Wonders of the world

(Many tigers roamed about in the thick forests in the Kumaon and Garhwal hills till the beginning of 20th Century. Jim Corbett was brought up in this region. He loved mountains, forests and animals. He was an excellent shooter. He killed many man-eaters and saved the lives of countless people. )    Kunwar Singh was the first to visit me the day I was given my first gun. I was eight then. He came early, and I put the old double-barrelled gun into his hands with great pride. He laid the gun aside and said to me "you are no longer a boy, but a man; and with this good gun you can go anywhere you like in the Jungles and never be afraid provided you learn how to climb trees. I'll now tell you a story to show how necessary it is for us, who shoot in the Jungles, to know how to climb trees.    Har Singh and I went to shoot one day last April. We had started when the stars were paling. Since we found nothing to shoot, we started for home towards evening. While we were taking a sandy nu

Havelock   Island A majestic lighthouse greeted us on our arrival at the Havelock Island. We felt as if the sandy beaches and greenish-blue sea were warmly welcoming us. Some foreign tourists on the beaches were basking in the sun and enjoying themselves. We saw tourists enjoying swimming in the sea, and riding on elephants. Silky sands, foaming tides and cool breeze of the sea attracted us very much. We took lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery. Scuba   diving We visited the beach called Elephant beach. To our amazement, we saw some swimmers diving into the sea from the motor boats. They were dressed in a different way. They put masks on their faces and carried air cylinders on their backs. I asked Dad "Why are the swimmers diving into the sea?" Dad replied, "They want to watch the coral reefs and beautiful coloured fishes and sea turtles. They stay for a long time beneath the sea and swim along with them.It is called Scuba diving" The Scuba diving filled my h

 After a while, we reached an exciting place, the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park. The park was spread over a wide area of 15 islands. Open creeks running through the park area were a special attraction. We watched coral reefs, fishes of different colours and sea turtles through glass-bottomed boats. For some time, we felt ourselves as a part of them. Amala and I cheered the fish and turtles. We travelled by a ferry from Port Blair to a place called Havelock island. The ferries carry people, vehicles and goods. We enjoyed panipuri, samosas and gharam chai during the ferry journey.

  We had been longing to make a trip to Andaman; and Dad made it possible for us during the last summer holidays. Soon after the examinations were over, Mom made preparations for the trip. On the 25th of April, we took the Pinakini Express from Vijayawada and reached Chennai Central by 1 p.m. After lunch we hired a taxi for the port. In the evening we boarded a ship for Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The ship looked much bigger than our school building. It had four storeys. It set out after sounding a loud horn. People who had come to see off their friends and relatives cheered them up by waving their hands. My sister Amala and I too waved your hands while Mom and Dad smiled at us. Tall buildings towers and factory chimneys began to vanish gradually. After while, the twinkling lights of Chennai bade us farewell. Soon everything around us begans look dark and calm but inside the ship it was all bright and beautiful. When we closed the windows and doors of ou

  The Atlantic is a huge ocean. It is about 5,000 kilometers wide between New York, in the United States of America, and England. Only big ships can cross the ocean safely. But two young men crossed it in a small boat. The men were George Harbo and Frank Samuelson. They built a boat about five metres long and one-and-a-half meters wide. At each end of the boat there was a tank for fresh water. A man named Fox gave them a lot of money for building the boat. So they named the boat Fox, after him. They stored enough food, water, and oil in the boat. They fixed a small oil stove at one end of the boat On 6 June 1896, a large number of people gathered at the New York harbour.They looked at the great ocean and the small boat ready for the voyage. When will you reach England asked one of them. "In about two months," said Harbo. "Where will you go from there?" asked another man. "To France," said Samuelson, "How much water is there in the tanks?"About 25

 Jesse Martin had a dream. He wanted to be the youngest person to sail alone around the world. When he sailed from Melbourne, Australia, in December 1998, many people  thought they would never see him again. His boat was just 10 metres long and Jesse was only seventeen years old! Jesse spent the next eleven months at sea. Some days he was lonely, but most of the time he was too busy to think about being alone. When he was not sailing or repairing the boat he would read books, play his guitar, catch fish, or cook.  Jesse had many amazing experiences in his voyage. One day, the boat hit a whale in the water! Both Jesse and the whale were very surprised, but luckily the whale was not hurt. One of the most frightening experience Jesse had was during a storm off the coast of South Africa. Huge waves pushed the boat on to its side and water poured into the cabin. Terrified, Jesse held onto a rail as the boat was thrown around. Afraid that he would be swept into the ocean, he crawled into the