[Thanks to UC#1 for his philately[1]]
[1] WLBOTT learns something new:
DPR [North] Korea
WLBOTT learns something new: we weren’t aware that North Korea had stamp technology!
Iran
WLBOTT learns something new:
Cuba
WLBOTT learns something new: Cuba is home to the smallest bird in the world – the bee hummingbird (from Fact Animal)
Ecuador
WLBOTT learns something new: (via Spanish Academy):
The 1st and 2nd UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Ecuador.
The first and second UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world are in Ecuador. The famous Galápagos Islands is the first site, and the city of Quito is the second. Both were named World Heritage Sites at the inaugural conference in 1978.
Spanish Academy
Dahomey
WLBOTT learns something new: Woman King is a 2022 movie starring Viola Davis, about “the all-female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries.” – Wikipedia
Google Maps Oddity: search for Dahomey pulls up “Eli’s Muscle Cars” in Dahomey, Florida.
Semi-Sequitur: Eli’s Muscle Cars
We just had to check out some of these very cool cars (technically at 50 S Perrott Drive, Ormond Beach, FL, and not Dahomey). All images are from Eli’s Muscle Cars.
Djibouti
WLBOTT learns something new:
Surrounded by Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Djibouti is a smaller, less explored country on the coast.
Lake Assal is 10 times saltier than the sea
Lake Assal (Lac Assal), a world-renowned crater lake in the center of the country, is 10 times saltier than the sea. This makes it the second saltiest body of water in the world after Don Juan Pond in Antarctica.
Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa
Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the third- lowest point in the world after the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Lake Assal is 155m below sea level.
Yahoo
Fiji
WLBOTT learns something new:
Fiji is a nation that occupies 7,056 square miles within the Pacific Ocean and is one of the most popular countries in the region. The people of Fiji are some of the warmest and most welcoming in the world which regularly surprises visitors to the nation. The residents warmly greet people they come into contact with regardless of whether or not they know each other. Fijian culture places a huge emphasis on friendship which is the main reason the residents are so welcoming to foreigners. The warm nature of the Fijians is one of the reasons the nation has a large tourism sector.
Fiji Is Composed Of More Than 300 Islands.
Fiji’s territory is comprised of 332 islands although some sources have indicated that there are 333 islands. Apart from a large number of islands, Fiji also has at least 500 islets. Most of Fiji’s islands and islets owe their formation to volcanic activity which began occurring in the region approximately 150,000,000 years ago. The residents of Fiji reside in 110 of the nation’s biggest islands with Viti Levu having the most significant population. The largest proportion of the inhabitants of Viti Levu live along the island’s coast since the interior is not as habitable due to the terrain. Another of Fiji’s islands with a significant population is the island of Vanua Levu.
World Atlas
Ivory Coast
WLBOTT learns something new:
Ivory Coast is home to the largest church in the world. Completed in 1990, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro has an exterior area of 30,000m2. – Facts Institute
Lesotho
WLBOTT learns something new:
Being surrounded entirely by South Africa makes Lesotho not only landlocked but also one of just three enclave countries. The other two are San Marino and Vatican City (both surrounded entirely by Italy).
Lesotho is the ‘world’s highest country’… sort of. It has the ‘highest lowest point’ of any other country: 1,400m (4,593ft).
Lesotho is home to one of the scariest runways in the world. The Matekane Air Strip is a high-elevation airstrip with a runway that extends to the edge of a 600m (1,968ft) cliff.
Atlas and Boots
Scary runways: when you run out of runway, you run out of runway.