that every time someone goes in to try and explore, new species of animals are always found. which means you can probably find a dinosaur living somewhere in its depths. The structures of Singy really are razor sharp. "Tsingy" is actually the Malagasy word for "Where you cannot walk barefoot." One would have to proceed with Extreme caution if you so choose to enter these lands.
Image of the land: Tsingy 1, Tsingy 2, Tsingy 3, Tsingy 4
3. The Afar Triangle: West or South
The Afar Triangle has been possibly the most unstable area on the planet, with huge, gaping cracks splitting open at seemingly complete random. But if you fall in, it's not just the drop that will kill you: The cracks are not only frighteningly deep and dark, but also fire out blasts of superheated air (around 750 degrees Fahrenheit). The sound of bubbling magma can be heard from the depths of some cracks, and plumes of sulfurous gas erupt from others. If the Tsingy park is Mother Nature's tiger trap, the Afar Triangle is its Bond-villain-esque trapdoor of doom. So if you ever find yourself having to visit the Afar Triangle, just make sure that you're the absolute best at whatever you're doing. The Afar Triangle does not tolerate ...disappointment.
Image of the land: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3
4. The Corryvreckan Maelstrom: Islands
We know that whirlpools are a thing. But we tend to think that, in the real world, they're either relatively small-scale phenomena or, at worst, a temporary hazard -- something caused by a shift in tides, or a sinking mass -- that'll eventually just go away on its own. However, that rule does not apply to the Corryvreckan Maelstrom...Earth it seems, decided to throw in just another thing to try and eat things whole. It's a massive, eternal whirlpool off the coast of Scotland. The vortex is caused by a dramatic underwater pinnacle that rises to within about 100 feet of the ocean's surface, and it's directly adjacent to a large depression. Complex tidal forces and the unique geological formation combine to create an incredibly powerful, perpetually spinning whirlpool of death. This maelstrom has a depth of over 650 feet deep, and if ANYTHING happens to swim near it, it is impossible to get out of. The maelstrom can produce standing waves of over 15 feet high, and contains incredible force. Use caution when swimming within a certain radius.
Image of the land: Maelstrom 1, Maelstrom 2
5. The Bolton Strid: West, East, or Island
This is the Bolton Strid, and we have to admit, it's a pretty innocuous-looking thing to be on a list of nature's most dangerous booby traps. It appears to be no more than a quaint country brook. The Strid is a section of the river that is much deeper than it is wide. The river before the Strid, perhaps sixty feet wide and six feet deep, is abruptly turned on its side and funnelled through a long rocky channel, maybe six to eight feet wide and nobody-knows-how-deep.Failure to jump the Strid is inevitably fatal and no one who has fallen into the tumultuous gorge was ever known to survive. There's a powerful undercurrent sweeping down into the vast, unseen caverns and massive underwater pockets that hold all of the rest of the river's water. Though if there happens to be a bout of particularly dry weather, the waterline does start to drop, and you can just see the tops of the giant formations below. It's relatively common for people to assume they can jump the creek, walk across its stones or even wade through it (again, just looking at it, the Strid really seems to be only knee-deep in places, and certainly not the instant, precipitous drop into a watery grave that it is). Most of the time, they never even find the body. Which means there are just dozens of corpses down there, pinned to the walls of the underground chasms, waiting for you to join them ...
It's exactly how water works in a video game: It looks all stupid and harmless, but the second your foot touches the surface, you get some bullshit drowning animation and die instantly.
Image of land: Strid 1, Strid 2, Strid 3, Strid 4
because Ala could use more mysteriously dangerous places
1. The Boiling Lake: East
The Boiling Lake in Dominica is remotely located, 200 feet deep and straight-up boiling, 24/7. No, it's not "kind of warm" and "really bubbly, so it looks like it's boiling," like a natural hot spring. If you take a therapeutic dip in the Boiling Lake, you'll come out poached. The water temperature at the edge of the Boiling Lake sits at 197 degrees Fahrenheit on average. That's on the shore; no measurements at all have been taken at the center, where the water is perpetually roiling. the rocks are slippery at the lake's edge, so you should exercise extreme caution while visiting.
