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The “big monks” (frailejones) are páramo‘s signature plants, & also this tropical tundra’s tallest.
Its “little guys” are also striking…& there are many different kinds.
Páramo is, I think, the most species-diverse of any seriously-high altitude ecosystem.
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Members of the genus Espeletia are the signature plants of páramo – a wondrous-strange “tropical tundra” ecosystem which exists only in certain very high, very wet parts of northern South America & southern Central America.
Much páramo has been destroyed (or much-degraded) by humans & their livestock; climate change is another existential threat.
More than half of the surviving páramo is in Colombia.
Espeletia species are generally known as frailejones, which translates into English as “big monks”.
To Australian eyes, they look a bit like our so-called “grass trees”, but they are not even remotely-close relatives.
Espeltia, Xanthorrhoea & Kingia genus members do, however, share one reality: all are neither grasses nor trees.
The frailejones’ actual “cousins” are sunflowers!
Leave a CommentThe photo shows just part of Nevado del Ruiz – a huge, active volcano, circa 130 kilometres west of Bogotá.
My vantage point, on the morning of 6 March 2026 was circa 4,000 metres above sea level; the highest point on the volcano’s glaciated, low-dome-shaped top reaches more than 5,300 metres – a deal higher than Mont Blanc.
Nevado del Ruiz’s November 13,1985 eruption gave rise to several lahars which raced down valleys on the stratovolcano’s flanks.
An entire city was obliterated, and circa 23,000 people died – very quickly – in what became known as the Armero Tragedy.
Its was the highest lahar-related death toll in recorded human history.
This was the 20th century’s second-worst volcanic “disaster” of any kind; it is usually rated #4 on the list of all lethal volcanic eruptions, post-1500 AD.
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Welcome to this series of single-image posts.
You are looking at Ensifera ensifera, the sword-billed hummingbird.
It is the only bird on earth with a bill that is longer than its body-proper.
Some individuals’ beaks are longer than their entire bodies, tail-feathers included.
Bird-wise, Colombia is generally recognised as the world’s most species-rich nation; the “recognised” number exceeds 1,900 – circa 20% of the global total of bird species!
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The photo above looks down from Atilt Fort’s ramparts to the Hunza River.
Discover more here; more than one thousand years old, the now well-restored fort is the oldest “monument” in Hunza.
The Hunza River is part of the Indus River’s catchment.
Wherever one looks in the Hunza Valley, the vistas are almost unimaginably “epic”.
Among viewpoints that are easily-reached, those on the lower of the Hunza Valley’s almost-parallel rims are especially stupendous, particularly when no clouds obscure any part of its higher rim…and the most colossal of the mountains which tower above it.
At 7,778 metres, Rakaposhi’s is “only” this planet’s 27th highest-altitude peak.
However, as its Wikipedia entry declares:
The mountain is extremely broad, measuring almost 20 kilometres (12 mi) from east to west. It is the only peak on earth that descends directly and without interruption for almost 6,000 meters from its summit to its base.
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Arguably, the world’s most dramatic alpine scenery is in northern Pakistan.
Distinct from the Himalaya-proper, the Karakoram includes the world’s second highest mountain, plus many other peaks which are handsomely more spectacular/imposing than is Everest.
The Karakoram’s rivers are incredibly dynamic, constantly reshaping their valleys.
Essential to human life in this very demanding environment, these rivers also kill people and destroy many man-made structures..
Above and below, you are looking at the Shyok River, several kilometres upstream of its confluence with the Indus.
The Indus drains almost literally all of Pakistan.
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I rarely deploy a camera in any kind of zoo, but this opportunity was too good to miss.
In addition to the island’s glorious natural attractions (they include the Indian Ocean’s highest peak, a host of endemic species, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and one of its rainiest locations) Réunion has an excellent aquarium.
i am almost certain that this post’s hero is a hawksbill turtle.
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As was true of #41 in this series, I took the featured photograph in southeastern Alaska’s Glacier Bay in June 2015.
Unsurprisingly, kelp “forests” thrive there.
Kelps (and all other seaweed species) do photosynthesise, but – like all other algae – they are not plants.
Algae – even the towering “forests” of giant kelp – have no roots, nor any “complex” vascular structures.
As anyone who has harvested washed-up kelp from a beach knows, a single frond from a kelp “forest” can be massive – much too heavy to float.
So how does a kelp “forest” manage to stay upright, with its fronds positioned high enough in the water column to enable them to “harvest” the necessary sunlight?
You are looking at the answer.
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This series has fewer than 10 remaining chapters.
The next several all look down into water, or through it, or at it.
This chapter’s image was the fruit of looking down into a tidal pool in southeastern Alaska.
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The featured image was not shot in monochrome.
Its colour palette is accurate; if my camera had looked straight up rather than almost straight down, the image would have largely been blue, flecked with white and grey.
I took the photo in a “remote” part of northern Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan province in May 2024.
What appears to be a rock is a rock; I have no idea of its mass, but am sure it would weigh at least several tonnes.
In the context of the relevant valley, however, that rock is a speck!
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