Vardzia is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River, thirty kilometres from Aspindza. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred metres and in up to nineteen tiers. The Church of the Dormition, dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. Now part of a state heritage reserve, the extended area of Vardzia-Khertvisi has been submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List

The Kazakhs are the descendants of Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-Iranian tribes and Huns that populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea. They are a semi-nomadic people and have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century. The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of many traditions and skills that the Kazakhs have, in recent decades, been able to hold on to. They rely on their clan and herds, believing in pre-Islamic cults of the sky, the ancestors, fire and the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits.

A body of a victim lies trapped in the debris after an earthquake hit, in Kathmandu, Nepal April 25, 2015. Rescue efforts in Nepal are intensifying after nearly 2,000 people were killed on Saturday in the worst earthquake there in more than 80 years. Many countries and charities have offered aid to deal with the disaster. Seventeen people have been killed on Mount Everest by avalanches – the mountain's worst-ever disaster. Meanwhile a powerful aftershock was felt on Sunday in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Members of the traditional Los Historiantes dance group perform during a welcoming ceremony for Catholic devotees known as "Cumpas", in the town of Cuishnahuat, El Salvador November 26, 2015. The Catholic people of the El Balsamo mountain range meet in the village of Cuishnahuat in November to celebrate the 'friendship' between their respective patron saints in a ceremony that has been carried out for more than 300 years, according to the government. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

Sap runs out of a frankincense tree near Mader Moge, Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia on August 4, 2016In a tradition dating to Biblical times, men rise at dawn in the rugged Cal Madow mountains of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa to scale rocky outcrops in search of the prized sap of wild frankincense trees. (Photo by Jason Patinkin/AP Photo)

Tourists from the Middle East take pictures at Vrelo Bosne nature park in Ilidza near Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 19, 2016. They discovered mountainous Bosnia, where half the population is Muslim, after the Arab Spring which destabilized many traditional holiday destinations such as Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. (Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

This happy couple started married life on top of the world, having exchanged their vows on mount Everest. Dressed in a full suit and wedding dress, James Sissom and Ashley Schmieder spent days scaling the mountain range in order to be photographed in front of such a breathtaking backdrop. Here: James Sissom and Ashley Schmieder exchange vows on Everest. (Photo by Charleton Churchill/Caters News Agency)

A Taliban helicopter takes off after bringing aid to the site of an earthquake in Gayan, Afghanistan on June 23, 2022. A powerful earthquake struck a rugged, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more in one of the country's deadliest quakes in decades, the state-run news agency reported. (Photo by Ali Khara/Reuters)