Image of the land: Boiling Lake
2. Tsingy de Bemaraha: West
Tsingy is a 250-square-mile tiger trap made up of massive limestone obelisks riddled with jagged spears. And yes, they will cut your pretty face. And no, they won't not cut your pretty face, no matter how much you cooperate. Tsingy is so impassable and uncharted, in fact, that every time someone goes in to try and explore, new species of animals are always found. which means you can probably find a dinosaur living somewhere in its depths. The structures of Singy really are razor sharp. "Tsingy" is actually the Malagasy word for "Where you cannot walk barefoot." One would have to proceed with Extreme caution if you so choose to enter these lands.
Image of the land: Tsingy 1, Tsingy 2, Tsingy 3, Tsingy 4
3. The Afar Triangle: West or South
The Afar Triangle has been possibly the most unstable area on the planet, with huge, gaping cracks splitting open at seemingly complete random. But if you fall in, it's not just the drop that will kill you: The cracks are not only frighteningly deep and dark, but also fire out blasts of superheated air (around 750 degrees Fahrenheit). The sound of bubbling magma can be heard from the depths of some cracks, and plumes of sulfurous gas erupt from others. If the Tsingy park is Mother Nature's tiger trap, the Afar Triangle is its Bond-villain-esque trapdoor of doom. So if you ever find yourself having to visit the Afar Triangle, just make sure that you're the absolute best at whatever you're doing. The Afar Triangle does not tolerate ...disappointment.
Image of the land: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3
4. The Corryvreckan Maelstrom: Islands
We know that whirlpools are a thing. But we tend to think that, in the real world, they're either relatively small-scale phenomena or, at worst, a temporary hazard -- something caused by a shift in tides, or a sinking mass -- that'll eventually just go away on its own. However, that rule does not apply to the Corryvreckan Maelstrom...Earth it seems, decided to throw in just another thing to try and eat things whole. It's a massive, eternal whirlpool off the coast of Scotland. The vortex is caused by a dramatic underwater pinnacle that rises to within about 100 feet of the ocean's surface, and it's directly adjacent to a large depression. Complex tidal forces and the unique geological formation combine to create an incredibly powerful, perpetually spinning whirlpool of death. This maelstrom has a depth of over 650 feet deep, and if ANYTHING happens to swim near it, it is impossible to get out of. The maelstrom can produce standing waves of over 15 feet high, and contains incredible force. Use caution when swimming within a certain radius.
Image of the land: Maelstrom 1, Maelstrom 2
5. The Bolton Strid: West, East, or Island
This is the Bolton Strid, and we have to admit, it's a pretty innocuous-looking thing to be on a list of nature's most dangerous booby traps. It appears to be no more than a quaint country brook. The Strid is a section of the river that is much deeper than it is wide. The river before the Strid, perhaps sixty feet wide and six feet deep, is abruptly turned on its side and funnelled through a long rocky channel, maybe six to eight feet wide and nobody-knows-how-deep.Failure to jump the Strid is inevitably fatal and no one who has fallen into the tumultuous gorge was ever known to survive. There's a powerful undercurrent sweeping down into the vast, unseen caverns and massive underwater pockets that hold all of the rest of the river's water. Though if there happens to be a bout of particularly dry weather, the waterline does start to drop, and you can just see the tops of the giant formations below. It's relatively common for people to assume they can jump the creek, walk across its stones or even wade through it (again, just looking at it, the Strid really seems to be only knee-deep in places, and certainly not the instant, precipitous drop into a watery grave that it is). Most of the time, they never even find the body. Which means there are just dozens of corpses down there, pinned to the walls of the underground chasms, waiting for you to join them ...
It's exactly how water works in a video game: It looks all stupid and harmless, but the second your foot touches the surface, you get some bullshit drowning animation and die instantly.
Image of land: Strid 1, Strid 2, Strid 3, Strid 4